Page 57 - Organizational Project Management

Chapter 6—The OPM3 Cycle

the path to Best Practices that represent organizational project manage-
ment maturity.
The changes that the organization makes are themselves projects. Con-
sequently, the organization should approach the planning and implemen-
tation of desired changes as projects. Organizations should consider the
®
processes described by the PMBOK Guide to guide each project to suc-
cessful completion.
The realm of planning and implementing organizational change per se
is an enormous one and not within the scope of OPM3, even though one of
the purposes of the Standard is to lead an organization to the point of being
able to identify its current state and plan confidently to implement needed
improvements.
During the implementation of improvements, a great many factors may
be affected, including organizational structure, leadership, strategy, and the
business model. Changing any of these will often alter the priorities of the
organization and may have other unexpected consequences. Organizations
using OPM3 should not hesitate to monitor their progress, and revise their
plans in the midst of change, if priorities shift and a new course of action
becomes clear.

6.3.5 Step Five: Repeat the Process
Having completed some improvement activity, the organization will do one
of two things: 1) reassess where it is currently on the continuum of orga-
nizational project management maturity by repeating the Assessment (Step
Two), or 2) return to Plan for Improvements (Step Three) to begin working
toward other Best Practices identified in an earlier assessment, but not acted
upon.
Given the length of time that organizational initiatives often involve,
most organizations should consider option 1, returning to Assessment.
Reassessment will allow verification of the improvements just implemented.
Also, the elapsed time following the original Assessment may have coin-
cided with changes that could well affect the results of a new Assessment.
Leadership shifts, altered budgetary constraints, acquisition of new com-
petencies, methodologies, or technologies, and the implementation of new
strategic objectives—any of these, along with changes in the competitive
landscape, could produce significantly different answers to the Assessment
questions and, therefore, a different resulting view of the organization’s
position on the continuum of organizational project management maturity.
Some organizations may have a short first cycle of improvements, or
may have experienced little other significant change during the cycle. They
may decide on option 2 and return directly to Step Three: Plan for
Improvements to examine other Best Practices requiring attention that had
been identified by the original Assessment.
While sustainable organizational improvements may happen through a
single improvement initiative, OPM3 can add considerable value when
applied in connection with multiple improvement cycles. The first improve-
ment cycle can prepare the foundation for much more valuable improve-
ments in future cycles. Organizations can continue utilizing OPM3 to
harness more and more of its full potential. In this way, they will help to

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