Tailoring, Project Management Maturity,
and the Role of the Project Manager
Principles of Project Management (BUSS 5142) - Essay Assignment
Xiao Ma (110378773)
Like the nature of the project, tailoring the project methodology is also unique. Project managers
need to “determine the appropriate combination of processes, inputs, tools, techniques, outputs,
and the life-cycle phases to manage a project” (PMBOK® Guide 2017, p. 28), which can create
numerous combinations and make the tailoring results very diverse.
The project management maturity is an indicator of organizational environments, while the project
manager plays a critical role during tailoring. Three factors all have strong influence over each other.
This essay will discuss the basics of three factors and analyse the interaction between them. After
that, the essay will explore the potential outcomes under different scenarios.
Tailoring and the Role of the Project Manager
According to PRINCE2, there are two levels of tailoring: at the organizational level or at the project
level (PRINCE2® 2017, p. 29-40).
Tailoring the standard project methods to the one of the organizations is done by the method owner
in the organization (normally the PMO), who seeks the project management methodology which
suits the organization (PRINCE2® 2017, p. 38-39). The tailoring is affected by both internal and
external factors, which together make the constraints for the method owner to tailor the standard
project management methods to the organization’s project management methodology. This is how
most organizations’ internal project management methodologies are created and maintained.
The tailoring at the project level can be done by project managers based on the organizational
methodology or directly from the standard project management methods (PRINCE2® 2017, p. 30). In
the first scenario, the organization’s project method becomes the constraint for tailoring the project
(PRINCE2® 2017, p. 38), in which the organization “may place limits on the extent of tailoring
permitted or required” (PRINCE2® 2017, p. 30). In the second scenario, project managers need to
use a similar set of internal and external factors directly as the constraints and tailor the standard
project management methods (PRINCE2® 2017, p. 33). In both scenarios, project managers need to
consider the influences from project context to tailor the project management methods. Project
managers can tailor life cycle and development approach selection, processes, engagement, tools,
methods, and artifacts (PMBOK® Guide 2021, p. 134).
More recently, the “Agile” development methods became popular in software industry, which
brought new challenges for tailoring. Other than the organizational and project level, “the method
needs to be adapted to changing needs during a program lifecycle” (Dingsoyr, Dyba, Gjertsen,
Jacobsen, Mathisen, Nordfjord, Strand 2019) and project managers need to repeat tailoring at
different project phases.
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In summary, the project manager plays a significant role in tailoring project management
methodology at both organizational and project level; the project manager also leads the team to
repeatedly tailoring it throughout the project lifecycle.
Project Management Maturity and Its Impact to Tailoring
Crawford (2021, p. 7-9) defined a five-level Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) to
evaluate organizations’ capability to manage projects. When organizations move to higher maturity
level, they can use more project management tools and use them with improved proficiency and
skills. Although PMMM focuses on the knowledge areas outlined in the PMBOK® (Crawford 2021, p.
7), the maturity of an organization has other important implications.
The model was created to prepare enterprises for the future rather than the present (Kerzner 2019,
p. XIII). Enterprises need to strategically plan their development of necessary tools and methodology
to secure their long-term interests. Although higher maturity level does not guarantee the business
success, it does improve the chances (Kerzner 2019, p. 7).
Organizational maturity is a function of competent individuals, productive teams, and a friendly
organizational environment (Anantatmula & Rad 2017, p. 123). The maturity level of the
organization can affect both business and project performance. Early research done by Yazici (2009,
p. 22) based on a survey of 86 project professionals from various U.S. service and manufacturing
organizations strongly supported that “internal and external business performance is associated with
project maturity”. More recently, similar research done by Busse, Zafer & Warner (2020, p. 745) by
collecting information from 66 German project managers re-confirmed this conclusion. The new
study also supports another conclusion that “project performance is associated with high levels of
project maturity” (Busse, Zafer & Warner 2020, p. 745). The new research could reflect the trend
that organizations want to achieve both the project and business success by enhancing their project
management maturity.
The organizational project management methodology basically provides a baseline for project
managers to do tailoring, and organizations’ maturity level sets the limit for the depth and breadth
of the tailoring. Therefore, organizations with higher maturity levels can provide more support to
project managers when tailor the methodology to fit their own projects.
