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UNTIL JUST A FEW YEARS AGO, the concept of “maturity” wasseldom used to describe the state of an organization’seffectiveness at performing certain tasks. Today, we find

this maturity concept being used increasingly to map out logicalways to improve an organization’s services—particularly acrossthe software industry. Why has this evolved in this industry—why not in other areas? And why is this of interest to the projectmanagement profession? The answer to both of these questionsrests in the underlying complexities that go into the successfulcompletion of a project—software development or otherwise.

Looking at software, where the existing maturity models origi-nated, it is easy to see that there are many ways to approach theresolution of any single software problem. Software effortstypically include many more variables, unknowns and intangiblesthan we would consider “normal” for a project in many otherindustries. Because of this complexity, the expected result of aparticular software project may be more dependent on the “star”developer in a company than anything else. Unfortunately, stardevelopers go away, and, when they do, or the projects get solarge and complex that his/her influence on them is no longer isdominant, the variation in project results becomes great and leadsto inevitable frustration and disappointment. Obtaining predictableresults becomes a real challenge. Hence the extensive, govern-ment-funded research into how to evolve and measure anorganization’s effectiveness at developing software, whichresulted in the Software Engineering Institute’s CapabilityMaturity Model. However, as we have seen through repeateduse of this model in assessments, even getting organizations tothe “repeatable results” level can be challenging, never mindmoving toward optimization of processes.

It is logical that those of us in the project management arenalearn from the efforts to improve effectiveness in the softwareindustry. Applying project management concepts in any organiza-tion has many similarities to the complexities and intangibles ofsoftware development. Obtaining consistent results in any projectenvironment involves understanding and measuring as manyvariables as those that exist in the software development indus-

AUTHORS

Karen R. J. White, PMPManaging Consultant,

PM Solutions

David Yosua, PMPProduct Integration

Manager, PM Solutions

Contributing EditorsJ. Kent Crawford, PMP

Lori GippJames S. Pennypacker

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

PM Solutions is a full serviceconsulting and professionaldevelopment organizationsupporting project managementinitiatives in large, complexorganizations.

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try. We have all seen the results of heroic efforts from projectmanagers—those that rise above the processes and systems thatsupport them. Take this single project manager (just like thesingle “star” developer in the software environment) out of thepicture, and there goes the ability to ensure success. Hence theneed to look at an organization’s “complete” picture of projectmanagement effectiveness, or project management maturity.

Project Management Maturity Model

In organizations where we have done assessments, we haveseen that the evolution of project management typically lagsbehind development of other capabilities within a company. Itisn’t until the need for project management becomes critical thatorganizations pay attention to improving the project managementskills within their organization. This lack of foresight frequentlycreates an environment where the project management systemsand infrastructure are not in place to support the needs of thepracticing project management community. Eventually, it be-comes necessary to start taking a proactive look at the infra-structure necessary to progress in project management capabil-ity. In short, the need becomes so great that the organizationmust respond to growing business pressures. Often, this happenswhen executive management decides to take proactive action—but the question is action in what direction, and to what end.

There are a great number of interrelated challenges to deal within improving an organization’s infrastructure: project managersaren’t getting the information they need to manage effectively;management is not getting accurate forecasts of completiondata; there is inconsistent understanding of expectations, etc.This is often where the value of a maturity assessment comesinto play. Any model selected to measure project managementmaturity must point out a logical path for progressive develop-ment. It may not be so important to know you are a Level 2organization, but rather what specific actions you will be imple-menting to move the organization forward. What is most impor-tant is that the organization has a vision and is moving to improvethe capability of project management with very targeted efforts.Improving project management is a series of smaller steps, notgiant leaps, and many organizations will never need to realizeLevel 5 in maturity. Many organizations will achieve significantbenefit by reaching the repeatable process level area. In effect,a good model for the measurement of project managementmaturity creates a strategic plan for moving project managementforward in an organization.

