Review Project Management Maturity Model Fourth Edition

Project Management Maturity Model Fourth Edition, written by J. Kent Crawford, is a comprehensive but complete guide to understand and use the maturity model PMMM. The PMMM is based on the knowledge areas of the 6^thedition of the PMBoK guide and the five levels of maturity from CMMI.

Each knowledge area is broken down the into specific key components. E.g., resource management is broken down into the key components resource management planning, resource estimation, resource acquisition, team development and team management. For each component you get best practices to look for or to implement. Furthermore, for every knowledge area special attention is given to adaptive/agile environments.

The book explains what must be in place for each key component within each knowledge area to reach one of the CMMI maturity levels.

The used maturity levels are:

• Level 1 Initial process
• Level 2 Structured process and standards
• Level 3 Organizational standards and institutionalized process
• Level 4 Managed process
• Level 5 Optimized process.

The used knowledge areas are:

• Project integration management (including special component: project office)
• Project scope management
• Project schedule management
• Project cost management
• Project quality management (including special component: management oversight)
• Project resource management (including special component: professional development)
• Project communications management
• Project risk management
• Project procurement management
• Project stakeholder management.

In PMMM special attention is given to three special components project office, management oversight and professional development.

The final chapter Now what? Using your maturity assessment to achieve business goals gives some insights in potential improvements when reaching a higher level of maturity. It briefly explains culture change and employee satisfaction, baselining capability for performance management, PMO implementation, repeated use as progress and effectiveness tool and target six-month improvement goals. It ends with some considerations when setting maturity goals. A level 5 maturity goal may not be appropriate for every organization.

In appendix A a self-assessment survey is provided to assess your own organization’s project management maturity. It gives a list of all knowledge areas including the key components and you must score the maturity level (1 – 5) of each.

worth mentioning is the complementary Project Portfolio Management Maturity Model (PPMMM) in appendix B. This model uses the same five CMMI levels and is organized into the following eight component areas:

• Portfolio governance
• Project opportunity assessment and initiation
• Project prioritization and selection
• Portfolio & project communications management
• Portfolio resource management
• Portfolio risk management
• Portfolio management organizational structure
• Portfolio performance management.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a maturity model and your organization is using the PMBoK guide to manage projects this book could be of help. The break down into key components is helpful to get a better understanding of your maturity for each knowledge area. Only a pity that the self-assessment is not made up of reflective statements. 

To order Project management maturity model: managementboek.nl, bol.com