Project Management Methodologies PPMP20009 Week 10 Lecture Dr Bernard Wong [email protected] 1 Assignment 4 Continuous Improvement Plan Week 12 Friday Open the course profile to review criteria. 2 Reminder PPMP20009 Presentation weeks 11 or 12 4 Create your own Deming PDCA cycle relating to the last assignment that you handed in. Change Management 6 Formulate change Plan change Implement change Manage transition Sustain change Take the ‘Act’ segment of the PDCA cycle you created earlier and define the five CM stages. Formulate change Plan change Implement change Manage transition Sustain change Continuous Improvement? Why are we wanting to improve? Where are we now? What are we working with? If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) There are a number of things to consider when deciding what level of maturity to aim for. Why are you wanting to increase your level of maturity in this space? -Some might be wanting to do it simply as a continuous improvement strategy. Some may be having issues with the performance of their program and project delivery or portfolio investment returns Others may need it to be competitive in a market that looks at the P3M3 levels of organisations in the tendering process Others may be required to undergo a mandatory audit – as did the Qld Govt in 2012. One organisation that I have spoken with has noted that their environment has become increasingly fiscally constrained and as such funding is much more competitive. They want to increase certain sections of their maturity, specifically relating to benefits management, business case and blueprint development – so that they can be more competitive in seeking funding for initiatives. So in this case they are not necessarily trying to improve their maturity as a whole, but an aspect of it. In doing this however, it is likely that they will have an increase in maturity in other areas as well. We need to know where you are now to assist in deciding where you want to go. This is where going through an assessment is essential and I do believe in this being independent. You can self assess but this will always be impacted with bias. You need to baseline. What are you working with? What is your organisational context? What resources do you have both budget and people? Do you have authentic sponsorship or are your leaders just ticking a mandate off? What’s your organisational culture like, are they open to P3 management or are they likely to see effort to increase maturity as unnecessary overhead? So when we went through this process we were fortunate to have an authentic sponsor, we had a culture of project and program delivery so the staff understood the value of the practice (and I do say practice rather than methodology – as if you have experienced practitioners, they will argue methodology with you – this is a good thing!). We.

1. Project Management Methodologies
PPMP20009
Week 10 Lecture
Dr Bernard Wong
[email protected]
1
Assignment 4
Continuous Improvement Plan
Week 12 Friday
Open the course profile to review criteria.
2
Reminder
PPMP20009
Presentation weeks 11 or 12

2. 4
Create your own Deming PDCA cycle relating to the last
assignment that you handed in.
Change Management
6
Formulate change
Plan change
Implement change
Manage transition
Sustain change

3. Take the ‘Act’ segment of the PDCA cycle you created earlier
and define the five CM stages.
Formulate change
Plan change
Implement change
Manage transition
Sustain change
Continuous Improvement?
Why are we wanting to improve?

4. Where are we now?
What are we working with?
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you
there.
Cheshire Cat
(Alice in Wonderland)
There are a number of things to consider when deciding what
level of maturity to aim for.
Why are you wanting to increase your level of maturity in this
space?
-Some might be wanting to do it simply as a continuous
improvement strategy.
Some may be having issues with the performance of their
program and project delivery or portfolio investment returns
Others may need it to be competitive in a market that looks at
the P3M3 levels of organisations in the tendering process
Others may be required to undergo a mandatory audit – as did
the Qld Govt in 2012.
One organisation that I have spoken with has noted that their
environment has become increasingly fiscally constrained and
as such funding is much more competitive. They want to
increase certain sections of their maturity, specifically relating
to benefits management, business case and blueprint
development – so that they can be more competitive in seeking
funding for initiatives. So in this case they are not necessarily
trying to improve their maturity as a whole, but an aspect of it.
In doing this however, it is likely that they will have an
increase in maturity in other areas as well.
We need to know where you are now to assist in deciding where