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Model Description

Key Attributes of theKnowledge AreasThe Project ManagementInstitute’s A Guide to theProject Management Body ofKnowledge (PMBOK® Guide)is an excellent point of referencefor starting an examination ofproject management capability. Itis already an accepted standard,and there is a great deal of “bestpractices” information in exist-ence around the knowledge areasoutlined in the document. Unfor-tunately, this is a huge mass ofknowledge to deal with. Measur-ing an organization’s effective-ness in any one of the areasrequires that the area be brokendown further into major compo-nents that relate that area to thesuccessful implementation ofproject management.

The model that PM Solutions has developed utilizes thePMBOK® Guide’s nine knowledge areas and is patterned afterthe SEI’s CMM. The model has five distinct levels of maturityand examines an organization’s implementation across the nineproject management knowledge areas (see Figure 1). The fivelevels, similar to those in the SEI CMM model, are describedbelow. Each of the levels represents a discrete organizationalcapability based on the summary-level characteristics.

Levels of Project Management Maturity

Level 1Initial Process• Ad-hoc processes• Management awareness

Level 2Structure Process and Standards• Basic processes; not standard on all projects; used on large,

high visible projects• Management supports and encourages use• Mix of intermediate and summary-level information

Figure 1. PM Solutions’ Project Management Maturity Model utilizes thePMBOK® Guide’s knowledge areas and the Software Engineering Institute’sfive levels of maturity.

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• Estimates, schedules based on expert knowledge and generictools

• Mostly a project centric focus

Level 3Organizational Standards and Institutionalized Process• All processes, standard for all projects, repeatable• Management has institutionalized processes• Summary and detailed information• Baseline and informal collection of actuals• Estimates, schedules may be based on industry standards and

organizational specifics• More of an organizational focus• Informal analysis of project performance

Level 4Managed Process• Processes integrated with corporate processes• Management mandates compliance• Management takes an organizational entity view• Solid analysis of project performance• Estimates, schedules are normally based on organization

specifics• Management uses data to make decisions

Level 5Optimizing Process• Processes to measure project effectiveness and efficiency• Processes in place to improve• Management focuses on continuous improvement

General Component DescriptionAs mentioned previously, because the knowledge requirement isvery large within each of the PMBOK® Guide knowledgeareas, it was necessary to break down each of the nine areasinto key components. This is where the real measurement ofmaturity takes place. For example, under the scope managementknowledge area, there are six components that must be mea-sured to effectively understand maturity. The six areas that wehave identified within scope management include: businessrequirements definition, technical requirements definition,deliverables identification, scope definition, work breakdownstructure, and scope change control. These six components areexamined independently to determine the adequacy of definingand controlling the project scope.

• Business requirements definition is the assessment anddevelopment of processes, procedures, and standards relating

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to the collection of the business-related requirements of theproject.

• Technical requirementsdefinition is the assessment anddevelopment of processes,procedures, and standardsrelating to the collection of thetechnical requirements of theproject.

• Deliverables identification isthe process established to identifykey items that are necessary tocomplete the project.

• Scope definition involves theprocesses in place to adequatelydefine the scope, assumptions,and constraints of the project.

• Work breakdown structureexamines the formality withwhich an organization identifiesthe complete scope of work to beperformed. This includes lookingat the related dictionary.

• Scope change control looks at the process of incorporatingadditions, changes, and deletions to the project.

From a quick look at these six, it’s easy to see that understandingthe intricacies of project processes is a key element in determin-ing project maturity. All knowledge areas must be similarlybroken down.

Three Special Interest ComponentsThere are three areas where PM Solutions has found significantinfluence on the adoption of project management practices.These three are project office, management oversight, andprofessional development. Each of these areas has specialattention given it in the maturity model (see Figure 3).

Project Office. The project office makes the lives of projectteam members easier by supporting the team in the areas ofscheduling, status reporting, project tool operation, and training,among others. Some of the key items of support that the project

Figure 2. Because the knowledge requirement is very large within each ofthe PMBOK® Guide knowledge areas, it was necessary to break downeach of the nine areas into key components.