The Role of the Project Manager and the Influence on Organization Maturity
The project manager is assigned by the organization to manage the project and has numerous roles
in the project team and the organization to achieve both project goals and organizational strategy
(PMBOK® Guide 2017, p. 51). The project manager can significantly influence not only the project
team and resource managers, but also sponsors, governing bodies, steering committees and PMOs.
To some extent, the project manager also can influence other stakeholders (PMBOK® Guide 2017, p.
53). To achieve their goals and power, project managers need to continuously improve their
knowledge and skills.
According to the “Project Manager Competency Development Framework (PMCD)”, the
competencies of the project manager can be evaluated from three dimensions: knowledge,
performance, and personal competence (PMI 2017a, p. 3). Employers now are inclined to hire
project managers with good technical and industry background instead of “pure” project managers
to manage specific projects. For example, a company of medical devices may require the program
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manager with the relevant background on mechanical, electronics, or software disciplines, and ask
for regulatory and compliance experiences. Therefore, the organizational and industry-specific
performance requirements are also considered in addition to the generic three-dimensional model
(PMI 2017a, p. 5).
The project manager’s competence is one of major factors to the organization’s project
management maturity. A study based on the survey of 306 South African project managers shows
the correlation between project managers’ competence and organisations’ project management
maturity (Ngonda & Jowah 2020, p. 7). When project managers have better technical skills and more
power, their organizations usually can achieve higher maturity.
The project manager can proactively improve the project environment both from project and
organizational levels. They can link their projects back to the organization strategy by involving in the
early project decision with management, aligning the project goals and objectives with the business
ones (Englund, Graham & Bucero 2019, p. 5). Project managers can also improve internal project
management by designing a project management information system (Englund, Graham & Bucero
2019, p. 9).
In conclusion, the project manager is critical to the project success, and can significantly influences
the organizational project management maturity.
Tailoring in the Organizational Context
When tailoring in an organizational context by considering the project management maturity and
the role of the project manager, the interaction will be very complicated. It is impossible to exhaust
all the combinations but discussing some typical scenarios can shine a light on their relationship.
Scenario 1, maturity level 1 + low competent project manager + low PM’s power. This is the worst
situation all project managers desperately want to escape, but the reality of many smaller
businesses. Due to insufficient inputs of organization assets, lack of knowledge of project
management and lack of support from upper management, the project manager may use whatever
ad-hoc tools (e.g., templates) they can find. There is almost no “tailoring” for the project
management methodology, and the project manager’s job is more to save projects and “bringing
them from the edge of failure to successful completion” (Pratt 2015, p. 137).
Scenario 2, maturity 3 + medium competent project manager + medium PM’s power. The project
manager uses the organization methodology as a baseline to tailor the project methodology, and
project managers have sufficient skills and knowledge. The quality of tailoring is generally good but
sometimes not perfect. For example, many project managers interpret “tailoring” as “simplifying” or
“removing”, while they should also consider “adding” some processes which are not included in the
standard set (PMBOK® Guide 2021 p. 135). A project manager who develops medical devices can
add the “regulatory and compliance” process in their project management methodology, which is
not mentioned in standard methods.
Scenario 3, maturity 5 + high competent project manager + high PM’s power. These organizations
likely have a project-based or strong-matrix structure, some may already have the tailored
methodology for different project types. Whitaker (2014) proposed a three-stage project tailoring
model. Other than the organizational the project level, he also suggested that project managers
should do “intra-project tailoring”. Project managers in this context should focus more on tailoring
inside each project phase and tailoring will be repeatedly done throughout the project lifecycle.
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Since project managers have strong influence in the project-based organization, they have the
responsibilities to promote project management literature, and become an “improvement agent”
(Sundqvist 2019, p. 1) in the organization.
Conclusion
“Tailoring” is not a standalone process contained inside the project boundary. Other than the project
goals, objectives and complexity, project managers also need to consider organizational factors such
as strategy, culture, and structure to seek the best combination. In this process, both project
manager and organization project management maturity affect the quality of tailoring. It is
important to understand the interaction between them to deliver the project and business success.
Reference
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