MSP® PRINCE2® P3O® P3M3™

It should be remembered that the best practice publications evolve and mature over a number of versions.  The priority is to recognise evolving good practice and bring it to the attention of wider audiences, that is why the refresh cycle varies and also the shelf life. For example, PRINCE2™ is one of the most mature products, has matured through a number of version, changed it’s name, and has been stable for around 5 or 6 years, compare this to Portfolio Management, which is a new and evolving concept and one which is likely to see a refresh much sooner.

The publications now have a common look at feel, and readers will find the following:

Principles – these are characteristics of successful deployments and should underpin all activities, they are universal, self validating and empowering.

Themes – are guidance and advice that support and enable the use of the framework

Lifecycle and processes – these are the activities that support delivery, they may be cyclical as in Management of Risk, or sequential as in PRINCE2™

The ITIL refresh was slightly different to the others, as it focused on a specific discipline and community.  There is still consistency, the development of a Common Glossary has helped ensure that the use of key words is and concepts are now in a consistent vocabulary. An example of this is the use of the ITIL information security perspectives of confidentiality, availability and integrity being integrated into the MSP™ Information Management Strategy. 

The following is a summary of each of the publications and the major changes and characteristics:

Management of Risk version 2
First publication out of the stalls was the Management of Risk in the spring of 2007. The lead author, Graham Williams, led a team that took the original and embryonic  Management of Risk framework and integrated many new concepts and produced a far more robust  publication that achieved rapid industry recognition as reflecting best practice.

Within it you will find a management cycle to be followed to identify and control risk, advice on tools and techniques to used in different situations, and guidance on how to implement and maintain a consistent risk management framework. New ideas in this version have included the management of opportunities as well as threats as a concept that can be included within Risk Registers and the introduction of a new mitigation strategy, namely Sharing of risk consequences.

One of the major benefits of having Management of Risk released early was the following publications were able to apply the new approach to risk, this has enabled consistency on the topic in all the publications.

Managing Successful Programmes version 3
After ITIL in June, MSP hit the streets in September 2007. The first version in 1999 was very much a concept document, in the 2003 version the framework became more robust and gained significant popularity. I had the privilege of being the Lead Author for the 2007 version and to build on this progress.  The OGC brief was to differentiate the terminology of programme management from that of project management, which led to many new terms being adopted, for example, the use of Transformational Flow rather than Lifecycle.

The new book was roughly twice the size in terms of word count to it’s predecessors, but through the use of tables there is three or four more times as much advice for practitioners. The new version saw new chapters Blueprint Design and Development and also Vision, with new Appendices providing advice on Programme Office, Adopting MSP and undertaking Health Checks.

The main focus of the new version was to boost the advice on benefits and the delivery of change. Significant advances in defining the role of the Business Change Manager and the inclusion of a change team as part of the structure were seen as priorities for the authoring team.

MSP™ is now very much focused at Transformation Change programmes and has a unique place in the current marketplace as a result of this.

Portfolio, Programme Project Management Maturity Model - P3M3™ version 2
Drawing on the wisdom of the rower, Steve Redgrave, who said after winning an Olympic medal “If you see me near a boat again you can shoot me”, and promptly started preparation for the next Olymptics – not quite so excitingly, having completed MSP™ I started work on P3M3™. Having explained how it should be done, P3M3™ is in the world of what should be done and what good organisation look like.

The original came out in 2005 and established a benchmark for others to follow. There were limitations and the adoption had not been extensive as it had an academic rather than practical feel. The new version is much simpler to use, contains three separate models, one for each of Portfolio, Programme and Projects. There are a number of consistent perspectives that each should encompass, namely Management Control, Benefits, Risk, Resources, Stakeholder and Financial Management plus Organisational Governance.

It uses the CMMI 5 level maturity model for each Perspective in each model and comes ready loaded with a self assessment questionnaire to help organisations to access it and navigate the levels. P3M3 is heavily integrated with the other Best Practice publications to identify the characteristics of organisations who deliver effectively.

P3M3 provides a very effective way of establishing an organisations current effectiveness and the pathway to improving. It is important not to confuse P3M3 with health checks of individual initiatives, it focuses on the organisational maturity, not the effectiveness of individual projects or programmes. Consequently, immature organisations can still delivery great change, but mature organisations are less likely to have failures. This isn’t an equivalent to Gateway Reviews, for example.

