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Maturing Project Management with the Use of a Methodology

Projects are initiatives spread over a specific time period and chartered to deliver a

specific product or service, generally conceived as a change in each case. The singularity of the product or service outcome of a project is what makes every project different from others. Usually, the successes of such business, technological, operational, or organizational changes are considered to be the keys to an organization’s sustenance and growth; therefore, such changes need to be undertaken strategically, planned meticulously, executed controllably, and delivered with a clear articulation of value to the stakeholders.

Businesses, governments, academicians, and even not-for-profit organizations have come a long way in their understanding and adoption of the essentials of the processes required to manage such changes. Given the criticality of these changes in aligning an organization’s actions and operations to its own strategy and objectives, the organization would need to follow “known” and, to an extent, proven ways of doing things (i.e., a set of processes that is tested to be clear and effective in an organization’s context for any such change to be delivered successfully, although the requirements of any single change are different from those of others.) Projects are the vehicles of delivering changes and project management is the established discipline for governing projects, so these processes should be integrated in the overall project

By Atul Ganatra, PMP

management approach of the organization.

What is a Methodology?In simple terms, a methodology can be defined as “a body of principles, practices, procedures, and rules used in a discipline,” based on the classic definition by Merriam-Webster, or it can be simply stated as “a set of descriptions of interrelated methods” (... wherein a method is a systematic and orderly procedure or process

for attaining an objective). Accordingly, a project management methodology is a suite of related project governance structures, procedures, rules, role definitions, and task relationships set about to manage various project aspects throughout the project’s life cycle for successful project delivery.

Practically, a project management methodology sets the direction for a project manager at every stage of a project and facilitates with the relevant information for decision making. It describes all the known essential tasks (not activities as specific to a particular project), processes, and deliverables as they apply across various phases of a project’s life cycle (irrespective of the objectives and delivery requirements of a particular project) in an organization’s own context. It helps a project manager ask the right questions in terms of WHAT (objective, deliverables, or activities), WHY (driver, rationale, etc.), WHEN (order of activities, sequence, or a milestone),

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WHO (roles, authorities, and responsibilities), and HOW (techniques, procedures) for any identified project task.

Although it may borrow ideas, processes, and knowledge from certain project management standards, schools of thought, or a body of knowledge, it should not be confused with any of these. Project management standards as manifested in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (Project Management Institute), PRINCE2 (Office of Government Commerce), or others are the frameworks detailing the project definition and its life cycle, theories of organizations and structures, processes that would apply across discipline or knowledge areas and techniques in general and not project management methodologies that can be blatantly adopted by an organization to deliver projects. A project management methodology is a purpose-built mechanism internal, specific to an organization, which delivers changes (internal or external) through projects and subscribes to the ideas or processes from different frameworks or philosophies.

Why Methodology? Think of a project you’ve worked on or known and identify which one or more of these problems the project suffered from: schedule overrun, scope creep, stretched budget, unacceptable quality of work product(s) or requirements not being met with, dissatisfied customers of the project product, grieved stakeholders, gaps in communication, deteriorating team morale and, last but not least, the lack of alignment of project objectives to the strategy of the organization. Easy, isn’t it? For the most part, we are able to identify with at least one, and at times a few, of these symptoms for any given project.

How can a project management methodology help? Is it a panacea for all problems? Probably not, but it can eliminate some of these problems or reduce the severity of impact for many others. At the outset, a project management methodology is expected to help a project manager with the direction and information along his or her journey in managing a project. It identifies the starting point and sets the route, acts as a guide along the journey, and applies checks at points vital to the success of a project. A deployment of a project management methodology underlines a policy-based approach and provides for a procedure-driven mindset, one in which the entire IPO (input, process, and output) can be fairly uniform, the actions less evasive of human factors, and the results rather predictable.

