Question

Give an example of a project management standard and an example of a project management metric. Describe how each advances the organization’s project management effectiveness.

Answer 1

An example of project management standard is Capability Maturity Model. This is mostly used for software development organizations. CMM provides a methodology to refine the process of software development through effective project management. CMM provides five levels of project management scenario in the organization. They are

• Level 1 – at this stage, organizations do not have specific processes in place and project management is ineffective.
• Level 2 – at this stage, there is some project management practices in place
• Level 3 – at this stage, the project management processes are defined within the organization but the measures are not correctly implemented
• Level 4 – at this stage, the project management process are in place and the processes are measured and controlled
• Level 5 – at this stage, organizations focus on optimization of their project management process.

An example of project management metrics is the scope of work. This is a very crucial metric. The scope of work is usually defined at the beginning of the project. Any changes to the scope can change the completion time and date for the project. However, the scope of work also defines the boundary and expectation of the stakeholders for the project.

The project management standards such as CMM helps organizations to systematically improve their project management approach and be more effective in handling more complex projects. The description above on different levels clearly indicate how the evolution of project management practice takes place within the CMM standard.

The metrics on the other hand defines the success and failure criteria of the project. It also shows how efficiently the project was handled and helps organization to improve upon their shortcomings in the future.