Developing a Project Management Best Practice in an Organization

Executives today are interested in developing a best practice around project management within their organizations. Some of this interest stems from the economy and the need to do more with less – reduced timelines to get a product/service to market to increase revenue, smaller budgets to get projects completed, and reduced project management staff due to layoffs and/or restructuring. However, exactly what a “best practice” means is different from organization to organization and in many situations, within the organization the definition of a “best practice” differs from department to department. Many organizations are unsure how to go about defining what a “best practice” means for their organization as a whole and how to effectively go about developing a best practice that works for their organization.

First, let’s define a “best practice”

• “A best practice is an optimal way currently recognized by industry to achieve a stated goal or objective.” (OPM3® Overview, PMI®, Page 9).
• “A best practice is an idea that asserts that there is a technique, method or process – through research and application – that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method or process.” (Wikipedia definition)

No best practice is best for every organization. Organizations define the term “best practice” differently. For some, best practice refers to a consistent way of doing something. For others, best practice is simply ensuring that everyone in the project management function uses the same templates and software. Most organizations have some best practice already in place; they just don’t know it because it was not developed by someone high up in the organization and rolled out through the organization. However, project managers have their way of doing things. This “way of doing things” can be considered a best practice.

When organizations look at developing a best practice around the project management function, they usually mean one or more of the following:

Organizations desire to establish best practices to meet many needs, including:

• Effective management of project resources
• Alignment of projects to the strategic goals of the organization
• Improved tracking and reporting on projects’ status
• Reduction in the time and money spent on ensuring projects are brought to a successful conclusion

The continued success of organizations in an ever-changing, competitive marketplace requires that they have formalized their project management function and find improved ways of accomplishing their strategic goals. With a best practice in place, organizations are better able to make decisions on the types of projects to undertake in any given time period.

A Five-Step Approach

The following five-step approach (Exhibit 1 below) is one way to move forward with developing a project management best practice within an organization:

Exhibit 1: 5 Step Approach to Developing a Project Management Best Practice

Throughout each of these steps the key is frequent communication.