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office provides include consulting and mentoring of current staff,developing and promulgating methodologies and standardsrelating to project management, and serving as the central sourcefor help in planning and managing efforts. The project officefacilitates the improvement in project management maturity bybeing the focal point for consistent application of processes andmethodologies. Often, without a project office, the projectmanagement efforts of the organization are not consistent andare not focused toward a common vision. So, the project officeserves as the proverbial glue that holds the project managementefforts of the organization together.

Management Oversight. Another key component in facilitat-ing an increase in project management maturity is the amount ofmanagement oversight and involvement that key leaders of theorganization have in the project management function. Thebottom line here is that if management isn’t interested then it isunlikely that improvement will occur. If no one is holding theproject manager responsible for project accomplishment andconsistently measuring project performance, an unwritten signalis being sent to the project management community. Managersmust make use of the data that is provided by the project man-agement community and find ways to use this information toimprove organizational performance.

Professional Development. The need for continued develop-ment of project managers is essential. Project management isitself an odd mixture of technical skills, management skills, andleadership skills that few people naturally exhibit. Most of usrequire continued refinement and renewal of the skills. Theproject management profession also continues to broaden itsknowledge base—there are always new skills to learn in theproject management profession.

The Five Levels of Maturity

Why SEI CMM is used as the StandardAs mentioned earlier in this paper, research into why softwareprojects were so often completed late, over-budget, and failed todeliver what the end user really wanted resulted in the SoftwareEngineering Capability Maturity Model (SE-CMM), a way ofmeasuring an organization’s maturity in those software engineer-ing processes generally accepted as crucial to successful projectcompletion. This Capability Maturity Model has in turn become ade facto standard for process modeling and assessing an

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organization’s maturity in severalprocess areas (i.e., personnelmanagement, systems engineer-ing). Since the CMM concept hasreceived such widespreadacceptance, it makes sense todevelop a Project ManagementMaturity Model (PMMM) thatfollows the same structure.

The Key Practice Areas with theSE-CMM include areas familiarto those who have read thePMBOK® Guide: projectexecution and control. ThePMMM takes those areas andfurther decomposes them intospecific knowledge areas and theprocesses associated with thoseareas.

Notes in Measuring Againstthe Five LevelsToo often we see the implemen-tation of new tools or techniquesas a panacea that will solve all of

our problems. Maturity models can be misapplied the same way.First, there is the possibility of error in the performance of theassessment. Determining the correct level of maturity in anorganization is something less than science but more than art.There are many factors that go into determining this levelincluding individual interviews, as well as evaluating artifacts,processes, standards, knowledge, and company culture. So thereis a subjective nature to determining the level of maturity,although it’s unlikely that a wide margin of error will occur. It isextremely important to use an assessment tool that has beentested and proven to achieve consistent and correct results.

Additionally, the results of an assessment can be misused. Anassessment should really be aimed at providing a path forwardfor the organization in improving its project management capabili-ties. Typically, organizations start with a baseline assessment oftheir current situation. This is accomplished by performing acomprehensive assessment evaluating all areas where projectmanagement has an influence. From here, a periodic, abbrevi-ated assessment can indicate where progress is being made in

Figure 3. Three areas of significance influence the adoption of projectmanagement practices. These components are given special attention in PMSolutions’ Project Management Maturity Model.

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the application of project management methodologies. Thebaseline assessment enables an organization to identify thoseareas that will provide the greatest return on investment and willshow where immediate actions will have an impact.

There is a great difference between each of the five levels;organizations should strive to fill in the pockets that are weakwhile advancing those that will provide benefit. Striving toincrease the maturity level just for the sake of having a higherlevel is an unwise use of the tool. It is also recommended that anorganization attempt to maintain a close relationship of levelsacross the various knowledge areas. It has been our experiencethat the benefits associated achieving a Level 5 maturity in oneknowledge area may be erased if the other knowledge areas areall at Level 2 maturity.