Actually, there are bigger and long-term benefits in adopting a project management methodology from an organizational viewpoint:

Benefits in a project environment. With increased 1. predictability of the outcome, a methodology promotes success and reduces the risks of failure. Clearly defined role specifications and relationships help improve communication and establish the right expectations among team members. Furthermore, with templates, checklists, and processes in place, it augments organizational knowledge and helps establish a mature governance approach in a project environment.Basis for measurement. With consistency in the ways of 2. accomplishing tasks and project management behavior, a project management methodology can provide common yardsticks for measuring the project progress and project management performance. This will be apparent in life cycle duration, management of stage gates, communication effectiveness, and stakeholder engagement, and will be reflected in main project performance measures such as scope control, schedule adherence, cost control, resource utilization, productivity, team motivation, and stakeholder delight.Improvements in project performance. Because it can 3. be measured, it can be corrected wherever required! Projects undertaken with a well-defined methodology will not only enhance the success potential (within scope, time and cost constraints and with due management of quality, risks, and resources) but will also improve the project performance in terms of both the productivity and effectiveness. The project’s success would be evident in the quality of deliverables, delight of stakeholders, increased team morale, and improved organizational learning.Maturity of process capabilities. Dr. Harold Kerzner, the 4. globally recognized project management expert provides insight into the project management processes maturity capabilities in his KPM3TM (Kerzner Project Management Maturity Model) approach. According to Dr. Kerzner, the implementation of a project management methodology helps an organization attain a level 3 in process maturity capabilities that further provide a sound foundation for benchmarking and continuous improvement. The process maturity thus achieved underlines overall organizational development. Competitive advantage through organizational 5. improvement. Successful project delivery and matured process capabilities would naturally set an organization to rapidly and aptly respond to business change and transformation requirements, which provide an overall competitive advantage in a business environment.With this definition and these premises, this article

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describes the major key drivers and factors contributing to the composition of a project management methodology, how a project management methodology is modeled, and the life cycle aspects for an effective implementation.

Project Management Methodology—Drivers, Influencers, and ContributorsBecause the operative environment in which businesses function is fairly complex and all its components are strongly interconnected, any change (even seemingly small) undertaken by an organization might have a more pervasive impact than apparent. Conversely, an organization is equally influenced by a number of factors that would affect the ways in which it undertakes these changes; hence, these would have a bearing on its methodology for delivering changes (i.e., projects). The factors, therefore, that necessitate an organizational framework of delivering changes and the parameters which would in some way influence this framework or directly contribute to it, can either be internal or external.

At the outset, the definition and design of a project management methodology draw inputs from and get influenced by these four sets of factors (Figure 1):

and practices (e.g., an organization aiming for a radical performance improvement can be undertaking high-risk projects). Organizational attitude is a fundamental attribute determining its actions and therefore can contribute significantly toward the definition and even the deployment of a project management methodology (Is this not a project in itself?). Project Management Standards and Industry PracticesB. —Management approach and governance structures; project life cycle definition, phases, and stage gates; process knowledge and functional techniques; project integration approach; and matriculation guidelines are subscribed from one or many bodies of knowledge and project management frameworks, such as PMI’s PMBOK® Guide, OGC standards, including the PRINCE2 Project Management framework, Six Sigma, Lean thinking, and SEI’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), just to name a few. As mentioned earlier, it should be borne in mind that any of these industry standards or frameworks is not a methodology in itself that an organization can directly adopt and implement; these are similar to sets of principles, guidelines, and related process descriptions.Operative Business EnvironmentC. —Industry dynamics or the domain trends, market conditions, competitive situations, technological changes, regulatory environments, and legal provisions are the major external forces that influence the reasons for and the ways in which an organization manages projects. Again, this is because the project outcomes, most of the time and in some ways, have bearings on external stakeholders and it vindicates the close interactions among internal and external stakeholders in a global, complex business environment. Process AssetsD. —Existing processes, established procedures, and proven practices; templates, checklists, guidelines, historical information, and previous project learning, business intelligence, and knowledge databases are some examples of soft assets that an organization possesses and that can be further leveraged to define and articulate a project management methodology. Because most of these assets are aligned to an organization’s own needs, these can be leveraged to the advantage of project management processes by further refining them, in the new project management methodology structure.

Project Management Methodology ComponentsA project management methodology (which, by now, is probably clear) represents an organization’s overall approach

Project Management Methodology

Project Management Standards & Bodies of Knowledge

Organizational Attitude – Culture, Ethics, Values

Process Assets – Learning, Templates

Operative Business Environment

A. Organizational Attitude—Based on an organization’s history and current mission, its goals, values, beliefs, and inclination for change are reflected in its standards and practices. These standards, practices, risk propensity, and outlook toward change, manifest themselves in an attitude with which an organization would initiate and manage projects. Organizational attitude will underline the genre of its structure, capabilities, quality of people,

Figure 1: Drivers, influencers, and contributors for a project management methodology.