5. you want to go. This is where going through an assessment is
essential and I do believe in this being independent. You can
self assess but this will always be impacted with bias. You need
to baseline.
What are you working with? What is your organisational
context? What resources do you have both budget and people?
Do you have authentic sponsorship or are your leaders just
ticking a mandate off? What’s your organisational culture like,
are they open to P3 management or are they likely to see effort
to increase maturity as unnecessary overhead?
So when we went through this process we were fortunate to
have an authentic sponsor, we had a culture of project and
program delivery so the staff understood the value of the
practice (and I do say practice rather than methodology – as if
you have experienced practitioners, they will argue
methodology with you – this is a good thing!). We already had a
number of the tools and processes in place it was just a matter
of fine tuning in a number of areas. And we had a bit of a
mandate as well – so I think the environment was the perfect
storm for us. So we could aim high and put in place a rigorous
process and procedures that drove our maturity.
So where would this not work. Again in an environment
whereby the culture is very different, where there hasn’t been a
focus on consistency or comparison across initiatives, where the
practice, language and tools of portfolio, program and project
management are likely to be seen as unnecessary overhead. And
lets be clear these may not be two different organisations but
could be two areas within the same organisation. For example
perhaps the Information Services branch who are experienced at
program and project delivery versus another branch within the
organisation for example customer services who do not
traditionally utilise program and project management
methodologies to deliver their work outcomes. So if you were

6. wanting to raise the maturity across both of these areas you
would likely require two different approaches.
This leads to one of the key learnings - you should look at
driving P3 Maturity as a Change Management Initiative –
because the benefits are largely associated with adoption and
usage.
9
Project management maturity model
Level 1
Common language
Level 2
Common processes
Level 3
Singular Methodology
Level 4
Benchmarking
Level 5
Continuous improvement
Basic knowledge
Process definition
Process control
Process improvement
Kerzner p1071
10
Project management maturity model
Level 1
Awareness of process

7. Level 2
Repeatable processes
Level 3
Defined Processes
Level 4
Managed Processes
Level 5
Optimised Process
P3M3
Process not usually documented, little or no guidance or
supporting documentation
There may be areas starting to use standard approaches but no
consistency across organisation
Processes are documented, standardised and integrated to some
extent into business processes
Defined processes that are quantitatively managed i.e.
controlled using metrics
Process continuously optimised for changing business needs
11
What would go into a continuous improvement plan
http://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/category/570-workflow/2680-
maturity-assessments-in-ict-portfolios
Things to consider:
Roadmap
Current state
Baseline
Future state
Where do we want to go

8. Strategies to bridge the gap
How to get from A to B?
Monitoring
Systems, metrics etc.
Evaluation
Capturing progress
How do you determine your current state?
Historical project data
What projects failed and why
Were they over budget, over time, poor quality, didn’t deliver
the benefits originally thought?
Analysing complaints and trends
Analysing survey data on stakeholder satisfaction
Analysing lessons learnt data
Doing a P3M3 self assessment, or getting an independent
auditor in to do a current state assessment for you.
15
How do you determine your future state?
Listening to suggestions in surveys, feedback or lessons learnt
Analysing the strategic direction of your organisation

9. Analysing the industry trends
Benchmarking against other organisations
Holding planning and outcomes workshops with key
stakeholders
16
How would you structure your planned improvement actions?
Depending on what the outcomes of your current and future
state analysis was, it would be good to look at key perspectives
of project management.
The knowledge areas of PMBoK for example, the principles and
themes of Prince2, the P3M3 Perspectives
17
https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2014/t
emplate_10_-_continuous_improvement_plan_accessible.pdf
18
Assessment Title
Continuous improvement (Individual Assignment)
Task Description
Assignment Overview
This individual assessment item requires you to consider:-
· continuous improvement
…you must then write a 2,000 word ESSAY describing and
justifying a high-level approach to continuous improvement
plan for an organisation from a selected case study.

