Longitudinal Analysis of Project Management Maturity

Abstract

This paper examines and identifies core dimensions of assessment frameworks, including five core requirements for conducting assessments, two key processes of assessing organizations (audit and self-assessment), and two dimensions of improving performance (delivering data and applying data). It discusses the evolution of using maturity models to assess organizational capabilities and the development of maturity models to assess project management competencies. It then outlines a five-level project management maturity model that the authors used to assess the way 550 international organizations practice project management. The paper lists the challenges, advantages, and disadvantages of using this model; it identifies the practices synonymous with improvements in demonstrated maturity. It also compares the results ofdata collected since this benchmarking study's inception, results that show underlying project management trends, such as changes in organizational capabilities and performance. It reviews the impact of these trends on the studied organizations and the way they manage their projects. It concludes by detailing four key—and unexpected—results.