In this series World-renowned project management expert Harold Kerzner discusses six of the best practices in project management that are now being implemented. This month we are featuring the third best practice "Strategic Planning for Project Management." All of the best practices are related either directly or indirectly to the process of educating project personnel. Best practices are like pieces of a puzzle, when assembled, the picture can be a thing of beauty. And often, the greater the number of pieces in the puzzle, the more beautiful the final assembled picture.

Best Practice #3- Strategic Planning for Project Management

Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of those firms excelling in project management is their belief and commitment that project management should be treated as a strategic competency, necessary for the survival of the firm. With this intent, companies today appear committed to strategic planning for project management excellence using best practices.

Best Practice Makes Perfect

In this series World-renowned project management expert Harold Kerzner discusses six of the best practices in project management that are now being implemented. This month we are featuring the third best practice "Strategic Planning for Project Management." All of the best practices are related either directly or indirectly to the process of educating project personnel. Best practices are like pieces of a puzzle, when assembled, the picture can be a thing of beauty. And often, the greater the number of pieces in the puzzle, the more beautiful the final assembled picture.

Best Practice #3- Strategic Planning for Project Management

Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of those firms excelling in project management is their belief and commitment that project management should be treated as a strategic competency, necessary for the survival of the firm. With this intent, companies today appear committed to strategic planning for project management excellence using best practices.

Historically, companies mistakenly believed that if project management is used long enough, the company would become good at it. There are two fallacies here. First, companies are not about to wait decades to become good at project management. Second, using project management without continuous improvement to the methodology allows for the repetition of mistakes and poor practices.

Given the fact that strategic planning for excellence is necessary, companies have begun seeking out guidance on how to do it. Strategic planning for project management excellence is significantly different from strategic planning for products and services. Excellence in project management requires the development of a repetitive methodology for project management, a supportive culture that adamantly believes in the methodology, and continues enhancements to the methodology.

One such approach is the Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) which provides corporate guidance on how to become excellent in project management. The PMMM contains five levels, and each of the five levels represents a different degree of maturity in project management.

Level 1 ? Common Knowledge
In this level, the organization recognizes the importance of project management and the need for a good understanding of the basic knowledge of project management, along with the accompanying language/terminology. The emphasis here is on training and education.

Level 2 ? Common Processes
In this level, the organization recognizes that common processes need to be defined and developed such that successes on one project can be repeated on other projects. Also included in this level is the recognition that project management principles can be applied to and support other methodologies employed by the company, such as total quality management and time-to-market.

Level 3 ? Singular Methodology
In this level, the organization recognizes the synergistic effect of combining all corporate methodologies into a singular methodology, the center of which is project management. The synergistic effects also make process control easier with a single methodology than with multiple methodologies. However, in some firms the information systems personnel may still have a separate methodology.

Level 4 ? Benchmarking
This level contains the recognition that process improvement is necessary to maintain a competitive advantage. Benchmarking must be performed on a continuous basis. The company must decide whom to benchmark and what to benchmark.

Level 5 ? Continuous Improvement
In this level, the organization evaluates the information obtained through benchmarking and must then decide whether or not this information will enhance the singular methodology.

When the levels of maturity (and even life-cycle phases) are discussed, there exists a common misbelieve that all work must be accomplished sequentially (i.e., in series). This is not necessarily true. Certain levels can and do overlap. The magnitude of the overlap is based upon the amount of risk the organization is willing to tolerate. For example, the company can create a center for excellence in project management before benchmarking is undertaken.
Project management maturity models allow companies to more easily identify corporate-wide training initiatives for each level, as well as the establishment a professional development career path for PM?s.

As companies begin recognizing the importance of strategic planning for excellence in project management, the market place may see several more maturity models similar to the one described above. Like strategic planning, these models should be generic such that they can be applied and custom-designed to individual companies.

Stay tuned for next month's featured best practice "When to Bring the Project Manager Onboard"