SEVERAL YEARS AGO, OFER ZWIKAEL, PMP, PH.D., professor of project management at Netanya Academic College's business school near Tel Aviv, Israel, discovered something quite odd. As he worked to shape a model for project planning processes with his academic advisor, Shlomo Globerson, PMP, Ph.D., professor of operations and project management at Tel Aviv University's school of business, Dr. Zwikael found little to no specific evaluation tools to measure planning processes across the realm of project management.
Much research has been done on the topic of project management planning outside of PMI’s Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3®) and A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), as well as the planning elements of the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). However, there is no specific planning assessment tool. How could a discipline so rooted in preparation and continuous improvement have no popular method for assessing planning processes and making necessary adjustments?
“Many people talk about control of execution, but very little is written or studied about control of planning,” Dr. Globerson says. “If planning isn't properly done, projects can fail. The problem is how to evaluate whether the planning is properly done or not.” By taking a more detailed look at their processes, enterprises can evaluate the effectiveness of project planning.
As Dr. Zwikael set about to examine the tools already used in project management such as the PMBOK® Guide, he worked toward honing in on the areas most pertinent to planning processes and planning's influence on project outcome. The outgrowth of his research produced an assessment guide less involved than the many Knowledge Areas and Process Groups presented in the PMBOK® Guide.“We focused on investigating all 21 planning processes in the PMBOK® Guide to determine which ones had the greatest impact on project success. Overall, we found that critical planning processes vary by culture, industry type and often country,” he says.
About 50 organizations in Japan and Israel—some headquartered in these countries, others multinationals headquartered elsewhere—participated in Dr. Zwikael's initial research, which netted some 500 questionnaire responses. The research findings have helped point the way toward the planning elements that are most critical to project success based on the nine Knowledge Areas established in the PMBOK® Guide (project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk and procurement). The research found that the most critical activities in planning reside within in the areas of scope, time, human resources and integration.
Based on these findings, Dr. Zwikael and Dr. Globerson created a measurement tool for analyzing planning processes, called the Project Management Planning Quality (PMPQ) model, introduced in 2004. Surprisingly, the concept of the PMPQ planning model often runs counter to common business practices found in Western cultures. “First we execute and then plan during the project itself,” Dr. Zwikael says.
Using a three-page questionnaire, enterprises assess their own project management planning processes. Dr. Zwikael characterizes the questionnaire as a focused, practical tool for project managers to evaluate their processes. (To learn more and to download the free model, see sidebar, “Planning Assessment Tool.”)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The industry and cultural context in which an enterprise competes influence the emphasis on certain areas of project planning processes over others.
Of course, industry standards and competition also play a role in what planning processes an enterprise favors. “In software development organizations, scope planning, including execution of the work breakdown structure, is a critical planning process, and so is resource planning,” Dr. Zwikael says. “For engineering organizations, the most important planning processes are activities around budget and cost estimating. In general, cost planning tends to be very important, but especially so in engineering.”
The research also examined often-overlooked processes in project planning. For example, on average, companies in Israel contributing to the research gave little attention to scope definition, ranking it eighth in extent-of-use out of 16 planning process elements. As a result, lack of a defined project easily can contribute to an incomplete or poorly developed work breakdown structure. “The project isn't properly prepared if the scope definition isn't done,” Dr. Globerson says.
PLANNING ASSESSMENT TOOL
Dr. Zwikael welcomes project managers to assess their own organizations in project planning. His short project planning assessment questionnaire allows an enterprise to assess some 33 aspects of project planning. The free questionnaire is available for download at: www.netanya.ac.il/content/_Articleslang/Article.asp?ArticleID=330&CategoryID=84.
Dr. Zwikael welcomes return of completed questionnaires (to his e-mail address noted on the questionnaire), which he will add to the growing body of research in project planning. “The model can be implemented within about a half-day and can help identify an organization's own specific, unique critical processes,” he says.
