I’ve accomplished many challenge administration maturity assessments utilizing the P3M3, OPM3, and 4Q fashions for purchasers, and they’re an incredible instrument for bettering challenge administration success however too many organisations get fixated on the scores that come out of the mannequin. Some organisations suppose that if they’re a 2 they have to be a 3; or if they’re a 3 they have to be a 5 (the size is often 0-5 with 5 being the very best degree of maturity). I do know of 1 organisation that made it clear to the assessor that they might not settle for any rating lower than 4 in any of the evaluation areas as a result of that’s what their supervisor anticipated them to be (regardless of clearly not assembly the necessities for this).
The organisation’s that do that, and the consultants that permit it, are lacking the purpose about these instruments. The purpose of any maturity evaluation ought to all the time be about success, particularly how the organisation defines success, and serving to the organisation be extra profitable. The maturity evaluation itself ought to take a snapshot of present ranges of success and likewise the rating from the mannequin – this turns into the baseline. The subsequent step is to work with the shopper to outline what the longer term degree of success ought to be, after which with this data outline goal scores in areas that the organisation ought to concentrate on to realize these ranges of success – reaching the brand new/increased scores is simply an added bonus. It ought to all the time be about success and never in regards to the rating – there’s a correlation not causation relationship between scores and success.
For instance, I’ve personally seen that it’s doable to have a extremely profitable organisation scoring low 3’s and an organisation scoring excessive 4’s that wasn’t profitable in any respect resulting from pointless course of and forms. For the primary organisation there was room for slight enchancment in areas that truly delivered worth, and for the second organisation there was a possibility to develop into extra environment friendly however doing much less.
One of many first questions you must ask when beginning a maturity evaluation is how profitable are you, and the way profitable do you need to be? If the organisation can’t reply these then they’re going to get a low rating anyway they usually in all probability have a variety of points to cope with. After you have this data you may then use the mannequin you need (P3M3, OPM3, & Praxis are all good fashions) to get scores from 0-5 in a number of areas of portfolio, programme, and challenge administration.
The as an alternative of arbitrarily recommending will increase in scores, you might want to concentrate on a rise in success, and use the mannequin to determine the areas (and their scores) that can present this uplift. The goal scores ought to be targeted on being extra profitable and never simply getting the next rating.
And naturally, a very powerful a part of any maturity evaluation are the suggestions for enchancment. These have to be prioritised and achievable given organisational talents and constraints.
So, in case you are contemplating a challenge administration maturity evaluation, and also you undoubtedly ought to, be sure that the main target in on lifting your success charges, and never merely lifting the rating.