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to undertaking and driving change initiatives as projects, with significant impact to itself and all its stakeholders; a methodology in this manner, represents a self-contained yet fairly complex set of components, allowing a project manager and his or her stakeholders to keep track of his or her change journey.

In terms of its structure, a project management methodology can be represented as a jigsaw with the following six pieces (Figure 2):

Templates & Checklists

Procedures

Structures / Roles

Organizational Standards

Tools

Collaboration Channels

Organizational Standards1. —This piece of the jigsaw identifies the principles adopted and formulated by an organization for all their actions, behavior, and outcomes. To an extent, this would also demonstrate the ethics and values of the entity and will be reflected in its policy, procedures, templates, and the organizational attitude discussed earlier.

Organizational standards, whether made explicit or not, encompass the adoption of ideas from frameworks or schools of thoughts; compliance requirements with industry standards or regulatory benchmarks; internal norms and performance specifications; ethical guidelines, and even the corporate social responsibility paradigm of the organization at the extreme end of the spectrum. These standards are underlined in the corporate or unit strategy, clearly specified organization values, internal guidelines, implicit in its actions and for external users, and in the brand equity of the organization.Procedures2. —A procedure is a defined series of actions, activities, or operations used to accomplish a specific task with a clearly defined objective. Procedures are

defined to ensure that we get the same, desired, or expected results by following the same set of actions under identified circumstances. Procedures guide us through actions, standardize the activities, and help eliminate the effects of individual judgments; establish workflows; provide clarity of roles and in effect mature processes, resulting in increased efficiency and effectiveness of an individual’s actions.

Semantically, the definition of the procedure characterizes the essence of methods, and so the procedures in different phases and project management processes form the backbone of a project management methodology.Templates3. —Templates are standard documents that contain layouts and styles that act as document guides to prepare and share relevant content in a specific format. Templates aid in standardizing the formats of documents, by supporting the articulation of procedures and the implementation of processes, so templates eventually help in assuring a certain level of quality in the project artifacts, deliverables, and outcome.

Checklists are used as aids to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. A simple example can be a to-do list or a list of pre-requisites for a specific task. Checklists help to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task by minimizing the opportunities for errors.

In the context of the PMBOK® Guide framework, templates and checklists can be identified as organizational process assets that have evolved over a period of time or that can be defined and developed for the specific purpose of a project task.Roles/Structures4. —One of the most important components of a methodology, a role can be perceived as a set of expected behavior or actions, authorities, and obligations by an individual or a group of individuals (actors), in an organizational context. A role needs to be defined unambiguously (i.e., by clearly identifying the tasks, responsibilities, authorities, and interactions surrounding it). It is also equally important to avoid possible overlap of roles for a task that could, to a great extent, defeat the very purpose of roles.

A set of roles and their interrelationships help derive one or more structures that can perform actions to accomplish project tasks. The structures may be defined in terms of team compositions, boards or committees, specific action groups, task forces or the complete organizational structure, as useful for the management of a project, program, or even a portfolio.

Figure 2: Components of a project management methodology.

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Collaboration Channels 5. —The most essential aspect of project management is communication in its various forms throughout the project life cycle, and that is why communication skills are one of the vital traits of a project manager. With the size and complexity of the projects that we undertake, dispersed and virtual project teams, maturing project management processes and application of technology, the traditional communication channels have evolved into a variety of collaboration channels that can support the project management methodology processes very well. Beside the traditional means of written and verbal communications such as meetings, telephone calls, memorandums, and e-mails, project management processes can be aptly supported with collaboration platforms on intranets (wikis, project blogs), social media (even external stakeholders), idea junctions, virtual conferences and at times extend beyond the project boundaries but eventually help effective project management.

A project management methodology should clearly identify and leverage the use of various collaboration channels to promote agility and clarity in communication and interpersonal dynamics that are vital to project management processes and hence to a project’s success.Tools6. —In the project management context, tools are software programs, applications, devices and sometimes even the processes and standards that can be used to efficiently develop and effectively deliver a service, deliverable, or an outcome in any of the project activities. The project management tools range from the planning and scheduling tools, office applications, design tools for process flow diagramming and modeling, and collaboration tools to the management information systems (MIS), control tools, and checklists.

A project management methodology needs to specify the application areas and use of desired tools for identified tasks to standardize the practices and ensure effective project management.

