A growing number of organizations have embraced organizational project management (OPM) in an effort to increase performance and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Research shows that a successful OPM strategy is dependent upon strong project management methodology – one that aligns organizational goals across the portfolio of projects.
An effective project management methodology provides a standardized, organization- or situation-specific approach that encourages efficient use of resources in order to enable the organization to focus on its most important tasks—leading, innovating, and delivering products and services.
While some organizations recognize the importance of project management, others continue to execute projects without a methodology. The lack of a strong methodology could lead to project or program failure.
Project Management Institute has introduced Implementing Organizational Project Management: A Practice Guide to assist organizations in developing and defining effective project management methodologies. In a 2012 PMI market research project, more than half of the respondents identified a lack of published guidance on development of customized methodologies.
This practice guide outlines practical knowledge and steps to define and develop a methodology in alignment with the foundational standards and framework that were first provided in PMI's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).
Implementing Organizational Project Management demonstrates how an effective project management methodology integrates globally-accepted best practices with business-specific processes and techniques.
The guide will help practitioners develop relevant and effective methodologies for their organizations, with emphasis on:
- Important elements of a methodology;
- Essential tools, templates, and resources;
- Custom-fit approaches for consistent management of all projects;
- Alignment of project management practices across the organization's portfolio of projects;
- Application of lessons learned to capture organizational knowledge and learning, resulting in regular updates and refinements; and
- Consistent application of project management practices within the organization.
This practice guide provides the necessary tools to help project management practitioners develop a living, evolving methodology that will allow them to assess and refine their practices and become "best in class" performers.
Organizations are learning the value of customizing project, program and portfolio management processes to fit their specific objectives, practices and environments. Creating such a documented approach, called a methodology, allows the organization to standardize its project management practices company-wide and to increase the effective and efficient use of resources. In turn, the organization can focus on the important tasks—leading, innovating and delivering products and services.
A methodology usually incorporates and integrates:
- Knowledge about the way in which an organization conducts its business, including requirements and processes.
- Key aspects of culture and capabilities, as well as environment, industry sector and operational context.
- Proven, recognized best practices or techniques and approaches such as those found in the PMBOK® Guide and other PMI standards.
For practitioners, a methodology provides consistency for both project managers and team members across the organization. Common tools, templates and other resources help the project manager guide the project to success. By creating a common language and a framework, individual team members don't get mired down in creating custom tools and templates and can better understand their roles and expected contributions.
Implementing Organizational Project Management: A Practice Guide is available now as a no-cost download for a limited time at
www.pmi.org/methodology to all visitors, regardless of membership status.
The project management principles in the PMBOK® Guide provide the foundation on which to build a strong methodology. Explore our resources on this important topic.Also Read at 4Hoteliers.com: (Click title to read the full article)
