Alice AshPhD student| Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Brisbane, AustraliaBrisbane, Australia
I'm still new in the area of project maturity and i've come across some of the maturity model such as OPM3, PRINCE and so forth. Can anybody guide or assist me in finding out more information about project maturity model and how important it is for an organization to really apply this model? Saving Changes...
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Brian PhillipsCEO| Yellowhouse.net Pty LtdHolland Park East, Qld, Australia
We've done some maturity assessments using P3M3 (Portfolio, Program and Project Management Maturity Model) with some success. Essentially it allows you to create an organisational baseline for any or all of the P3 and identify specific areas for improvements. You can then re-baseline after an agreed period. P3M3 has just been updated (UK model) at this link http://www.p3m3-officialsite.com/home/home.asp and you can download the final draft of the revised model.
How important? The basic argument is that if you can demonstrate an improvement in agreed processes, language, methodolgy and practice you should see more effective project delivery and reduced overheads. Saving Changes...
Alice AshPhD student| Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Brisbane, AustraliaBrisbane, Australia
By looking at this model and other practices of project maturity model, it seems technical and need in depth understanding of whether it really can be implemented especially in the public sector. My question would be whether by developing or exercising the maturity model can really assist the organisation in assuring excellent and quality project result to obtain the trust from the project stakeholder? And whether this maturity model assist in implementing project governance? Saving Changes...
Brian PhillipsCEO| Yellowhouse.net Pty LtdHolland Park East, Qld, Australia
P3M3 consultants certainly need and in-depth understanding of how the maturity model allows an organisation to gain a current state view of their level of maturity.
After the assessment, it is up to the organisation to implement changes to improve the identified areas of weakness that will allow them to move to a more mature level.
The assessment will provide those results. If (say) governance is identified as an area for improvement, the organisaton would need to agree with this and then take steps to improve project governance.
The assessment tool is like a mirror - it shows you what you look like. It is up to you to decide to make changes. Saving Changes...
Alice AshPhD student| Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Brisbane, AustraliaBrisbane, Australia
Brian, could you please explain to me more about this maturity model? Are there any differences among the models e.g OPM3, P3M3, Prince 2 etc. If I wanna come up with a PhD proposal regarding project governance and maturity model, what do you think about it? Perhaps my proposal would be how maturity model can assist in project governance? Saving Changes...
Brian PhillipsCEO| Yellowhouse.net Pty LtdHolland Park East, Qld, Australia
Aliza, you could easily turn this into a research topic, as the models are quite new. You could examine the links between:
1. A Maturity Assessment reveals Governance issues
2. The Organisation takes steps to address governance improvements
3. A Follow-up Maturity Assessment - are there any improvements?
You would need to discuss models, improvements, organisational issues, governance as an improvement issue.
You might consider looking at Value loss concerns around IT governance (google it). Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Wow Aliza - you've bitten of a huge topic and debate in the industry that was raised over 20 years ago and is still ongoing.
The venerable patriarch of this dimension is the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMMi). It was / is promoted by the U.S. government as an indicator that a government contractor has "control" over their engineering processes - suggesting that their delivery would be more "predictable".
Since SEI/CMMi, as Brian mentioned, other players have entered the field.
I was one of the original author's of PMI's OPM3 model - Organizational Project Management Maturity Model. We were driven to develop an SEI/CMMi alternative because CMMi certification is too expensive for all but the biggest firms to acquire.
While at IBM I helped them develop their alternative. We deployed it to over 2,000 business units as a way of driving continuous project management improvement across the organization.
There are many additional models usually driven by consulting organizations in support of their assessment and process improvement consulting business.
Pe your:
"My question would be whether by developing or exercising the maturity model can really assist the organisation in assuring excellent and quality project result to obtain the trust from the project stakeholder?"
I would suggest that historically project process improvement initiatives were driven either defensively (to stop the bleeding from failed projects) or competitively ( to improve a corporations competitive advantage thru speeding time-to-market, lowering cost and improving reaction time).
Most companies who embarked on these corporate initiatives evenually reached a point (below the highest level of capability) where additional costs for incremental improved business results were not justified.