Project Management Methodology Implementation Life CycleAlthough a project management methodology describes an organizational approach to managing a project throughout its life cycle, it is equally important to effectively administer various phases of the methodology development, deployment, and use to maximize benefits. A project management methodology implementation life cycle can be thought of as being made up of four different stages along the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, as described (Figure 3):

Define

Deploy Practice

Enhance

Define: Drawing inputs from various sources as identified in the previous section (project management methodology—drivers, influencers, contributors) and re-using or refining the process assets that are already proving to be useful; the “Define” (or “Build”) phase is all about developing a project management methodology.

The Define phase would kickoff with the recognition of the need for an effective project management methodology by the organization, the acceptance of the charter of implementing a new project management methodology, and whole-hearted executive support. As it would become clearer in the description of the “Deploy” phase, the implementation of a project management methodology is an important organizational change like any other major transformation. Timely and appropriate information sharing about the organization’s intent of this change is absolutely essential in creating awareness and preparing all end users and stakeholders for the change.

Significant to achieving all its key objectives, a project management methodology proves to be a strategic asset for an organization and determines the orientation, pace, and rhythm of the organization toward change. It is, therefore, equally vital that a methodology is so defined to help project managers deliver the projects that they have been tasked with. Some of the key attributes of a project management methodology can be:

It should be very unambiguously documented and easy to i. use.It should subscribe ideas, knowledge, and processes from ii. the proven project, program, and portfolio management frameworks and best practices.

Figure 3: Project management methodology implementation life-cycle.

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Organization specific—it should be tailored to an iii. individual organization’s purpose, project management requirements, and process aspirations.It needs to be elaborative enough to include procedures, iv. instructions, guidance, examples, document templates, and checklists.It should strike a right balance between a simple approach v. with little details and excessive documentation with bureaucratic controls. It should be adaptable enough to integrate appropriately vi. with other tools, processes assets, as well as other functions and operations of the organization.With current trends, it is common to deploy a project vii. management methodology in a web-enabled interface form, enabling project managers and all project stakeholders with an easy access. With the choice of technology and tools, it should provide an intuitive process-driven graphical interface.Flexible and scalable enough to be used across different viii. types of projects in the respective organization or unit that would undertake these projects. Customizable enough to be used at the enterprise and/or work group levels.Should facilitate a good governance model through gates, ix. milestone checks, and periodic reviews throughout the project life cycle to increase success opportunities and avoid failures.How about a persuasive title for the methodology? A name x. that captures the spirit of the methodology should foster due enthusiasm about its use and set appropriate expectations.

Because the creation of a project management methodology involves adopting best industry practices, standards and ideas from external elements as much as knowing the pulse of the organization, the “Define” phase may see the involvement of external experts or consultants to work with business champions of the organization. It is also necessary to involve representatives of the users (mainly the project managers) in the development process.

Deploy: The implementation of a project management methodology is an organizational change and “Deploy”ing it is like walking through the change, and the overall success of any change depends on people. Likewise, the excellence attained through the implementation of a methodology would be determined by the buy-in of the users. As an effective change strategy, a successful deployment on the new project management methodology would require the following:

Get people on-board, plan for an effective business i. change and manage resistance.Communicate, communicate, communicate…ii.

throughout (i.e., vision, purpose, benefits, expectations, progress, bottlenecks, and achievements)!Executive support—Needs the sponsor and executives to iii. acknowledge the value and extend their passion to attain project management process maturity.Follow the culture of the organization, to drive the iv. change through with the least resistance possible.Provide for the infrastructure, tools it needs, and create v. a group of people who will comprehend the need, essence, and benefits of the new project management methodology and also who can act as practitioners as well as ambassadors of the new methodology.Train formally, and wherever appropriate integrate with vi. global training initiative.Facilitate coaching and online help.vii. Show results with the use of the new project management viii. methodology—Pilot projects as required and validate the benefits.

Practice: Having deployed the new project management methodology, an organization needs to make sure that this remains the only approach for managing projects. Overcoming the initial resistance when the project managers are starting to apply the new ways of managing projects—acknowledge efforts, encourage feedback, and reward enthusiasm!

The term “Practice” (and not “Use” phase) is used to underline the committed use of new methodology and need for active participation—continuous involvement of project managers through feedback can drive the maturity of the processes faster, to graduate from level 3 of process maturity to level 5 of continuous improvement (according to Dr. Kerzner’s KPM3TM model).

