The Hatfield Project Management Maturity Model, Part I

 

Why Is This One Special?

When it comes to generating and then perpetuating new hypotheses in the management science realm, I’m sure it will shock my readers to learn that I take a rather opposite tack from the conventional approach. Take management maturity models (please!).

The conventional approach is to issue a call for papers and/or volunteers to come together in some kind of forum, either real or virtual, and thrash around the ideas that are largely considered to be valid on the particular topic. A certain consensus forms around those ideas that are least obnoxious to the simple majority of team members, and those ideas are then arranged into some kind of structure. These structured ideas are then documented, revised, refereed, and published under the auspices of the sponsoring organization. Unless the documents are met with widespread scorn, they will probably become the basis for further analysis, and perhaps even a certification. This last is the commercialization phase, where the sponsor organization finally receives some form of return for all of their trouble.

Why Breaking With The Standard Scholastic Model Is A Good Idea

Here’s my heartburn with this process: if it advances management science, it does so only coincidentally. It mostly advances policy. Consensus isn’t science, and science does not depend on consensus, period. Science only needs one researcher who happens to be right, and can reproduce results in an experimental setting. Of course I’m aware that, in the Management Science “laboratory,” i.e. the business environment, it’s impossible to isolate and test specific causal factors, which makes the pure science aspect of this whole thing extremely difficult, but stay with me. By the time the idea generators and their reviewers are in consensus-garnering mode, it’s too late. Management science may or may not be furthered – but “optimal” management policy most certainly is. So, how would I do it better?

First off, no seeking of consensus, especially not from hundreds or even thousands of project management experts. PM types are notorious for a whole bunch of them in a room being unable to agree on the color of an orange.  I understand that this approach automatically excludes any results from being considered for ANSI Standard inclusion or approval, which is usually considered to be THE basis for legitimacy, but that’s okay. If I’m wrong, my hypotheses shouldn’t be considered legit; and, if I’m right, they eventually will. Instead, I would identify just one person to propose a structure, conduct the research, make the arguments that either establish or overturn the structure, and publish it.  If just one person is a bridge too far (too short?), then one person should head a team of researchers, not opinionated experts weighed down with the baggage of their decades-old experiences.

Reality, Or Bust

Next, I would blast to smithereens any PM concept that couldn’t be defended using hard data. Back when I received my PMP®, the PMBOK Guide® was divided into eight sections. The Hatfield Management Maturity Model (HM3) is based on those categories, should they deserve consideration, so:

• Scope Management is obviously central to PM, and the only hard evidence needed here is the fact that a Google search for “how much is spent in construction project claims?” returns over 136,000,000 hits. Clearly defining the scope up front is essential to all other aspects of PM. Verdict: Valid.
• Cost Management is also essential to the whole PM process. Indeed, the organizational pathology of indicating to a customer that “it will take as long as it takes, and cost as much as it costs” was one of the key drivers in the widespread acceptance of project management as a discipline. Verdict: Valid.
• Schedule Management  -- see the second bullet. Verdict: Valid.
• Risk Management – I have yet to see an objective study that indicated that the risk management process was a central information stream in successful project completion. As I have often pointed out in this blog, the future cannot be quantified, even with Gaussian curves. Verdict: Invalid.
• Quality – here, I have a simple question. Is your product or service getting criticized and rejected over quality issues? If so, bring in a quality expert. If not, then don’t. Verdict: It depends on the project.
• Communications – some of this is helpful, e.g. developing a so-called zipper plan that defines whom within the project team communicates with counterparts in the client’s organization. But all this stuff about “engaging stakeholders”? Again, there’s no evidence that any of that enhances the odds of successful project completion. Verdict: Invalid.
• Human Resources almost never resides within the project team. Verdict: Invalid.
• Ditto with procurement. Indeed, since procurement so obviously falls within the realm of asset management, I would argue it never had a specific PM role in the first place. Verdict: Invalid.

This streamlined version of an earlier PMBOK Guide® table of contents will serve as the basis for the Hatfield Management Maturity Model, with more particulars coming in next week’s post.