CULTURE MATTERS
In high-context societies like Japan, communication is more subtle and indirect, and the culture fosters consensus building. likewise, Dr. Zwikael’s planning research found that companies in Japan place considerable emphasis on estimating and planning when it comes to the time and cost Knowledge Areas of project management. “Here, it's much more important to meet schedule, even though in some cases you don't perform all that is expected,” he says.
His research found Japanese project managers place less emphasis on quality planning, such as integrating elements of quality assurance or other procedures into a project plan. They also tend to avoid risk management planning.
On the other hand, many Israeli companies seem to be doing more executing on the fly after less upfront scope definition of a project. In sharp contrast to their Asian counterparts, these companies hold less regard for cost estimating and budgeting.
Other often disregarded critical success factors in project planning are organizational planning, staff acquisition and communications planning. Dr. Zwikael says these planning processes often are ignored because tools or software applications to support the activity aren't available. “Most of the time, project managers prefer to execute the easiest planning processes, instead of the most important. So by doing the cost-benefit analysis of the PMPQ model, a company can earn more value by knowing where to invest its time in planning.”
Thus, the PMPQ model and questionnaire act as a tool that can be put into action by many enterprises, allowing them to swiftly identify weak points in their project planning processes. “Then it may help them establish training programs based on these weak points,” Dr. Globerson says.
Body Building
PMPQ can be beneficial for any company, regardless of size or available resources. For example, as a Fortune 100 company, Motorola Inc. already was a leader, known for world-class project management, when it looked to reassess project planning processes in its Israel unit based in Tel Aviv. “Motorola was found to be one of the best organizations in planning in Israel from the results of the questionnaires it answered four years ago,” Dr. Zwikael says.
Motorola Israel used the assessment tool and questionnaire to identify a few areas of weakness in its project planning processes that it went on to correct. To that end, Dr. Zwikael presented material from his research and the PMBOK® Guide to Motorola staff on planning processes, with a focus on the weak links in the company's practice.
Based on the results of the assessment, Motorola's diligent 15-gate planning process, M-Gates, today is used throughout the company's global business and encompasses the entire project development spectrum from the moment an idea is accepted through business case development, portfolio planning and project close-out. Due to its complexity, M-Gates requires extensive documentation, according to Orna Kamin, project management office (PMO) manager at Motorola Israel. “We call it the contract book,” she says. “It's a document that summarizes all of the planning documents. If it isn't planned as required according to our gate processes, we don't get approval.”
| IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS, SCOPE PLANNING, INCLUDING EXECUTION OF THE WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE, IS A CRITICAL PLANNING PROCESS, AND SO IS RESOURCE PLANNING. | |
| Ofer Zwikael, PMP, Ph.D., Professor of Project Management, Netanya Academic College's Business School, Tel Aviv, Israel |
Ms. Kamin, who works closely with Motorola headquarters in Chicago, Ill., USA, as well as its European and Far East offices on many cellular device projects, estimates the typical project often entails a few months of planning, in addition to an execution phase that averages one year. “There's usually fewer than 100 individuals working on each project,” she says. “We usually start with a marketing definition of the project, often involving the customer definition. Then we have a solutions lockdown, which includes technology solutions at a high level.”
Motorola Israel has attained Level 3 on the well-known CMMI and the unit expects to attain a Level 5 overall for the software Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in September 2005. “Once we achieve the CMM Level 5, we will start implementing CMMI for all the disciplines in our organization. Currently, our CMMI Level 3 represents a mature process for project management including planning,” Ms. Kamin says.
No matter the level of sophistication in project management, Dr. Zwikael advises any organization to identify as much of the activities involved in a project before it starts executing. “In practice, project managers should pay much more attention in identifying all the activities to be performed during the project. We found many organizations tend only to identify some of the activities. They end up planning for the unknowns only when more information becomes available,” he says.
Research by Dr. Zwikael and Dr. Globerson in the area of project planning processes continues today and has expanded to include enterprises in Germany, Slovenia and Sweden. PM
Marcia Jedd is a Minneapolis, Minn., USA-based supply chain and business writer.