So, what takes place during a maturity assessment? Any thor-ough assessment has the following four ingredients (at a mini-mum)

• Personal and/or group interviews• Artifact collection and evaluation• Widespread survey input• Benchmark comparison to established standards.

There is little substitute for the sense of discipline, understanding,and buy-in that can be obtained from a direct personal interviewwith a project management practitioner. This is a necessaryelement of an assessment to uncover the degree to which policyis put into practice. Coupled with this, is the collection of evi-dence (artifacts) supporting the implementation of projectmanagement—are all the documents required by policy com-plete, are they of high quality, etc. Third, are the concepts ofproject management understood and utilized by the major popula-tion that should have knowledge about the policies and proce-dures—what is the general view of the project managementrequirements, etc. Last, synthesizing the data and comparing thisinformation against an established standard that is logical, sound,and clear to provide a path forward is essential, Any assessmentthat does not consist of at least these elements may leave anorganization wondering where the benefit lies with the process.

Using the Results of an Assessment

The real value in performing an assessment comes into playacross several areas. Several of these areas are listed in theparagraphs below.

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Culture ChangeOne of the more difficult and most important aspects of instillingproject management discipline in an organization is changing thebehavior and habits of the people doing the work. Through theprocess of performing an assessment, the work products andprocess that people are using will be evaluated and compared tosome best practice scenarios. As this process takes place, staffmembers have the opportunity to identify with the logic in thenew processes and gain an initial understanding of what projectmanagement has to offer. Thus culture change starts to takeplace with the start of the initial assessment. Staff membersbegin to realize that they need to think differently than they havein the past. In many cases, individuals already know that changeis necessary. They’re just not sure in what direction changeshould occur. During the interviews performed during an assess-ment some indication of that direction is given to the staffmembers.

Another good avenue for starting cultural change is the commu-nication of a vision. The results of the assessment provide aclear path and tangible actions that can be implemented for thecompany to move forward. This information can be communi-cated across the company in an easily understood fashion to startpeople thinking in new directions. By using the assessmentinformation (which is based on information provided by all levelsof employees), staff members become a part of the plan topromote change or at least feel they have an understanding ofwhere the future for the company lies. This is one starting pointto generate interest and enthusiasm to improve project manage-ment.

Project Office ImplementationThe assessment can help answer another important question:What is the appropriate level of the organization at which toimplement a project office? The project office, by definition, isthe center of excellence for project management. Less clear isthe level of the organization at which the center should exist.This will depend on the degree of maturity that exists within therest of the organization. More mature organizations typicallyhave a project office at higher levels of the organization thanthose that are just starting in the project management progres-sion. Normally, what we see is that organizations who have fairlywell-established processes for project management already havecompetently functioning project offices at level one (see Figure4) and are working on their implementation of a Level II projectoffice. Those organizations that are very mature will likely be

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working on enterprise-level project offices. In each case, theassessment will reveal the actions necessary to ensure successin the next step of the project office implementation. In all of theabove cases, it will become evident that the ownership forimproving project management within the organization must restwithin a centralized location—usually the project office.

Repeated/Periodic Use as a Progressand Effectiveness ToolWe find many of our clients periodically ask themselves: “Arewe making a difference” or “Are we advancing the projectmanagement capability in the right areas, and in general?”Recurring use of the assessment can show the progress that theproject office is making toward helping the organization reach itsgoals. This can become a part of the metrics that are used tomeasure success of a project office on a recurring basis. If theproject office owns the project management capability improve-ment action, then the results of the assessment can be attributedto the actions taken by the project office to improve projectmanagement capability. It is possible to use these measures asthe basis of incentive rewards.

Periodic assessments ensure improvements are taking root,reinforcing adoption of new ways. Essentially, repeated assess-ments can be used to track progress against the project manage-ment deployment plan that would be developed as a result of theinitial assessment.