Portfolio, Programme and Project Office (P3O™) version 1 due for release November 2008
One of the challenges for the authors during 2008 was the concurrent development of four products, P3M3, P3O, Portfolio Management and PRINCE2™, as one was changing the others endeavoured to keep up or avoid conflict. It was also hard work for the reviewers to keep up with the reading.

This was particularly true for Sue Vowler, lead author of P3O and one of the most experience practitioners in this field.  P3O is a highly practical guide on how to set up and run P3 offices. We will see new terminology evolving as this gains traction, the term programme management office is likely to be replaced by Portfolio Office, for example. The book includes many practical examples of organisations who have implemented P3O well, and provides implementation strategy which will enable organisations to get the best out of their investments and even a business case to help you win the argument.

In some respects, P3O is the glue that gels Portfolio, Programme and Project Management frameworks together at the practical level. It explains how to build the infrastructure, manage the interfaces, develop the processes, tools and techniques that are needed to be deployed to establish a truly effective P3 Office environment.

The key idea for many people will be the strategic nature of the Portfolio Office, and how critical it is to any public or private sector organisation to survival in a rapidly changing world.

Portfolio Management version 1 due for release in autumn 2008
Craig Kilford  took on the challenging role of bringing together the diverse and conflicting opinions on what Portfolio Management is. It’s original use was within MSP™ as the term to describe the projects that would deliver the Blueprint. Over the last 3 or 4 years it’s reference to roots in the banking sector, and the management of a portfolio of investments gave it a different perspective and hence it has evolved to the point where it defines the entirety of an organisations investment.

Portfolio Management recognises the existence of two cycles within an organisation, one drives the need for business performance and sustainability, the other is driving the need for change. Both require investment and recognises there is only one pot of money, organisations deploy that investment in many ways, but if the balance between change and sustainable performance is lost, then the organisation  will lose it’s performance edge as a result of under or over investment in key areas.

As with P3O, the book brings practical advice and examples of good practice in this area to help with context and how to ensure that the right programmes and projects are being implemented to enable effective sustainable operations. As with the original versions of MSP™ and MoR™ this publication is reflecting a relatively immature concept that is affecting many organisations will undoubtedly trigger debates that will lead to increasing maturity in the near future.

Project Management in Controlled Environments (PRINCE2™) due for release in early 2009.
For many years PRINCE2™, along with ITIL, has been the OGC’s flagship product. The honour of being the lead author went to Andy Murray, and quite rightly, the timetable for the refresh built on the lessons of MoR™ and MSP™, which were seen as too tight, and allowed Andy and his team plenty of time for consultation and making sure the product would be right when it was released.

Many PRINCE2™ practitioners are going to be in for a shock when the new publication comes to market. One of the cornerstones has been the sub process model, which was unique and underpinned the method, they were also the cause of many sleepless nights for candidates preparing for the examinations, and will be a culture change for the dreaded PRINCE™ examiners. They have now gone, so no more IP5 to PL7 debates within project teams

The manual will be much smaller, it has been reduced to a similar size as MoR™ and MSP™ (about 250 pages). It too has principles, themes (replaces components) and a lifecycle. As with MSP™, what were sub processes are now seen as activities within a process. The overarching process model has not, however, changed.

The reduction has also been achieved by separating out the book into two publications. There will be a book covering the PRINCE2™ method, and a second book that covers leading and directing projects.

 Included within the revision will be much greater reference to benefits and stakeholders, particularly in the themes, with similar tools and techniques to those in MSP™, thus making them much more compatible in the stable. Some readers may be surprised to find that PRINCE2™ has adopted MSP™ terminology in some areas, for example the use of terms like Benefits Management Strategy appear in programme and project frameworks.

Conclusion
Practitioners working across the Best Practice products will find much increased consistency after the refresh is complete. The books will have a similar structure and feel, common and consistent use of terminology and now have hooks and interfaces between them that enable practitioners to link them together in a more coherent way than ever before.

Nothing is ever perfect, and the great thing about the development of best practice is that it is continual, during the refresh period things have moved on, so if you spot inconsistencies just remember that is the author bringing in the latest innovation for your benefit, not that they overlooked something or weren’t talking to each other – we have cross referenced relentlessly trust me, and our evenings have just flown buy over the last two year !