Taking OPM3 to the Next Level
by: John Schlichter
Have you ever been riding on an elevator and overheard one executive say to another that his or her company is working on maturity level 3, 4, or 5? In any maturity model, whether the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) OPM3 or the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) CMMI or any number of other models, a maturity level is a set of performance requirements with rules regarding how those requirements are met in order to achieve higher distinctions of maturity or performance. Levels signify compelling improvement goals and milestones in the journey to excellence. Each maturity model describes maturity or advanced capabilities in a specific domain (like software development, or human resource management, or project management), and each maturity model contrives maturity levels in a way that makes sense for its intended use and audience.
The Project Management Institute’s OPM3 maturity model describes Best Practices and advanced capabilities in the specific domain of Organizational Project Management (OPM), which is the science and art of choosing the right projects to advance organizational strategies, and the implementation of the processes, structures, and behaviors necessary to deliver projects successfully, consistently, and predictably. As will be explained below, because of its ingenious modular architecture, PMI’s OPM3 offers richer maturity profiles than other current models. However, PMI has not standardized naming conventions for OPM3 maturity levels, much less standardized naming conventions for the most commonly assessed and sought OPM3 maturity profiles. If we wish levels to become formal designations, signifying the shorthand for an organization's vision or goal for the future (or its accomplishments to date), then how should we leverage the ingenious modular architecture and existing groups of OPM3 content to help organizations get their heads and hearts around the transformational possibility of OPM3?
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Have you ever been riding on an elevator and overheard one executive say to another that his or her company is working on maturity level 3, 4, or 5? In any maturity model, whether the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) OPM3 or the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) CMMI or any number of other models, a maturity level is a set of performance requirements with rules regarding how those requirements are met in order to achieve higher distinctions of maturity or performance. Levels signify compelling improvement goals and milestones in the journey to excellence. Each maturity model describes maturity or advanced capabilities in a specific domain (like software development, or human resource management, or project management), and each maturity model contrives maturity levels in a way that makes sense for its intended use and audience.
The Project Management Institute’s OPM3 maturity model describes Best Practices and advanced capabilities in the specific domain of Organizational Project Management (OPM), which is the science and art of choosing the right projects to advance organizational strategies, and the implementation of the processes, structures, and behaviors necessary to deliver projects successfully, consistently, and predictably. As will be explained below, because of its ingenious modular architecture, PMI’s OPM3 offers richer maturity profiles than other current models. However, PMI has not standardized naming conventions for OPM3 maturity levels, much less standardized naming conventions for the most commonly assessed and sought OPM3 maturity profiles. If we wish levels to become formal designations, signifying the shorthand for an organization's vision or goal for the future (or its accomplishments to date), then how should we leverage the ingenious modular architecture and existing groups of OPM3 content to help organizations get their heads and hearts around the transformational possibility of OPM3?
The remaining content for this article is available for Members Only. Please join the SIG and/or log-in at the right side of the page. Back To Top
Upcoming Webinar:
Topic:
TBA
Presentor:
TBA
Date:
Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Time:
12:00 PM EST (Click here to check your time zone)
Duration:
1 hour (1 PDU)
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