High-Maturity Project Management

Going Beyond Metrics to
Quantitative Management

Abstract

We Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control and Close our projects. We manage our projects' Human Resources, Integration, Time, Scope, Quality, Communications, Cost, Risk and Procurement. We are doing all of the things that the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK(R)) tells us to do. Now what? Have we reached the pinnacle of project management?

Hardly! We have laid the foundation of good project management practice. With this foundation in place, we are finally ready to embark on our journey of excellence in project management. We are ready to move into the area that the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI(R)) refers to as "Higher Maturity Levels".

What is "High-Maturity"?

When planning to use the CMMI as a basis for process improvement, many organizations plan to stop after achieving Maturity Level 3 (ML3). They suppose that going beyond ML3 is not important, because at ML3, they will have all of their engineering and project management processes well under control. While their assessment of ML3 is correct, their supposition that the higher Maturity Levels (ML4 and ML5) do not provide real value is incorrect.

These higher Maturity Levels characterize those organizations that are truly effective and efficient. The four Process Areas at ML4 and ML5 build on the basics of good engineering and management practices, enhancing the organization's ability to gain a quantitative understanding of their projects' performance, and from that understanding to continuously improve their efficiency, effectiveness and the quality of their products. Maturity Level 4 ML4 is called "Quantitatively Managed". The Measurement and Analysis (MA) Process Area resides at ML2, so by the time an organization has achieved ML3, it collecting and analyzing useful metrics on all of its management and engineering processes. This good use of metrics provides a solid basis for planning projects based on past projects and managing project performance against the plan. How can we do better than that?

Quantitative Management capitalizes on our well-defined processes and our database of historical metrics from prior projects to apply statistical methods. These statistical methods give us a much more comprehensive understanding of past project performance that allows us to understand each project with greater precision.

For example, knowing our past performance merely allows us to see that the current project differs in some way from those past projects. But with statistical methods, we can determine if the variations are within expected control limits, or if they represent a significant deviation from the past. This understanding makes our metrics much more actionable. We will know when a deviation is within expected ranges, and when it is exceptional and requiring corrective action.

Although there is much value in that, the real value of ML4 is that it enables ML5! Maturity Level 5 ML5 is called "Optimizing". With the quantitative understanding of our performance that we gain at ML4, we are ready to engage in continuous process improvement. We know how much variation we have in our projects, and we can see when things go "out of control" (statistically speaking). So we can see where our improvement effort would be best spent to make our projects exceptionally successful.

We all worry about wasting precious resources improving for the sake of improvement. When you reach ML5, improvements that provide business value will be easy to identify, so that our improvement effort will be well spent. We will also know (theoretically) when we have reached perfection. (Although our expectation is that there is always room for improvement that is worth doing!)

From "Mature" to High-Maturity

Following the guidance of the PMBOK (or CMMI ML3) is the sign of a mature organization. It shows that you have thought seriously about what it takes to be successful on a consistent basis, and you have taken the steps that are necessary to make those things a regular part of every project.

Moving beyond mere "maturity" is a matter of continuing to learn and to grow. Build on your mature foundation by establishing a clear and quantified understanding of your projects' strengths and weaknesses. Understand what is your normal range of variation, and determine if that range is acceptable. Identify cases when a project falls outside of that expected range, and determine what went wrong and how it can be prevented in the future.

These are the hallmarks of high-maturity organizations. If you are still working on the maturity that is represented by the PMBOK or CMMI ML3, then you have much to look forward to. And if you have laid a mature foundation of good project management practices, then the benefits of high-maturity are indeed within your reach.

(R) "Project Management Body of Knowledge" and "PMBOK" are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute. (R) "Capability Maturity Model Integration" and "CMMI" are registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University.