Enhance: Not a discrete time-bound phase but really a process spilling over from the deployment of methodology to everyday use—improving processes based on lessons learned, capitalizing on the new technology and employing new tools, establishing benchmarks, raising standards, and augmenting the use of metrics, which all sounds worthwhile and exciting, especially after investing in the implementation of the project management methodology in the first place!

It’s a stepping stone to driving the project managers in a new cycle of improvement and the organization in search of excellence!

Avoiding PitfallsBecause a project management methodology is a core soft asset and a key to the success of almost every project that the organization would take on, it might be useful to bear in a mind a few points that could prove decisive in implementing a project management methodology successfully:

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The project management methodology should befit i. the organization by aligning with the types of projects it wants to deliver. A methodology or framework that has proven highly successful in one organization or environment might not be recognized well in some other environment. Also, during development (or definition of the model), the organization needs to consider the types of projects they do. Although flexibility is desirable, one size may not fit all if an organization is handling projects highly diverse in size and complexity! Duplication and overlap can easily discourage the users ii. Don’t overdo—Use the right amount of documentation iii. and control to suit your needs.A PMO is usually the custodian of a project management iv. methodology once implemented; therefore, it is vital to identify and clearly communicate the PMO’s role during the definition, deployment, support phases, and enhancement purposes. Train extensively and create winners—Facilitate the v. required training for the use of the methodology and plan to create winners. This will foster the buy-in, strengthen the support framework, and provide an easy road to improvements in the methodology once it has been implemented.

Innovation PerspectiveWhether it means doing “new” things or doing things “differently,” innovation has been the buzzword in business for a long time and is of significant value. Although the project management methodology seeks to standardize and eventually mature the processes, does it inhibit the dimension of innovation in project management behavior? Possibly not in a single project delivery and management aspects and certainly not in terms of the wisdom and maturity of the discipline! So, let us see how.

Any process maturity model, including the one on the project management process maturity by Dr. Kerzner referred to here, usually aspires for continuous improvement in the processes, structures, and quality of the profession at its pinnacle. Having discovered the best ways of doing things, it becomes a way of life, and then excellence can become a habit and having reached a level, people have a degree of self-motivation to keep doing things with certain standards of excellence. What is important at this stage are the right methods of measurement of process performance and project management performance (successes in project delivery) and the consequent revision of benchmarking. A mature and agile organization will follow technology trends, embrace new standards, and align itself to the changing environment with an open mindset, adequate energy, and fresh ideas—innovation will be underlined in the ease and agility with

which the unit or organization adapts itself to not-so-proven (and at times radical) or changing ways of achieving goals.

From an individual project delivery perspective, using a project management methodology provides a project manager with the information for efficient decision making in delivering a project successfully. The innovation, however, may still be reflected in project management behavior, based on the way a project manager goes about making a decision in the given project scenario. The project decisions would relate to the project situation or circumstances and means that being innovative can imply a choice outside the conceived norms, the application of which can still be aligned to project management methodology provisions.

ConclusionEvery organization has its own ways and methods of delivering projects (written or unwritten, effective or not); however, recognizing the need for and benefits of a tailored methodology helps an organization instill discipline and consistency in the ways in which project managers manage change delivery. Therefore, there is no denying that implementing a customized methodology that suits the culture of the organization is going to improve the effectiveness of project delivery. The implementation of a project management methodology is an organizational change and should be undertaken accordingly.

ReferencesHerszon, L. (2010). Deploying a project management

methodology, International Institute of Learning, Inc., International Project Management Day 2010, Power of the Profession Presentation.

“Kerzner Project Management Maturity Model Online Assessment,” http://www.iil.com/kpm3/how_kpm3_works.asp, retrieved on Dt. 24-Jan-2011

Project Management Institute (PMI) (2004). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Third Edition. Newtown Square, PA: Author.

About the AuthorAtul Ganatra, PMP, is a project and program management consultant with extensive IT project delivery and business change experience in such sectors as the life sciences, agricultural research, manufacturing, and local governments. Based in London, he currently works as a project manager for one of the leading global plant life-sciences companies and also works closely with SPINLondon (www.spinlondon.co.uk), a forum for the improvement of software processes and the promotion of business excellence.