Project management maturity assessment

Scalable Project Discipline

Should we classify projects by size and scale project discipline using size (cost / effort) as the meter for project discipline? I've seen that more often, since investment size (cost / effort) at risk warrants discipline to improve likelihood of success.

But how about situations when various size projects (including small ones) are critical to business success and either time or quality of the deliverable is the key business driver. Business critical projects are worthy of a disciplined method of delivery.

Or, should we ignore size, etc. and achieve a level of PMO maturity that operates at such an efficient level of productivity and project volume throughput that the project management discipline is optimal across the full portfolio?

What do you think? ...

... "there must be a dividing line between projects that are complex and critical enough to require a full, rigorous methodology, and those projects that are simple and routine enough to be managed with minimal project overhead. The question is: Where is that line? " ...

Via TechRepublic: Project size classification determines rigor

Stewardship and Governance of Model

IBM and utility consortium choose the Software Engineering Institute at CMU to govern the advancement of the maturity model for smart grids. Think SEI's CMMI for the electrical grid. ...

... "The software development industry is a prime example of how maturity models have moved entire industries forward, said Guido Bartels, General Manager, Global Energy & Utilities Industry at IBM. We selected SEI because of its demonstrated success in providing frameworks that enhance business and technical processes, security, resiliency and interoperability --- all critical elements in responding to opportunities driving the sustainable supply and use of energy essential today. " ...

Via Carnegie Mellon SEI: Smart Grid Maturity Model

Process Maturity Made Easy

I was going to report on an interesting article by Michael Hammer in the April Harvard Business Review, but I see Dave Garrett at Gantthead has beaten me to the punch. I've included a link below to the Gantthead article.

Basically, the Hammer article is about the new Process and Enterprise Maturity Model (PEMM) that Hammer has been working on with the Phoenix Consortium. It's the result of a research project they undertook to develop a process implementation roadmap.

In the Gantthead article below, Garrett has some helpful links, as well as a summary of the five process enablers and the four enterprise capabilities in the PEMM framework.

Let's see, with PEMM along with the Business Analysts Body of Knowledge (recently announced by the International Institute of Business Analysis - IIBA) , there should be plenty of complimentary models to go along with the PMBOK and ITIL. This should keep consultants busy for a while.

Meanwhile, here's the Gantthead link...

Beyond CMMI... PEMM

All About OPM3

PMI's Organization Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) is not without controversy, and things are heating up more than ever. Some tout it's ability to help organizations navigate a growth path and others claim it's too focused on academia and doesn't hit on real world issues facing project managers.

Here are a few recent articles that show the good and the bad ---- all you need to know to decide if OPM3 is for you.

First, this month, AllPM is highlighting articles on OPM3, including the following:

The Essence of OPM3

The Business Value of Maturity Assessment

OPM3 and your 'C' Level

Comparing CMMI and OPM3

For another perspective, there's a very insightful critique of OPM3 on Projects@Work:

Assessing OPM3

Of course, we need to keep in mind that it's the first iteration, and will evolve over time. I do know that there are major improvements in store for the next release. It'll be interesting to weigh in after the product matures. Meanwhile, it's a tool, and, like any other, can easily be misapplied or overused.

Time Management Maturity Model

Journyx offers interesting twist on its time management maturity model: evolving from chaos to order as part of the proprietary process that proposes to identify and deliver profit opportunities. ...

... "Chaos – Overcommitted, processes abandoned in crisis, can't repeat past success. Transition – Track project labor hours on all projects; basic costs/schedules visible to management. Structure – Track time/rates and expenses on all projects; complete direct costs known. System – Allocate indirect costs. Order – Integrated with CRM or accounting systems (also known as time-tracking nirvana). " ...

Via Journyx: Journyx P5 Protocol

IT Purchasing Standard: A New Tool for Project Managers

As reported in Computerworld, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) issued a preliminary report on IT best practices on acquiring hardware, software and services, covering the entire procurement process.

This will extend SEI's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) as a new global standard for IT acquisition. The effort is being backed by GM and the U.S. Department of Defense, who will be piloting the standard.

The Computerworld article (link below) includes a link to the SEI preliminary report. It'll be interesting to see how this integrates with project management methodologies and PMI processes. It should be a welcome addition to the project management toolset.

GM backs IT purchasing standards

Project Management Competency; Using the Learning Ladder

I was recently reading Peter Fogel's If Not Now, When, a humorous book about reinventing yourself, and he referenced the four stages of learning any new skill. It reminded me how valid this is in organizations trying to implement project management.

I've seen these stages also referred to as the "learning ladder" or "The Four Stages of Competence." It's not clear who created it. Some sources date it as far back as Socrates or Confucius, but its modern form has been in psychology books since the 80's.

The four stages are as follows (I'll paraphrase the explanations):

1) Unconscious Incompetence - Eveyone knows you're clueless except you. You don't realize why or when you're not achieving results, and are surprised when people complain.

2) Conscious Incompetence - The light bulb goes off. You suddenly "get it" and realize you need to do something different. You begin taking actions to change.

