The Next Evolution in PMO Maturity Assessments
When it comes to improving performance, Project Management Office’s (PMOs) are in a difficult position. Over the past decade, project failure rates have hovered around 70%, costing $50 billion to $150 billion in lost revenue and productivity. It’s no surprise given these statistics organizations continually seek ways to improve project success rates, and conducting a PMO maturity assessment is a good place to start on the road to improvement.
Project management methodology, scope, and durations may vary, but the desired outcomes remain the same: deliver results without unnecessary delays or costs. Consequently, many companies try to improve their results by improving the maturity of their PMO. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), one of the keys to improving project success rates is the alignment of executive strategy with projects.
However, this alignment isn’t accurately captured using standard PMO Maturity Models. Traditional models focus on consistency of management process and not on the operational effectiveness of project management. They also do very little to consider the culture of the organization performing the work. This boils down to perceived value. The organization must value the effort and product of project management activities to deeply institutionalize them and ultimately increase success.
To evolutionalize the standard PMO assessment, Think developed the Think Effectiveness Assessment Model (TEAM). TEAM correlates strategy, operational maturity, and culture into one scalable and enduring assessment model. TEAM works with any type of environment, including Waterfall, Incremental, and Agile. But more importantly, it embraces the most important part of any organization — its people and how they work. The insights provided by this assessment model offer immediate options for action that range from strategic planning and re-alignment to tactical process changes that make project management more effective.
Each organization has its own maximum effectiveness state that is as unique as its culture and operational needs. TEAM provides the necessary fidelity to map findings, rationale and artifact evidence to plans for change. Executives who want to improve project performance must have a better method to assess practices. We believe TEAM is the answer. As true practitioners who provide consulting expertise to the C-suite and PMOs, we love to talk shop with anyone who shares our passion for making sure projects operate at maximum performance and are completed on time.
