Components of Project Management Maturity Impacting Project, Program, Portfolio, and Organizational Success

Due to alarmingly high failure rates attributed to either a lack of project implementation or if implemented, poor results in organizations, many PM consulting organizations have begun developing their own PM maturity models (PM3) to assess organization maturity level, to identify their clients' PM maturity gap, and to provide a pathway by which their clients could move up the maturity scale and performance. Despite the many claims of PM3 assessment capabilities, the lack of success in market adoption of PM3 models suggests the need for more studies to identify if these are due to the many definition of project success, the lack of consensus of what the components of PM3 should be, or the increasing expectations of the PM community. Thus, this chapter aims to identify the reasons behind differing organizations' views on the dimension of project success, components of PM3's direct impact on organizational performance, and how PM maturity can be measured and correlated to the various level of organizational success with a new approach known as DPM3.

Agile Maturity

Information technology (IT) projects are not adding value to organizational strategies. This is due to the high failure rates of these projects. Agile is perceived as a possible solution to this dilemma and preliminary evidence indicates that this is actually the case. To enhance the success rates of IT projects, agile principles need to be adopted and this can only be done through a process of maturity. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of agile in IT project success and to show how agile maturity can be achieved through the application of maturity models. Agile maturity models themselves are not the answer as organizations themselves should be agile mature. This is achieved through a new way of thinking and working. The conclusion is that there should be a new way of managing IT projects in order to achieve value.

Insight in Changeability as a Success Factor for Projects

Being able to adapt to changes quickly is an important asset in today's world. More and more organizations are becoming aware of a need to improve their capacity for change. A high project management maturity does only part of the job. The success of a change also depends on the attitude of the employees and managers towards change (change-readiness). When looking for a comprehensive framework to assess and improve an organization's change capacity, the authors failed to find an existing model that was complete in its scope. There was either a focus on project management maturity or on the emotional change-readiness, but never on both. This chapter describes the development and test of a comprehensive framework that assesses all relevant aspects of the ability of an organization to go through changes successfully. The instrument also yields indicators for interventions that can improve this ability.

Organizational Maturity Beyond Risk Management

Project-oriented organizations face environments differing in complexity, with different degrees of maturity needed to manage uncertainty. In this chapter, the authors analyze where, when, and by whom structure or autonomy should be made use of in project-oriented organizations, and which kinds of structure and autonomy are appropriate for dealing with complex, uncertain situations and unexpected events. After a short discussion of project management maturity models, the authors investigate the concepts of risk, uncertainty, and the unexpected based on organization theory inspired by decision-making concepts and systems theory. Implications for uncertainty management and managing the unexpected on project and organizational level and high-reliability practices are then derived with a critical look at recent approaches of project management adhocracy.

Project-Based Organizational Maturity in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction

“Theory and practice” seems to be a common phrase in project-based organizations these days due to the academic nature of the work involved in business. This chapter describes the authors' vision for how project-based firms, such as architecture, engineering, and construction organizations, can reach organizational maturity in their respective practices. The chapter articulates the utility of project management maturity models as a necessary means for maturity measurement and growth. Likert-type scales are mentioned as a tool used by consultants to assess organization parameters, as a way of quantifying certain data that can assist with necessary changes. The authors share recommendations in the technology arena, as well as theory research constructs that may help project-based practitioners and companies better understand and apply maturity strategies. These are some of the prime elements in use in these types of organizations because they create value as well as survival enhancements.

Project Management Maturity and Associated Modeling

A universal definition—much less an understanding—of project management maturity and its achievement does not exist. The issue raises many questions, and a review reveals inconsistencies. One is the disconnect between the use of prescriptive models relying on highly defined processes to measure capabilities that manage projects with undefined elements. Universities represent an organizational model on their own unique path toward project management maturity. Over the last decade, they have—as part of a larger trend where specialized management techniques are being adopted (such as strategic planning and business process re-engineering)—embraced project management practices in an attempt to apply a greater degree of planning and coordination to teaching and learning strategies. The management of e-learning projects has been directly affected by such developments and is presented here as representative of a reliable project management capability using non-process factors. This chapter explores these issues.

Developing Project Management Maturity as an Organizational Change Process

The entanglement of project management and the management of organizational change is not reflected in the literature on and standards of project management maturity. Studies on maturity concentrate on identifying the components that determine an organization's maturity, the levels in which this maturity can be expressed, and the effects of maturity. However, the process of changing from one level to another level is hardly or not addressed. By taking an organizational change perspective on developing maturity, this chapter develops a framework that provides guidance for the development of maturity. For every transition, from one level to another, a set of interventions is provided that addresses both the hard and the soft dimensions of organizational change. Successful project management maturity development requires that equal attention is being paid to both the hard and the soft dimensions of organizational change. The framework developed in this chapter provide guidance for this.

Role of Organizational Project Maturity on Business Success

This chapter reports findings from two studies on the progress made with respect to project maturity based on OPM3 metrics and the role project maturity plays on organizational performance. Maybe it is a little surprising that the signification effect of maturity is not reported directly on project success. This research demonstrates the significant contribution of project maturity on perceived organizational internal and external performance. The increase in organizational project maturity levels 3 and higher during the last five years is certainly promising and signals a positive outlook for the future. The chapter also discusses the importance of the organizational maturity and the new paradigms of maturity and sustainable development, beneficial to project maturity research.

Project and Portfolio Maturity for Waterfall and Agile

Projects, programs, and portfolios can be safeguards for organizational continuity, enablers of evolutions, or catalysts for change. It is therefore essential to take the maturity into account of the organization they are serving. It is by embedding attention for it on the different levels that the drawbacks of maturity concerns can be turned into micro-catalysts for change, advancement, and success. This chapter analyzes different complementary components of organizational maturity, mainly maturity for program and portfolio management, the maturity of the relation between project and resource management, and maturity on strategy management. The levering potential of maturity risks is briefly be addressed. To give more depth to the silver lining, two cases are integrated. Together, they illustrate that attention for the organizational maturity concern is a concern that goes beyond the differences between traditional Waterfall projects and more agile paced contexts.

The Maturity of the Project Owner

A key success factor in projects is the performance of the “project owner.” The “maturity” of a project owner is dependent on his knowledge, skills, and attitude—thus his “potential”—to perform this role in a project. The maturity of a project owner is based on a clear role perception, on competences in project management, and on the ability to build and maintain appropriate relationships with relevant stakeholders. The role of the project owner has to be understood and accepted by the project manager and the project team, and by representatives of relevant stakeholders, such as the client, suppliers, etc. Mature project-oriented organizations have procedures for project management, which may include descriptions of project management sub processes and methods and expectations towards the diverse roles in projects. Nevertheless, the author observes in practice that the potential of performing a project owner role professionally is not yet used consistently in organizations. In the chapter, different aspects of the maturity of project owners are discussed.