Every Journey needs a Roadmap

Maturity models are extremely valuable in establishing an organisation’s current capabilities in project, programme and portfolio management (P3M) and providing a roadmap for future improvement. With uncertainty still hanging over the PMI’s OPM3 model, AXELOS’ Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Maturity Model (P3M3^®) is now the leading global P3M maturity framework and p3m global, an AXELOS Consulting Partner (ACP), have discovered a bitesized way for you to benefit from it.

Last year (2015), AXELOS made some major revisions to P3M3, expanding it in both breadth and depth by including such additional elements as commercial management, asset management and behaviours. It has also been restructured to enable common ‘Threads’ across each of the Project, Programme and Portfolio models to be evaluated, in order to better diagnose areas of improvement across the Seven Perspectives. Lastly, the authors have deliberately improved alignment with other (non-AXELOS) methodologies and bodies of knowledge to make it more appealing for PMI/IPMA aligned organisations.

At a high level this new version (v3) is compatible with the previous version (v2) such that scores from 0 to 5 across each of the Perspectives remain valid. It is at this high level where significant value can be obtained from very little investment.

The AXELOS P3M3 Model

Within a few days, a facilitated self-assessment from p3m global can provide a good initial evaluation of an organisation’s capabilities in project, programme and portfolio management ensuring that it doesn’t have to cost a lot to find out where you are.

So why do one?

• ​Map your route (and know why you’re going!): Evaluating and benchmarking current levels of P3M by discipline (Perspectives and Threads) can help justify the business case for improvement initiatives and provide clear performance metrics for these improvements in the future. Moreover, its structure can provide a convenient roadmap to success.
• Stick to what’s important to YOU: Focus the improvements required to achieve levels that are desirable and appropriate to your particular organisation. There is no point in investing in the parts of P3M3 that your organisation does not value.
• Wear the badge: a rapid, facilitated self-assessment can quickly establish a P3M3 maturity score for your organisation that can be easily translated to a full, official certification when you are ready, showing your customers and partners that you are serious about P3M.
• Unlock the benefits of improved P3M maturity:
• improved selection and delivery of the organisation's portfolio of projects and programmes ('doing the right projects and programmes' and 'doing the projects and programmes right')
• improved realisation of value from investments
• improved quality of deliverables leading to improved customer satisfaction
• easier to maintain control of projects and programmes leading to improved employee satisfaction
• improved predictability leading to better financial forecasting 

Will all this on offer for a fraction of the cost of a traditional CMMI or OPM3 assessment it’s not surprising that P3M3 is starting to take off.

Contact the p3m global team for details on +44 (0)1962 676 321 or email sales@p3mglobal.com

1 week assessment slots are currently available throughout June and July, contact the team today to ensure you don't miss the opportunity!

Ten Reasons to Think Beyond PRINCE2 with AXELOS

Project management competencies matter. You need the soft skills to do your job properly. That's just one particular reason why attainment of some form of the PRINCE2 certification is not the salve for your project management career hope wounds - those cuts can get larger if you allow. Below are ten reasons as to how far you have to be willing to go with PRINCE2 - and where else you might have to go to make the most of your project management potential...

AXELOS courses like MSP, MoP, MoR and Agile Project Management means your career path in project management can be catapulted by more than just the PRINCE2.

1. PRINCE2_^® is the beginning of a journey, not the end If you are new to project management, PRINCE2 may seem like the right qualification for you because it has no prerequisites for entry or perhaps you are looking for a new Project Management position and every job that is advertised has a PRINCE2 Practitioner qualification as a CV essential. But, passing one 2.5 hour examination does not make you a Project Manager; rather, it is the beginning of a learning experience that will last a lifetime!
2. PRINCE2_^® is a method, not a standard Methodologies are essential to project management, but perhaps we could be better if we understood the standards that we were trying to achieve. There are many standards out there, PMI may set the best known one, combining a knowledge of PRINCE2 and the PMI standard would make an awesome mix.
3. PRINCE2_^® covers only about 15% of what a Project Manager does There is more to project management than Principles, Processes, Themes and Techniques, most of a project manager's thoughts and actions are taken up with engaging stakeholders and managing people. I was recently involved in a programme where some very talented scientists had been 'promoted' to the Project Manager role, they were very good in their scientific role, but had been given no leadership/management training. As a result their dealings with Project Teams were often seen as, shall we say, less than ideal. If you have never heard the names Maslow and Belbin, there is a whole new world with skills that will help anyone to improve their project management. So-called 'soft' skills (more commonly referred to as 'competencies') are an essential part of the armoury of any successful Project Manager.
4. Most people think of PRINCE2_^® as the contents of the 'Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2_^®' guide, forgetting the 'Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2_^®' guide One of the biggest barriers to the success of PRINCE2 is that many Project Boards, Steering Committees, Project Executives and Project Sponsors want it implemented from the project manager down. The fact is that to be successful PRINCE2 requires everyone to play their part. Training for these senior managers has been available for many years, but I have rarely seen anyone take advantage of it.
5. Many Project Managers in the know believe that PRINCE2_^® does not work! Their experience of failure may be because their organisation is not sufficiently mature to make it work Improving the organisation's project management maturity (the level of organisation’s readiness and experience in relation to people, processes, technologies and consistent measurement practices) of an organisation is often the key to long-term success. There are many models that may be examined e.g. P3M3, OPM3 CMMI etc. Any of them can lead to an understanding of why any particular methodology may not be working.
6. Your organisation already uses another method This is a great opportunity to expand a project manager's experience and perhaps to add to the organisation's ability to manage projects successfully. (Editor's Note: Additionally, AXELOS has become more agnostic in terms of the pre-requisites for taking the PRINCE2 Practitioner Examination)
7. Be Agile! One of the current methodology trends in project management is the movement toward 'Agile' and its implementation frameworks, e.g. XP, DSDM and Scrum. Originally employed by small software companies in Southern California, it is easily learned, but difficult to fully understand. It is now used within many different kinds of projects and programmes. Forward-thinking project managers would do well to supplement their toolkit with all/any of these capabilities.
8. Think P3O_^® If an organisation is to deliver its business objectives it will need to successfully establish, develop and maintain appropriate business structure to allow senior management to take informed decisions concerning strategic alignment, prioritisation, risk management and much more. P3O is a way of delivering such a structure along with identifying and realizing business outcomes and benefits. 
9. What about Programme Management? There is a common saying that we are all promoted to a level of incompetence, so some of us are more effective as good project managers than we would be if we were on a Programme Management career path. Likewise, you may discover that PRINCE2 and project management may not be your 'thing'; perhaps moving on to Programme Management (with a bit of a primer in MSP or Program Management Essentials!) is where your true expertise lies?
10. What about Portfolio Management? Ditto to the above, so long as you substitute all mentions of programme management with portfolio management, and consider courses we offer like Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP), the Portfolio Management Workshop and our version of the AXELOS-offered Management of Portfolios (MoP) Overview.