Target Six Month Improvement GoalsWe often find that organizations want to use the assessment as atool to identify specific areas of improvement that become goalsfor the next incremental period of time. They then tackle onearea, one level, at a time. This allows organizations to showimprovements over a 6-12 month period so that the improvementsponsors see a solid ROI. Small victories provide an opportunityto cheer for successes and reevaluate specific direction while re-energizing staff members. These are important “peg points” thatallow organizations to see how much they’ve learned, plan forwhat they didn’t know in the first planning session, and adapt/adjust direction for the next short-term (6 months) initiative.

Another value of the short-term reassessment is that it providesa tool to communicate success and meeting milestones toexecutives and management. Leadership sometimes has a fairlyshort-range memory, and commitment to change initiativebudgets can waiver with time.

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Setting Your Maturity Goals

Is Level 5 for Everyone?Level 5 maturity is not for everyone. Each organization needs todetermine the minimum level of maturity at which the return oninvestment is achieved and then determine the ROI associatedwith achieving the next level. It is important to realize that theselevels are evolutionary steps. We recommend that our clientsestablish an incremental improvement program with specificfocus and measurable goals that allow their organization torealize some benefits within a short period of time. We recom-mend 6-month increments, whenever possible.

We have also found it beneficial to maintain project managementmaturity in synch with other corporate process maturity, includingfinancial management, software engineering, etc. For instance,implementing mature project management processes such asearned value tracking is meaningless if the organization has notimplemented time reporting processes. Experience shows thatadvancing project management practices far ahead of othercorporate processes can cause turmoil and mistrust.

Assessing Your LevelSo, how do you determine where you are currently? There aretwo kinds of assessments that can be conducted. The firstassessment approach is the independent assessment. Projectmanagement experts, possessing a strong blend of projectcontrols, organizational structure, project management, profes-sional development, and management skills, plus an in-depthunderstanding of the PMMM, would conduct the assessment.Using a prescribed set of tools and processes (like PM Solutions’

Meeting stakeholder expectations meansestablishing a project office at the correctlevel in an organization.

Level I. An Individual Project Office whereindividual project practices and skills aredeveloped and refined

Level II. A Departmental Project Office buildson a Level I PMO by adding multi-projectcapabilities such as inter-project dependen-cies and departmental resource management

Level III. An Enterprise Project Office furtheradds the dimensions of enterprise levelintegration and roll-up of data, as well asportfolio analysis and decision making

Figure 4. Levels of a Project Office

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PMMM Assessment and HealthCheck™), these experts woulddetermine your organization’s maturity levels in the variousknowledge areas and present the results to your managementteam. The management team and the assessors would then worktogether to develop your improvement plan. This independentapproach is the preferred method when an external “expertvoice” is needed to communicate to senior executives.

The second assessment approach is a facilitated assessment. Asmall team of experienced assessors would team with represen-tatives from your staff to conduct a self-assessment. Followingthe same procedures that an independent assessment wouldfollow, this team of individuals would determine yourorganization’s maturity levels in the various knowledge areas.The team would then work with your management staff todevelop an improvement plan to achieve your desired maturitylevel. The primary challenge in the self-assessment approach ismaintaining the confidentiality of individual findings. The assess-ment fact-finding activities include staff interviews. The qualityof the information provided in these interviews can be skewed ifstaff members are not comfortable sharing negative informationto other staff members. The self-assessment approach can alsosuffer from an inherent bias towards a higher level of maturity;no one likes to hear they are at Level 1 maturity.

Conclusion

The benefits of a structured assessment of project managementmaturity lie in setting direction, prioritizing actions, and beginningcultural change rather than in understanding the current level atwhich an organization is performing. The emphasis is on “struc-tured.” It is important that the assessment itself be repeatable,provide consistent measurements and results, and provide forsome degree of benchmarking with other organizations. Thisprovides the basis for any assessment to be utilized as a “check-up” tool to measure progress, and to identify the next logicalsteps forward. Like it or not, maturity assessments may be hereto stay in this complex project management world we live in—not too distant or different from the software development worldand SEI’s CMM. PM Solutions is a full service

consulting and professionaldevelopment organizationsupporting project managementinitiatives in large, complexorganizations.

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