Project standards are a set of documented standards or guidelines to follow for managing projects. Two of the best known and most common global standards are PMI® and Prince2®, though there are a variety out there. Whatever you choose, you definitely need a plan to implement your 
standards to ensure they are followed.
Below are some easy tips to help you adopt project standards, courtesy of method123.
Start with Terminology: The single largest challenge you have ahead of you when implementing Standards for your organization is adopting the terminology used by that Standard. Review the terminology used and decide on the terms you wish to adopt. Then publish an agreed Glossary of Terms within your organization and train project teams in the use of that terminology to ensure that it's adopted for your projects.
Implement the Life Cycle: Every project Standard includes a Project Life Cycle. This is a series of steps that need to be followed to deliver projects from start to finish. Again, publish the Life Cycle within your organization and ensure that all new projects align their project plans with the life cycle you have chosen. Don't enforce a new Life Cycle upon existing projects, as it will cause confusion, reduce motivation and cause delays. But for new projects, it will have the opposite effect, by providing structure and giving teams a solid delivery path when they start out.
Follow the Guidelines: Within each project Standard, there will be a set of guidelines and common principles that are recommended to boost your chance of success. Read these guidelines and decide on the ones you want to follow. Then communicate these to your teams and provide on-going training to ensure that the guidelines are ingrained in the culture of your organization.
Be Selective: Never adopt a Standard in its entirety, unless you believe it's a 100% fit. Instead, you're best to select those parts which you believe can be integrated into your company culture, with the least disruption to your project activities.
Ensure Alignment: Having successfully implemented the Standard in your organization, you now need to ensure that it's rigorously followed. Review projects on a continual basis to ensure that the terminology, life cycle and guidelines are followed consistently so that the project team has the maximum chance of success.
Implementing best practices can be a challenge and you should definitely take some time to review what's out there to determine what might work best for you. I agree you should Be Selective and adopt and integrate what works best for your organization and project work. Also be ready to customize and tweak your chosen standard to fit the needs of your org.
Click here to read about method 123/MPMM and how they can help you implement Project Management Best Practices.
1 comments:
Good post Raven. I would add a really important issue, get top management support. I have seen too many attempts at developing their own project management standards but there is not senior management ownership. I usually ask for a top manager to act as the project sponsor with regular reports to executives.
Introducing a project management standard is a change project and remember what Kotter said:
“When is the urgency rate high enough? From what I have seen, it is when 75% of a company’s management is honestly convinced that business as usual is totally unacceptable”
Harvard Business Review March/April 1995
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