Methodologies & Framework for Project Management

Over the past few years, Project Management has undergone a methodological standardization process that involved Italy too. The best practices, traditionally passed on from one project manager to another, were followed by a sharing out of experiences through the setting up of several sector associations, which resulted in the establishment of international standards, the certification of competences (PMP – IPMA) and, lastly, the proliferation of Maturity Models (CMMI – OPM3). This rich proposal, stemming from the need to have suitable instruments to manage projects, drove many Italian enterprises – both large and small – to create or enhance this professional profile within their organization.

Yet adopting a standard or obtaining a certification does not always automatically guarantee success!

The goal of this brief presentation is to thoroughly analyze the critical factors to be managed so as to limit project risks. We will describe how we interpret this matter, leaving it up to the reader to deepen his/her knowledge of best practices by reading the ‘sacred’ texts available in literature. This approach, which we may define “situational”, is the one A&P Consulting aims to pursue in managing its project and when it is asked to assist a client’s PMO.

Experience has taught us that what worked well in a given situation not necessarily will work well in another, even if it is a similar one. Hence we must be able to analyse the different situations in order to organise the available resources in the best possible way.

What are the main challenges the Project Management Office must face?

-        Understand the peculiarities (critical aspects, range, priorities, etc.) of the projects and relevant inter-dependences;

-        Track down the project’s risks;

-        Monitor the progress of the project in order to comply with the time slots, costs and quality of deliverables and to adequately respond to the current status of each project and the estimate at completion;

-        Optimise the use of resources;

-        Manage communication with all stakeholders;

-        Adopt the due tools and methods in order to monitor projects.

The situational choice model envisages, inbound, choice variables such as the type and size of the project, the level of uncertainty in the productive process, the complexity of the relation with the context and, outbound, the Project Manager’s modulation variables: intensity of planning processes, intensity of integration with the context outside the project, intensity of integration inside the project team and intensity of monitoring and inspection processes.

Modulating the variables means “sewing the right dress for the project that is to be run” hence clearly defining the project goals, choosing the representations, tools and formal techniques to be used (OBS, WBS, PERT, GANTT, Risk/Control Matrices...), duly hand out responsibilities so as to involve the resources, defining modalities and frequency for the update and disclosure of action plans, handling relations between resources, arrange frequent meetings for the validation of semi-processed products, check the Quality of deliverables too often subject to the check of the project’s other two variables (Time Slots and Costs).

In order to overcome such challenges and reach the goals defined in the projects, the PMO must have an adequate cultural background, consisting of an awareness of PM processes, of techniques and methods, of managerial and behavioural approaches.

External references:

Websites in Italian:

-        www.isipm.org Website of the Italian Institute of Project Management (Istituto Italiano di Project Management) whose goal is to spread PM practices in Italy; it has instituted the ISIPM-Base certification, launched in October 2008 with the book “Guide to basic project management certification”, published by F. Angeli, which has certified over 1000 people.

-        www.pm-forum.it First Italian PM forum, set up in January 2000 and containing many articles.

International websites:

-        www.pmi.org The Project Management Institute (PMI) is acknowledged as the most authoritative body for the spreading of the discipline. Founded in 1969 in the US with the goal of standardising common practices in the management of all sorts of projects, it runs training programmes for project management and regularly publishes manuals that are actually deemed as a benchmark for project and Program Management, Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), The Standard for Program Management, Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3), The Standard for Portfolio Management and many more;

-        www.iso.org The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), through directive ISO/IEC/IEEE 16326:2009 provides normative content specifications for project management plans covering software projects, and software-intensive system projects;

-        www.ipma.ch It is based in Zurich and consists of about 20 national associations from Europe, Africa and Asia. It organises conferences and seminars and provides training and certification activities.

-        www.prince2.com The English-origin methodology PRINCE2 (Project IN a Controlled Environment), very common in Information Technology and TelCo environments, is a framework of processes that form the life cycle of a project, with great focus on the expected product and, above all, the expected benefits.