The Maturing of OPM3

Improving Portfolio, Program and Project (PPP) management will improve the success of an organisation. But only if the organisation will allow the improvements to be effective – the drive for improved maturity has to come from the top!

PMI are about to launch new versions of their standards for Portfolio, Program and Project management, and importantly their Organizational Project Management Maturity Model® (OPM3®). The new OPM3 standard incorporates the other three updates and takes on an interestingly new flavour:

• The weight given to ‘Organisation Enablers’ in the OPM3 standard has increased in recognition of the critical role the culture and capability of the ‘organisation’ has in allowing its projects to be executed effectively.
• The Standard for Portfolio Management – Second Edition has its focus on ‘selecting the right work to do’ (alignment) and introduces a focus on ‘Governance’ and ‘Portfolio Risk Management’. These changes place an emphasis on effective investment and risk management and an increased focus on delivering results from the organisation’s projects and programs.
• The Standard for Program Management – Second Edition has clearly differentiated the role of program management from project management.
• The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition’s biggest change is the increased focus on the importance of Stakeholders (including senior managers) in the successful execution of a project. The ‘iron triangle’ is no longer seen as sufficient.

The consequence of this major round of upgrades is to move the OPM3 construct towards a focus on the alignment of an organisations PPP efforts with its strategic objectives to achieve desirable ‘organisational development’. The OPM3 maturity model is ‘maturing’ into a very useful organisational asset. For more on OPM3 see: www.mosaicprojects.com.au/OPM3.html

Having been involved in a range of major ‘culture change’ initiatives and undertaken OPM3 ProductSuite assessments for major businesses, the importance of top level management support to this type of initiative cannot be over stated, it’s critical!

Over the next few weeks this blog will cover the changes to the key PMI standards and its key credentials. In the meantime:

• If you are interested in the challenges of implementing a culture change in a major business see our paper: Developing Stakeholder Management Maturity in a traditional business: an International Case Study
• For a discussion on the impact of ‘organisational maturity’ on the selection of tools see our paper: SRMM: The five stages of Stakeholder Relationship Management Maturity. The paper focuses on ‘stakeholder management’ but the principles apply to any maturity model and tool set.