One For Good Measure: The University of Grey Hair
Now that I am the 'Silver Fox' and grey hairs considerably outnumber the dark ones I can fully realize that the old saying 'there is no substitute for experience' may well be true. Certainly the world is full of people that are far cleverer than I will ever be, but sometimes I have seen a situation so many times that I can predict the outcome. As we say in the Project world 'learn by experience'; let’s have lessons learned, not lessons identified.

Mike Austin is the Lead Trainer for p3m global. His track record is that of a highly motivated Project Management Trainer who has an outstanding understanding of the PRINCE2® methodology and M_o_R® management of risk methodology and the ability to successfully communicate it to others. Send Mike an email today.

p3m global Welcomes Inclusive PRINCE2 Practitioner Pre-Requisite News from AXELOS

WINCHESTER (23^rd June 2014) – As providers of leading project, programme and portfolio management (P3M) training worldwide under the UK Cabinet Office Best Practice standards, p3m global today welcomes the news that AXELOS have removed the Foundation Only pre-requisite for takers of the PRINCE2 Practitioner examination.

AXELOS Global Best Practice announced last Thursday that from 1^st July 2014, they would waive their "requirement for project managers seeking the PRINCE2 Practitioner qualification to obtain the Foundation level first."

p3m global particularly applauds this update for its active inclusiveness of other leading project management standards of top practice. These include the Project Management Institute and the US and UK chapters of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) – the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management and the Association for Project Management, respectively. As recognised ATOs for both PMI and AXELOS (through APMG-International) certifications – and with aspirations for similar ATO status within IPMA via the APM – this is a significant development.

"With this initiative, we hope that project managers worldwide will consider how obtaining this higher level best practice management standard can improve project management within their organizations and develop their own careers without having to revisit a more elementary level of study beforehand," said Frances Scarff, Product Development Director at AXELOS.

PMI certifications of recognition for the PRINCE2 Practitioner application will include the Project Management Professional (PMP) and the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). IPMA Levels A through D are also to be recognised.

Inclusion opens up new windows for expanding the AXELOS customer-base that had once been closed or viewed as filled with a requisite re-learning of competencies. PMI and APMG-International Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs) like p3m global welcome this opportunity to reach out to customers in the PMI realm.

"It's good to see cross-standard recognition in the industry as we have long advised are clients that these two credentials are complimentary rather than conflicting," said Ray Mead, CEO of p3m global. "I hope this will encourage some of our clients on the PMI side to look at what they can use from the AXELOS stable to further their role in project management, and vice versa."

You're invited to learn more about p3m global and Training - plus more on this press release - today.

Dan Strayer is the Marketing Coordinator for p3m global. A native of Manchester (by way of the US), Dan currently edits all forms of p3m global Media, including this blog, the monthly newsletter (subscribe here), and all forms of social media output by p3m global that you can see in the icons below. Other recent ventures from p3m global Media include Slideshare and Prezi. Get in touch with Dan on Twitter via @p3mglobal or @danlstrayer.

PRINCE2: 2009 - Five Years On

PRINCE2® is the de facto standard for project management developed by the UK government, used in the UK and across the world. Developed by project management specialists and a review panel of public and private sector organisations (whilst taking into account user based improvements), it has grown into a tailorable best practice tool that is suitable for use on any project.

As the PRINCE2: 2009 update approaches its 5th Anniversary, AXELOS want your feedback on making it better.

Photo courtesy giulia.forsythe @Flickr, and reused with permission.

The last edition was published in 2009 which represented an evolution of the previous manuals. The basic method remained the same, but by building on feedback from users, the 2009 edition aimed to be more accessible and easier to tailor. For project sponsors or directors, this represented a revolution in that the guidance was divided into two;

- Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 for project managers and;
- Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 to give project board members a role-specific guide targeted for their needs.

Now after five years the guidance is due for a revision.

AXELOS, the new joint venture between the UK Government’s Cabinet Office and Capita plc, are currently hosting a survey on PRINCE2®, from which they will analyse the results and validate with the user community. They will then seek to involve Accredited Training Organizations (like us) and User Communities in the process to formulate plans around the need and nature of any revisions to the guidance.

If you have not as yet completed the survey, you may do so at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HGQT27N. The survey should take about 40 minutes to complete, depending on how many comments that are left.

Mike Austin is the Lead Trainer for p3m global. His track record is that of a highly motivated Project Management Trainer who has an outstanding understanding of the PRINCE2® methodology and M_o_R® management of risk methodology and the ability to successfully communicate it to others. Get in touch with Mike via email today.