An Editorial Observation by Max Wideman
Today, the hot topic-of-the-moment is the Organization Project Management Maturity Model, or OPM3 fort short, now being sold by the Project Management Institute for $345US (regular single user price). This product is the result of an extensive volunteer member project effort commenced at around May, 1998. According to John Schlichter, the original volunteer program manager, the OPM3 "will describe the capabilities likely to lead organizations managing by projects to become increasingly more capable in the translation of organizational strategy into successful and consistent delivery of projects."
The input to the project is derived from interviews, surveys and the opinions of participants. At the end of the day, the result is no doubt a good record of what organizations are doing at each level of defined "maturity". Keep in mind, however, that just because everyone is doing it does not mean to say that it is the right nor the best thing to do. It only tells you what your most formidable competition is doing – which, of course, is a help. More importantly, one wonders how reliable are the findings if there are knowledge gaps arising from a lack of a project management knowledge structure (PMKS).
In spite of attempts over the same period, the project management community has been unable to come up with an agreed PMKS. In our view, without some structure, and all that necessarily goes with it, it is not possible to conduct effective communication of the issues. But perhaps the most important issue is "Where are the gaps in our knowledge of project management?" Without establishing this, any OPM3 must surely fall short.
If you have not visited the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) web site recently, at http://www.apqc.org you might find it worth doing so. Their primary area of interest is Knowledge Management and they specialize in Knowledge Mapping. As they say of one of their conferences:
"Knowledge Mapping:
Creating a knowledge map with a detailed understanding of information and knowledge needs is critical to any knowledge management initiative, whether enterprise wide or focused on a specific business process. This one-day session focuses on the tactical steps and tools used to identify the information/knowledge gaps, to conduct an investigative process to find out where the information/knowledge is located, and to locate and prioritize how the information/knowledge can be used to enhance key areas of focus."
So far, so good. That sounds like a pretty convincing case for knowledge mapping.
APQC claims to be "A recognized leader in benchmarking, knowledge management, measurement, and quality programs" and "helps organizations adapt to rapidly changing environments, build new and better ways to work, and succeed in a competitive marketplace." Their Knowledge Sharing Network provides access to best-practice information, metrics, and benchmarking tools and templates. Although project management is not listed as one of their areas of interest, nevertheless APQC has recently issued a white paper "Finding Project Management Performance Benchmarks".
In the report, the authors state:
"The Performance Benchmarks series of reports provide metrics results and key observations from focused benchmarking efforts. Project Management, the first report in this series, details compelling metrics data from 26 organizations that represent diverse group of industries, structures, revenue classes, and project types. Top performers were interviewed about their individual critical success factors in five key areas:
This report is the first in a new series from APQC with a singular focus on metrics results. The report details project management activities that are relevant across industries, such as office set-up, factors relating to project value and duration, resource leveling, project manager training, and documenting project management processes."
Well, well. Not a mention of metrics for customer satisfaction, let alone value to the sponsoring organization in terms of contribution to corporate strategy. Sort of proves our point regarding the value of surveying organizations on their existing practices.(1)
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all is the cost of the complete APQC report: 121 pages for a mere $995US (non-member price). At that price the Project Management Institute's OPM3, albeit the efforts of unpaid volunteers, has to be a positive give away at only $345US.
(1) PM World Today PM World Today September
2003 Editorial