Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM)

The Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) refers to the basic steps that an organization can take to achieve excellence in project management. The key benefits of improving an organization’s project management maturity are increased efficiency, performance benefits, and customer satisfaction. To assess an organization’s project management maturity, the performance of the organization in various project management knowledge areas is evaluated.

1.0 Project Management Maturity Model - 5 Levels of Excellence

These are detailed below:

1.1 Level 1: Common Language

The first level towards achieving project management excellence is common language. The organization should actively recognize the importance of project management and promote the sharing of the project management basics and associated terminology.

The common characteristics of organizations at Level1 of Project Management Maturity Model are: inconsistent use of project management, few people interested in project management and no serious commitment by the organization to recognize the importance of project management. Level1 organizations should take the following steps to graduate to a higher level of project management maturity:

• Provide training in project management and hire certified project managers
• Support the use of project management terminology in projects
• Encourage the use of various project management tools, templates, checklists, and forms

1.2 Level2: Common Processes

The second level in the Project Management Maturity Model is common processes. The organization should make a sincere effort to use project management methodology and establish standard processes to be replicated in future projects to ensure the repetition of success.

The common characteristics of organizations at Level2 of Project Management Maturity Model are: an understanding of the benefits of project management, support to project management across various levels, and a defined process and methodology for managing projects. Level2 organizations should take the following steps to graduate to a higher level of project management maturity:

• Develop a support for project management throughout the organization
• Recognize the long term benefits of project management
• Choose one of the project management methodologies and then ensure the defined process is replicated in all projects.

1.3 Level3: Singular Methodology

This is the third level of the Project Management Maturity Model. The level 3 organization understands the value of combining corporate methodologies into one singular methodology for project management.

The common characteristics of organizations at Level3 of Project Management Maturity Model are: integrated processes, whole-hearted support by the organization to the singular project management methodology, and less paperwork for rigid policies and procedures. Level3 organizations should take the following steps to graduate to a higher level of project management maturity:

• Integrate all processes into a universally accepted project management methodology
• Develop a sense of shared responsibility for the principles of project management

1.4 Level4: Benchmarking

This is the fourth level of the Project Management Maturity Model. Level 4 organizations understand the essence of continuous process improvement for maintaining competitiveness in the market. These organizations continuously compare their project management with those of the leaders in the market to set benchmarks.

The common characteristics of organizations at Level4 of Project Management Maturity Model are: existence of a project management office (PMO) dedicated to improving processes and performance of both quantitative and qualitative benchmarking. Level4 organizations should take the following steps to graduate to a higher level of project management maturity:

• Create a culture of benchmarking within the organization
• Set up a project management benchmarking process as utilised in Six Sigma projects.
• Understand the benefits of benchmarking

1.5 Level5: Continuous Improvement

This is the fifth level of the Project Management Maturity Model. Level 5 organizations continuously analyze the information obtained from benchmarking and implement it to improve their project management process. Such organizations constantly strive towards project management excellence.

The common characteristics of organizations at Level5 of Project Management Maturity Model are: creation of lessons learned after each project and application of lessons learned from previous projects into subsequent projects.

Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) - Tip

As you strive towards moving your organization to a level 5 of the Project Management Maturity Model, it is not necessary that you follow these levels in a sequential manner. Very often these levels will overlap and the amount of overlap is governed by your organization’s risk tolerance limit.

The key thing is to find a way to implement successful project management so that you can consistently deliver project to time and cost.