Beyond the OPM3 Hype: A Reality Check
Craig Curran-Morton
The Hype
As many in the PM community are probably by now aware, PMI® (The Project Management Institute) has released its latest product, the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model otherwise known as the OPM3®. There has been a tremendous marketing push by PMI surrounding the product with many PMI-related publications, websites and conferences trumpeting its arrival. Given all this advertising, one is left to ask the simple question: Is it any good? If you plan to do a search on the web for feedback or discussion of the merits of the OPM3, you will be disappointed. Little, if any, constructive debate seems to have taken place in public forums on the value of the recently released product. This article is an attempt to generate some debate of the OPM3. Is it really the greatest thing since the PMBOK or is it somewhat less than that?
Let’s start by way of some background information on the OPM3® with a quick overview of how it works: The product comes in two parts -- a book and a CD-ROM. The book provides the user with the knowledge foundation for understanding the assessment and improvement portions of the tool, both of which are found on the CD-ROM. The self-assessment is a series of 151 Yes or No questions falling into one of three categories: project, program and portfolio management. Results are given to you in three forms: two radar graphs and a listing of capabilities. On the first graph, your maturity is broken down on three axes: project, program and portfolio. The second graph provides your results on a four-point radar graph with your maturity stages (standardize, measure, control, continuously improve). Finally, you receive a generalized list of capabilities where your organization is capable and where improvement is needed.
Assessment Methodology?
An initial concern with the OPM3 involves the survey methodology. It is based on Yes/No answers which are very perplexing when you’re trying to conduct a comprehensive assessment of an organization’s project management practices. To the OPM3, an organization is either pregnant or it is not: It either has a specific capability or it doesn’t; there is no in-between. In some cases, an organization can say that 100% of the time, it is black or white on a given issue, but most of the time, it is a varying shade of gray. Even if 49% of the time, an executive or sponsor is involved in setting the direction of the project, the OPM3 says 0%. In most organizations, this does not reflect reality.
In May, at the local PMI chapter conference, I had an opportunity to attend a PMI-sponsored OPM3 presentation given by one of the lead promoters of the OPM3. After the presentation, I raised a question about the survey methodology and was told that the survey assessment tool was only added as an afterthought, less than 6 months before the final version was released to the PM community. The explanation was that the project development team realized that in its final draft state, the survey-less OMP3’s format was unusable to most in the PM community. How can a product that is marketed as the most advanced project management maturity model in today’s marketplace not take an assessment strategy into account right from the onset? If the purpose of a maturity model is to assess an organization’s maturity, why was an assessment methodology not front and centre in the development of the OPM3 and why was such a poor survey methodology selected?
Organizational Assessment?
The marketing on the OPM3 indicates it is a comprehensive organizational assessment tool allowing the user to assess the entire organization. However, the current single-user form of the OPM3 allows someone only to complete a self-assessment while the yet-to-be released network version is supposed to be more like an organizational model. In its current state, organizational assessments are limited to one of two formats: The OMP3 can be installed on one computer where all participants complete it. Each participant can conduct a separate self-assessment survey and receive individual results. The results of all the participants cannot be compiled and are only available to be viewed on an individual basis. The second suggested survey format is to conduct the assessment by consensus on each Yes/No question. A group of participants would gather and discuss each question and, in turn, provide a collective Yes/No response. Although gathering the respondents together to review each question can be very beneficial, it would normally happen at the end of the survey process, not the beginning. It is disconcerting that PMI is marketing the OPM3 as an organizational assessment tool when, clearly, it is not.
Bridging the Gap?
Finally, the biggest key benefit that OPM3’s promoters are touting is that the tool will illuminate the link between projects and business strategy and bridge that gap. This is the crux of the theory of organizational project management and where the OPM3 falls down the most. The theory dictates that all projects, regardless of how small, should be directly aligned to the business goals of the organization. If they are not, then those projects should not be done. The OPM3 may or may not assist an organization in conducting better project management, but nowhere in the product is there a discussion on how it will link better project management to the business strategies of the organization. Better project management does not, by default, mean more strategically aligned projects. Although it is being marketed as such, the tool is not set up for this.
Widely-Endorsed?
Finally, PMI’s original vision for the product was to create a “widely and enthusiastically endorsed” maturity model that will become the standard in project management. However, as a colleague of mine recently said to me, “Just because you say something is a standard, does not mean it is.” Those marketing the benefits of the OPM3, from consultants to the original developers, seem to believe that the title of “standard” has already been granted to it. If we define a standard as “a practice or a product, that is widely recognized or employed, especially because of its excellence” then PMI should be waiting for the project management community to endorse the product as a standard through use, feedback and, ultimately, acceptance. As of June, PMI had sold 2,500 copies of the OPM3 and the networked version is not yet available. In the latest edition of PM Network, PMI’s project management monthly publication, the term “Proven Results” was used to headline an article about the OPM3. This smacks of self-promotion more than industry acceptance.
Conclusion
To be fair, I must admit my own bias. My company, Interthink Consulting, has its own project management maturity model that we have been successfully using in the North American marketplace for the last 6 years. In that time, we have assessed over 550 organizations from around the world on their project management practices. Does PMI enter our marketplace with the OPM3? Yes. Are they direct competition? Possibly. Given PMI’s massive marketing reach, it is potentially very worrisome. However, at the same time, the OPM3 may provide opportunities for our company because it gets organizations talking about project management maturity, something Interthink Consulting specializes in.
Ultimately, the OPM3 does not deliver on what the marketing claims it does. When all of the hype surrounding the OPM3 is removed, it is not the product many people thought they were purchasing. This article is an attempt to create discussion on the viability and usefulness of the product because, to date, the discussion on the product has been almost non-existent. PMI took a pretty big step with the OPM3, but I think they may have gotten their feet tangled in the process. Now, if you disagree with my take on it, great! Let me know, as I want to generate discussion on this topic. I haven’t seen much out there and what I have seen is, well, hype.
About the Author:
Craig
is a consultant with Interthink Consulting, a project management firm located
in Edmonton, Canada. He has been working in the discipline of project management
for almost a decade specializing in project management research, training,
coaching and facilitating project teams.
craig.curranmorton@interthink.ca
Company info:
Interthink Consulting Incorporated
10080 Jasper Avenue, Suite 702,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 1V9
Web site: http://www.interthink.ca
- Some Observations by John Schlichter
- A Comment on the John Schlichter Observations by Craig Curran-Morton