So the driver was not "project excellence" per-se (and I define excellence as achieving the 3-fold constraints as closely and predictably as possible), but rather competitive survival or advantage.
You can get further details on SEI/CMMi from Carnegie-Mellon's web site, OPM3 from PMI's site, and PRINCE2 from their support forum.
You should also goggle Dr. William Ibbs - he's done a number of longitudinal research projects on the value of Project Management.
I would add that there is not only the OPM3, CMMi, and P3M3, but a whole host of proprietary and semi-proprietary models created under various acronyms. "PMMM" for Project Management Maturity Model has been used by several authors and consulting companies.
The recent "Value of Project Management" study by Dr. Thomas and Mullaly created its own maturity model. Their findings may help you with ideas about what an increasing level of maturity does and does not yield to the organization. Ibbs & Reginato did a book on the same topic several years ago, and created their own maturity model as well.
Also note that each of these maturity models generally use some form of five-point scale, yet none of them are measuring exactly the same thing. "Level 1", "Level 2" and so on do not share the same definitions. Some are "progressive" models, where you must completely clear the requirements for the level below in order to qualify for the level above. Others are more of an evaluative tool, especially OPM3. You can score a high level of maturity in one area, but low in another. OPM3 assessments do not necessarily give an overall maturity level for the organization, but instead a host of different measures for various topic areas.
This is a huge topic, and it has never been done justice.
I think you could have some interesting research topics in the following areas:
1. Case study of a company applying one of these models
2. Literature overview, collecting all the models and comparing them
3. Usage survey, comparing the use of various models in industry
4. Impact analysis, looking at the benefits of going from one level to the next in a given model (might be VERY hard to get data to drive this)
5. Survey or study of the obstacles preventing more people from adopting these maturity models
These are just some ideas. I think it is a great area of research, but keep in mind that outside of CMMi, few companies have truly adopted any maturity model. Also, CMMi is not really specific to project management. Pick a research topic where you can get the data you need to complete your study. Saving Changes...
what is the Srengths and weaknes of prince2 in construction projects Saving Changes...
juan arraizaPMO Manager| Thomson Reuters AranzadiCizur Menor, Navarra, Spain
Hi all,
I am facilitating (as part of my PhD thesis on Organizational Project Management) a few OPM3 self-assessments in private companies in the central northern regions of Spain. Some of the companies are CMMI level 2 certified.
I have still not concluded my work, but I can clearly see that those companies that are CMMI certified do quite a good job in Project Mgmt (standarized, measured, and in some cases controlled), but they have little or non Program or Portfolio management processes in place.
The outcome of the OPM3 self assessment is mainly an improvement path / plan that you get from the tool. This improvement plan is based on the best practices and capabilities database OPM3 has.
Taking into account the experience I am gaining as part of my PhD thesis work I am afraid that the maturity of the companies I am seeing (including my own, to be honest) is not very high if we compare with the best practices proposed by OPM3.
Cheers.
Juan Saving Changes...
John SchlichterFounder| OPM Experts LLC http://opmexperts.comAtlanta, Ga, United States
When we originally developed OPM3 on behalf of PMI, we analyzed 27 existing maturity models. We studied the following things about the models:
· The scope of the model being reviewed, including its boundaries, focus, origin and purpose.
· The capabilities of the model under review, including such topics as its coverage of the PMBOK® Guide, the capabilities it contains, the extent to which paths to maturity are modeled, the working definition of “maturity”, and linkages to project success.
· How assessment of maturity is carried out, including the assessment process and whether or not organizations can “self-assess”.
· The basic structure of the model, including whether it is “staged” or “continuous”, and whether pre-requisites are defined.
· Whether or not the model contains an implementation plan to assist organizations to become more “mature”.
As a result of the analysis of existing maturity models, we concluded that the provision of a PMI standard for organizational project management maturity would benefit PMI’s stakeholders, since there were questions about project management maturity that were left unanswered by the existing range of models available to the profession and the stakeholders that it serves.
