I'm looking for off-the-shelf project management processes that I can evaluate against a set of selection criteria. If you know of any (other than PACE, Martin-Tate, or Pragma Systems), please give me a shout. Saving Changes...
Laura, I would suggest checking out Productivity Plus from DMR. Productivity + is used at The Boeing Company and Sears in Chicago. Other methodologies to consider are Capability Maturity Model from SEI which I believe has a PM component to it. Go to WWW.ALLPM.Com and click on Reports & Guides. Also, go to my website, MoneyWords.Com, click on Bookmarks, then IT Project Management, for more meaningful links including one on methodology. One shoe does not fit all you need to factor the client's culture, goals, PM maturity level, and budget when developing a process. Saving Changes...
John ZacharProduct Dev Manager| Association for Project Management (APM)Brackley,, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Good advice so far, but it looks to me like it is USA centric. I am a transplanted Yank, living and working in England.
Since arriving here, I have discovered a PM Methodology that is the best I've seen and used. It is called Prince 2 from CCTA (Central Computing and Telecommunications Agency). Have a look at www.ccta.gov.uk/prince
There are some gaps in the method, for example there is little about estimating or stakeholder management, but you can easily pick that up from another source. The method is product or deliverable based, and my success rate using Prince2 as a foundation is practically perfect. Good luck! Saving Changes...
Tom, Thanks for the tip. I'm quite familiar with CMM really have no need to be so stringent. However, I am including it in my analysis, so that I am as objective as possible. The product by Pragma Systems, ProcessMax, is a CMM compliant tool that comes with processes.
John, Thanks for the tip about Prince. I'll go check it out now. Saving Changes...
First of all, there is no complete "off the shelf" solution for any particular environment.
That being said, I'll throw what is probably the expected 2 cents (from me) in here for the approach to project management encompassed by Critical Chain Scheduling, Buffer Management, and Synchronized Multi-Project Management. With the addition of the use a few other TOC Thinking Processes, Critical Chain-based project management has considerable to offer to what PMI refers to as Initiating, Planning, Controlling, and Executing Processes.
Laura, I think the trick is customizing a PM solution that fits the culture, PM maturity level, objectives, and budget of your organization. Today, most companies are stepping back from CMM and even Object-Oriented methodologies because these processes add overhead costs to the organization, costs that can and should be avioded. Organizational size and complexity also needs to be considered when fashioning a solution. There's no shortage of PM or SW methodologies, the question is what's doable in the near term and further down the road? Best to keep it simple at first and grow the process over time. Saving Changes...
I agree that there is probably no set of processes out there that will do exactly what I want. And I recognize that I need to tailor it to my environment. I'm just looking for the best starting point, and working from there - I want to be able to reuse as much as I can.
It looks like we may have identified the better mouse trap (for PM in our consulting arena), and I'm going with it. When it's complete, I'll share it with Gantthead. Saving Changes...
I'm looking for PM processes, not SDLC. Although, eventually we will be integrating with an SDLC. The reason for just looking at only PM at this point, is that we need that strong foundation in which to hook up all the other processes (SDLC, BPR, etc.). Saving Changes...
At Tiernon Strategies, we have completely documented our Project Management methodologies. These guide our project management efforts from Project pre-qualification through definition, execution and completion. These are alos aligned with the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Standards.