3) Conscious Competence - You're becoming more confident, and accomplishing goals through checklists, reading, learning, and mentoring. Things don't feel totally natural yet, nor should they, but you're achieving small successes.

4) Unconscious Competence - This is the ultimate goal. Some call it situational awareness. The French call it coup d'oeil. It's like riding a bike or driving a car, and only happens with adequate experience, and some trial and error.

This is funny, but very true---perhaps still the best example of a maturity model I've seen to date. Unfortunately, many organizations think they can mandate this fourth level. The fact is that it can only be reached by progressing through the paths above. You can't just jump levels, although good principles and an adequate support system can speed the path forward.

The bottom line is that we must allow time to progress through the levels and not criticize too harshly. Secondly, we must seek ways to provide principles and support to ease the transition through these levels.

Criticism is not the way to promote maturity. More on this coming up...

Results vs. Process - Revisited

The other day, I posted a blog on results vs process. The conclusion I came to was that for projects (which are by nature of limited duration), it was more important to do what it took to assure good results than to blindly follow process.

Of course, the definition of "good results" must be agreed upon. I also added the caveat that this does not apply to processes that must be observed to assure adequate results.

While I still fully believe this approach is true as a guiding principle for project managers, I've come across two good arguments in defense of process in general:

1) Results are often uncontrollable, while processes (if maintained) can at least assure more consistent results over the long haul. Uncertainty is a given, and good processes will allow for that and plan for that.

2) Conflict should always be expected, and should be used to improve processes rather than be seen as an impediment to results. Conflict is a good thing. Unresolved conflict is not.

My clarification of "results over process" is this:

• When defining processes, don't make the processes so heavy and bureaucratic that they impede results.
• Introduce processes slowly. Don't expect overnight results; Follow a maturity model and strive for continuous improvement.
• Relentlessly search for less invasive ways of accomplishing control.
• For each potential new process, use the"Five Why's" (asking "why" five times until you determine if the process in question is really needed). If in doubt, don't add it.
• Allow room for people to make decisions. If a principle will work just fine to help keep people on course, then don't institute an unnecessary process. Not everything can or should be "process-ized." Generally, aim for principles over processes wherever possible.

I do think Toyota has it right. By focusing on long-term results (i.e. continuous improvement) over short term results, continued success is more assured. By we don't want to unnecessarily impede short term results either. We can walk this balance by keeping our processes lean and giving project managers the freedom and confidence to do what is right to successfully deliver a project. People are ultimately our best asset.

Phased Approach Critical to World Class IT Governance; Nice 'n Easy

Fred Gattelaro from Pacific Edge has an excellent article in Computerworld on the importance of introducing IT Governance in phases, not as a big-bang approach.

I can say with certainty that this is sound advice.

He suggests focusing on each of the following three phases, one at a time:

• Creating Visibility -- First Understand What Exists
• Improving Execution -- Integrating New Processes
• Optimizing Results and Continuous Improvement

Just as with introducing any new fundamental change, the organization needs to progress through a maturity model. And, for IT Governance, this one's as good as any.

Too many organizations try to do it all at once, and it becomes a real credibility problem. Read on...

Charting a Course to Achieving World-class IT Governance, One Step at a Time - Computerworld

SW-CMM Level3: Mellon Teams Succeed ...

Software teams at financial services firm, Mellon Financial, demonstrate Level 3 performance in the Capability Maturity Model for Software, SW-CMM. ...

SW-CMM Level3: Mellon Teams Succeed: Via Mellon Financial Corporation: Mellon Software Engineering Teams Successfully Complete SW-CMM (Capability Maturity Model for Software) Level 3 Reappraisals ...

... "Two of Mellon Financial Corporation's software engineering teams have renewed their SW-CMM (Capability Maturity Model for Software) Level 3 appraisals. Mellon operations supported by the two teams include global cash management, foreign exchange, wholesale markets trading, trust & custody, and middle- and back-office management solutions for investment managers. Accomplished using the current CMM for Software model with a new, more rigorous Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) appraisal method, these Level 3 appraisal renewals position Mellon to move to the new process model, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). " ...

Mellon Financial Corporation is a global financial services company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon is one of the world's leading providers of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net worth individuals, providing institutional asset management, mutual funds, private wealth management, asset servicing, payment solutions and investor services, and treasury services. Mellon has approximately $4.5 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including $766 billion under management. Its asset management companies include The Dreyfus Corporation and U.K.-based Newton Investment Management Limited.

ITIL Heals Information Technology ...

It is believed that a foundation of ITIL will ease the transition to service oriented architectures, SOA, enabling IT organization to be flexible and agile in response to marketplace competition. David Stodder and Sue Bushell explore the ITIL best practice framework that is key to the success of information technology as the industry shifts to a service orientation in architectures and in delivery. ...

ITIL Heals Information Technology: Via Intelligent Enterprise Magazine: IT: Heal Thyself

... "To reduce error and avoid reinventing the wheel, organizations are working with best practices such as those outlined in IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). Judging by its momentum, ITIL is the most important framework. " ...