10. The case study will be supplied for a range of project domains:-
· Engineering and construction domain,
· IT Telecom Software domain,
· Financial and business services domain,
· Welfare domain.
You are encouraged to use assignment outputs that you may
have developed from previous assignments and units, as
examples in the appendix of your essay.
Task
Your task is to consider the domains above and write an ESSAY
illustrating and explaining continuous improvement plan for one
case study.
Your plan must explain and justify itself within the context of
the case study using the unit and peer reviewed material. You
are encouraged to review Kerzner Chapter 21 and the PMI
Managing Change in Organizations for an indication of the
context and content of your plan.
You will be graded upon how well your continuous
improvement plan has been completed and how well you argue
that it reflects the requirements of the organisation in the case
study that you select.
Purpose
The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help you to
develop skills in the contents and compilation of a continuous
improvement plan for a project management methodology.
The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give you the
opportunity to consider the role of a continuous improvement
plan within the strategic project management plans of a selected
organisation.
The assignment will also give you the opportunity to enhance
your analysis and written communication skills; particularly in
the areas of structured assignment writing.
Structure
Your submission should be made using Microsoft Office
documents and the essay submitted as a separate 2,000 word
Microsoft WORD document.

11. You should describe all of the required parts of your continuous
improvement plan in as complete manner as you deem
appropriate. A range of sample continuous improvement plan
will be identified for you to study during the unit. If you wish
to include examples of any parts you may do so in an appendix.
You must not include pictures or diagrams in the body of the
essay. You must provide an ILLUSTRATION OR DRAWING
OF YOUR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PLAN in the
appendix of your essay.
Your essay should be a properly constructed academic essay. It
should contain an effective introduction, body and conclusion.
The introduction should introduce the essay and include your
argument. The body should present the evidence you have
collected to support your argument, and the conclusion should
restate your argument, summarise the evidence and make a
conclusion regarding your argument. The essay should contain a
coherent, but necessarily restricted review of the academic
literature on the project management topics in question. The
literature review should be integrated into the essay, not a
separate section. Do not include an executive summary or an
abstract. A reference list formatted in the prescribed Harvard
style is compulsory. Do not include a bibliography.
This assessment item involves researching your assigned topic
to enhance your understanding of project management concepts
and utilisation of academic literature. Whilst you use the
recommended textbooks you may also refer to relevant peer
reviewed, academic journal articles. You will be expected to
present information and evidence from, and cite, at least twenty
(20) times the unit resources but you can use other PEER
REVIEWED sources where you can argue that they add greater
relevance.
Assessment Due Date
Week 12 Friday (07-Oct-2016) 11:45 PM AEST
Return Date to Students
Exam Week Friday (21-Oct-2016)
Weighting

12. 25%
Assessment Criteria
Your assignment will be assessed on the extent and quality to
which it meets each of the following criteria.
· A pictorial illustration of the continuous improvement plan is
supplied? (10%)
· A high-level textural overview of the continuous improvement
plan is provided? (20%)
· Examples of procedural documentation is provided and aligned
with the illustration and high-level text? (10%)
· An implementation plan has been developed that is an accurate
reflection of the case study? (10%)
· The continuous improvement plan reflects one of the
following four criteria:-
1. The continuous improvement plan meets all of the basic
learning requirements of the unit, such as knowledge of
fundamental concepts and performance of basic skills;
demonstrates sufficient quality of performance to be considered
satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in relation to
the learning outcomes of the assignment. (10%)
2. The continuous improvement plan reflects an ability to use
and apply fundamental concepts and skills of the unit, going
beyond mere replication of content knowledge or skill to show
understanding of key ideas, awareness of their relevance, some
use of analytical skills, and some originality or insight. (20%)
3. The continuous improvement plan demonstrates awareness
and understanding of deeper and less obvious aspects of the
unit, such as ability to identify and debate critical issues or
problems, ability to solve non-routine problems, ability to adapt
and apply ideas to new situations, and ability to invent and
evaluate new ideas. (30%)
4. The continuous improvement plan has been presented with
imagination, originality or flair, based on proficiency in all the
learning outcomes of the unit; work is interesting or
surprisingly exciting, challenging, well read or scholarly. (40%)
· Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling? (10%)

13. Referencing Style
Harvard (author-date)
Submission
Online
To be submitted as Microsoft Word document files.