How to incorporate performance measurement into a project
Caleb WerthPlanning specialist| Ramsey Washington Recycling and EnergyMn, United States
Hi - I am doing research on how to incorporate performance measurement into a project. I did find a PMI resource, a conference paper -- Integrating performance measures for effective project and program portfolio leadership. Though I am really looking for information related to strategies, tools, techniques and best practices for integrating performance measurement into projects.
I did performance measurement work 15 years ago, so I am pretty rusty in this area. Wondering if any of you have any tips, advice, or resources that could help me put together recommendations. Please let me know.
Hi Caleb, this is a very interesting topic. I am responsible for Project Quality in my company and also for me it is difficult to find ways a) to rate the performance of the PMs without offending them b) rate the success of actions I put in place to increase PMs skillset
What I currently do, lacking a better approach, is auditing and interviewing the PMs whether they are updating the Project Documents (Like Budget Burn Chart, Detailed project plan etc.) on a regular basis and observing their way of working. Has the PM changed his/her way of acting after last training/workshop etc.
But a real judgement of performance, no idea so far. Please let me know, when you found something!
Are you referring to team performance, individual performance, process performance or all of the above?
Kiron
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2 replies by Caleb Werth and Rebecca Stames
Nov 28, 2022 11:45 AM
Caleb Werth
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Hi Kiron - I am referring to overall project performance. So I guess all of the above. Looking for the best ways to track, measure, monitor the performance of a project throughout its lifecycle.
Probably the most commonly used is earned value management for measuring cost and schedule performance. It is not the most effective in every situation, but if you're doing research then it is a good starting point.
Many other metrics exist which can be used to manage desirable or negative outcomes. If you are managing a predictive project, you might use change metrics where change is bad because it drives rework. In agile delivery models, high rate of change might be good as it shows rapid implementation of functionality or reduction in bugs as an example of how the same metric might reveal different things.
In systems terminology, important characteristics we might wish to manage are sometimes called "ilities", like scalability or flexibility although they are sometimes challenging to measure. Those can apply to a product created by a project, or to the performing organization.
If you want to research some of the more cutting edge use of measurements to improve outcomes, you might be interested in optimization using genetic algorithms, the potential for quantum computing to greatly improve predictive abilities, and the use of "digital twins" in organizations. Saving Changes...
I agree with Keith. The best way to track project performance is using the Earned Value metrics. You can use Microsoft Project with an S-Curve add-in to display EV metrics graphically. Microsoft Project also allows the creation of a personalized table with EV metrics in its columns, including EV. PV, AC, SV, CV, etc. Saving Changes...
Caleb WerthPlanning specialist| Ramsey Washington Recycling and EnergyMn, United States
Nov 21, 2022 12:05 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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Caleb -
Are you referring to team performance, individual performance, process performance or all of the above?
Kiron
Hi Kiron - I am referring to overall project performance. So I guess all of the above. Looking for the best ways to track, measure, monitor the performance of a project throughout its lifecycle. Saving Changes...
it really depends on the approach taken to deliver the project. Where the necessary prerequisites can be met, earned value provides a good framework for cost, schedule and scope performance, but you'd still want to assess qualitative measures such as stakeholder satisfaction and team morale. EVM also doesn't address benefit realization, so you'd need to have operational definitions and owners for measuring and reporting benefits.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Latha Thamma reddiSr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC TechnologyMckinney, Tx, United States
It depends on approach taken to deliver the project, prerequisites has to be met, quality measures, stakeholder satisfaction's and team morale. Saving Changes...
EMMANUEL OKORIEPM II| PROJECT PORT NIG LTDIgando, La, Nigeria
To start with,what do you want to measure?
What are you looking at hence you need to set the KPIs and then decide how to measure:Timing,frequency etc
Hope this is useful
Thanks Saving Changes...