ITIL Process Approach: Federated CMDB ...

ITIL process is an approach to delivering world-class IT services. The ITIL service management framework is supported by a configuration management database, the CMDB. A federated CMDB reference model aggregates the distributed configuration data in today's distributed environments. Tideway partners to integrate ITIL services with automated discovery through a federated CMDB approach ...

Via Tideway Systems: Tideway Partners with Leading BSM Vendors

... "Our partnership with Tideway brings two innovative UK companies together to help our customers deliver world class IT services, based on an ITIL process driven approach. Building on Interlink's strengths of a virtual, federated CMDB driving Business Service Management (BSM), the integration with the Tideway products automates the discovery of configuration and dependency data used to drive our customers real-time and historical Service Views, said Grant Glading, Vice President of Marketing at Interlink Software. The role of business management tools has become critical as IT organisations strive to control cost and deliver reliability to avoid business affecting outages in complex IT environments. Process improvements are at the heart of achieving such business service efficiency, and through the combination of leading, innovative technologies best practice can be achieved. Tideway Systems underpins these business management tools ensuring that all information upon which the infrastructure-affecting decisions are made is completely reliable and up to date. " ...

References on federated CMDB with ITIL process:

Via Computerworld: Taking the Configuration Management Database to the Next Level: The Federated Data Model: This federated approach to a CMDB offers a single, common set of information on each configuration item and its relationships with other configuration items in a manner that can be leveraged by all relevant IT processes -- creating cost-saving synergy among different service management functions.

Via nLayers: Federated CMDB: A configuration management database (CMDB) strategy is central to the IT Service Management framework implementation described in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) documents. ... By adopting a federated CMDB approach, IT organizations can leverage data repositories throughout their environment through integration and utilization of open interfaces to share data.

Via Managed Objects: Business Service Configuration Manager: BSCM resolves the challenges created by today's process model adoption realities by providing a series of capabilities that actually help IT organizations accelerate their adoption of process maturity models like ITIL. ... BSCM enables available sources of configuration data to be mined and/or discovered, their inputs combined, differences reconciled, a service to be mapped, BSVs to be automatically generated and a federated CMDB based on the central point of reference the vCMDB created.

ITIL Technology Standard Framework ...

Increasingly, enterprises are seeking common standard frameworks for business process improvement. Bob Violino reports on the benefits seen by companies that leverage standard frameworks, such as ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library and CMM Capability Maturity Model, to improve their business or technology processes ...

ITIL Technology Standard Framework: Via Optimize Magazine: Frameworks Boost Business Efficiency ...

... "The most commonly used technology standards are ISO 9000x, 65%; Capability Maturity Model for Software, 32%; IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), 26%; and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), 20%. The business and technology executives surveyed said their companies are adopting these frameworks and standards for a variety of reasons, ... " ...

Maturity Models - Projects, Programmes and Portfolios

After the success of the Software Engineering Institute's Capablity Maturity Model, the methodology is now being applied to other areas. Project Management has recently seen the publication of the OPM3 model from PMI. The paper in the link below is from the UK Government OGC. It is described as a draft but has some very valuable contents, particularly the descriptions of the five maturity levels.
OGC - Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3)

Automate Portfolio Management Process: Neilsen ...

Automate Portfolio Management Process: Neilsen: Via Mercury: Mercury IT Governance Center Rates High with Nielsen Media

Neilsen leverages Mercury ITG to automate their portfolio management process ...

... "Nielsen was looking for a way to improve customer response time and transform their time-consuming manual portfolio management process to an automated process across business units. They wanted a portfolio management process to provide increased visibility and efficiency to quickly get proposals and requests for different audience rating services into the work flow. Nielsen was also looking to gain a more strategic approach to matching daily demand versus tactical demand. " ...

Mercury IT Governance Center™ helps customers automate IT business processes from demand management to portfolio, program and resource management, to change management. Mercury IT Governance Center is comprised of integrated applications, a real-time dashboard and an enterprise foundation. Mercury IT governance products and services help customers with compliance regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, and it supports quality programs and process control frameworks such as Six-Sigma, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), ISO-9000, and COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies).

Nielsen Media Research is the world’s leading provider of television audience measurement and advertising information services. In the United States, Nielsen’s National People Meter service provides audience estimates for all national program sources, including broadcast networks, cable networks, Spanish language networks, and national syndicators. Local ratings estimates are produced for television stations, regional cable networks, MSOs, cable interconnects, and Spanish language stations in each of the 210 television markets in the U.S., including electronic metered service in 56 markets.

Mapping Your Project Management Processes? Consider IDEF.

IDEF (short for "Integrated Definition"), created by the U.S. Air Force, is the de facto standard for process design. It was used to design many of the Project Management Institute's standards, including their OPM3 maturity model and their upcoming standards for Program and Portfolio Management.

Although there are multiple levels of IDEF, the basic level, IDEF0, is quite adequate for most applications and tends to be the most frequently used. Check out the IDEF site for more information...

IDEF0 Overview