Origin of PMI & PMBOK

The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern era of project management as we know it today.

This new era ushered in the need for a framework of globally recognized standard processes, tools, and methods. A small group of project management professionals recognized this need and in 1969 founded a nonprofit organization called the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMI began documenting a proposed set of project management standards they called a “white paper” (an authoritative guide) in 1987. Their intent was to standardize project management information and practices. The white paper later became the original A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), published for the first time in 1996. This guide became recognized as a worldwide standard and provided common processes, principles, knowledge areas, tools and techniques, and a global project management discipline.


PMI launched the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam in 1994.