Project Management Maturity Model – What is it? Does it Matter? The reason why Bother?

The origins of the concept of a project management maturation model are lost within the mists of time. With the proof of project management skills dating back to the time of the building of the Pyramids and the Great Walls of China and other excellent wonders of the world – it is very logical to suppose that there may have been an early model to help map the progress connected with developing project management capabilities. After all, for an ancient undertaking manager, the price of failure followed high!

In more recent times the technique of a project management maturity unit has evolved considerably from the program industry. There is the need to recognize and measure many aspects, manage great complexity, receive consistent results and gain stringent delivery targets within of budget.

With regard to which unit is the “best” or fit for any specific situation [I fully appreciate this project management professional perusing this may disagree with what I about to say, but] I feel the far greater challenge is actually in getting VIRTUALLY ANY model applied.

From that point on, with director-level sponsorship and also support – all things are usually possible. There are many maturity types [I am aware of over 35] as well as the dominant model is the P3M3 Model created and paid by the OGC [UK Office of Government and Commerce] in association with the particular APMG [UK Relationship of Project Management Party.

This is a composite and increased model that addresses 3 of the related aspects of large-scale job management and that glories inside the full title of “Portfolio, Programme and Project Supervision Maturity Model”.

*Try this check…

In relation to your [or your client’s] business:

– Do you use job management?
– Do you make use of programme management?
– Consider some of the difference?
– Do you know why understanding the difference matters?

Try this very simple test – review all the levels listed below based on the P3M3 maturity model – initially in relation to project management and secondly with programme managing – and see which finest describes your organisation:

> Level 0 instructions No process – often the organisation has no project in addition to /or programme management capabilities or experience

> Level 1 – Understanding process – the organization is able to recognize projects and programmes – but provides a little structured approach to working with them.

> Stage 2 – Repeatable method – there may be areas that can be beginning to use standard ways for projects and/or programmes yet there is no consistency of method across the organisation.

> Level 3 – Identified process – there will be a frequent set of standards being used throughout the organisation with clear method ownership.

> Amount 4 – Managed practice – the organisation video displays units and measures its practice efficiency, with active compétition to improve the way it presents based largely on information or performance-based facts.

> Level 5 various – Optimised process instructions the organisation will be directing on optimisation of it has the quantitatively managed processes take into consideration changing business needs and additional factors.

Where you and your business sit on the maturity design is one of the biggest key elements in leading change that may determine your chances of success [the others are (a) the standard of leadership and (b) the particular cultures in your organisation].

Exactly why bother?

In 2003 “The Project Management Institute” developed the following definition: “Organisational Job Management Maturity describes a great organisation’s overall ability to pick out and manage projects in a fashion that supports its strategic goals”.

Well that all sounds incredibly noble – but the very simple rationale for having also a project management maturity unit is quite simply that plans fail! [And precisely the same is true for programmes in addition to change management. ]

A new survey conducted in 03 by the Standish Group(US)showed this 66% of IT projects usually are either totally abandoned or perhaps fail against a way of measuring budget, scope, time or perhaps quality (i. e. ‘challenged’).

A similar study in the UK simply by Computer Weekly that 84% of projects either were unsuccessful or were challenged. It is estimated that the cost to be able to US businesses with declining or abandoned IT assignments run into hundreds of billions of us dollars.

Closer to home the UK authorities have wasted countless huge amounts of pounds on failed assignments. At the programme level: with the wider perspective further than a project delivery of tools to the actual realisation of a characterized organisational benefit – often the failure rate is a reliable 70%.

And given that just about every programme encompasses a significant adjustment element, the same failure charge applies to any significant adjustment management initiative.

Progress pushed by pain

In most firms, the evolution of undertaking management, programme management along with change management skills normally lags far behind the roll-out of other capabilities within the firm. So the state of readiness to a large degree shows the prevailing dominant company culture.

Given that companies [or more accurately directors] don’t know what they don’t know rapid the level of maturity of the firm remains invisible. In fact, much better protection the concept of a maturity type remains invisible. So practically nothing changes until things get it wrong – and pain is usually felt and someone with director level is going through exposure as a result of a large project failure.

This is the place at which progress becomes probable as progress needs sponsorship. And as the focus shifts for you to improve performance, there are a pair of principal targets.

(1) To enhance how any specific task, programme and change is actually managed.
(2) To improve overall performance in overall organisational capacity in project, programme as well as change management.

The purpose of this particular assessment is to show the level to which the infrastructure inside the organisation supports the task, programme and change administration efforts.

Benefits of an organized assessment

The main benefit of the next structured assessment of maturation within the organisation isn’t understanding the current level at which the organization is performing, but rather setting direction, prioritising activities and beginning cultural modification.

So, taking project administration as an example: an organisational task management maturity model offers guidance to an organisation in order to:

– Articulate project good results
– Measure project functionality
– Make the delivery involving projects more predictable
– Help projects work together as an alternative to against each other in a multi-project environment

In 2003 Typically the Centre for Business Practices generated its ‘Project Management rapid the State of the Industry’ review. This survey measured organisational improvement over time, as a result of venture management improvement programmes.

Typically the highlights of this survey present significant improvements in terms of economical performance, customer retention along with satisfaction, project and course of action improvement, employee satisfaction along with productivity, and a dramatic seventy per cent increase in project alignment using strategic objectives.

In a transform management context, after plenty of pain has been experienced, an adult project culture will progress into the holistic and broader view perspective of a program-based approach to change administration.

But you can get there much more rapidly and with far less pain IN CASE [and only if] you know how to get around the issues that directly trigger the catastrophic 70% failure rate of ALL change endeavours.

For more on this: “Questions prior to initiating change”

Equip you to ultimately avoid the 70% failure price of all change initiatives using the “Practitioners’ Masterclass – Top your people through transform, putting it all together along with managing the whole messy organization. ”

Read also: Exactly What Is Business?