Musings on project management: Maturity model

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Maturity model

Yuk! No one wants to read about a maturity model. Isn't that a tool from 30 years ago?
Nonetheless, over at herdingcats, there is an image of a model that captured my attention for a couple of reasons

The image itself is an attractive presentation
The substance is clear enough that most can see some advantage of every step

This model, like models, is a simple and abstracted view of real life so that we focus on the substantive points. That is, no one works in an organization that is exclusively on one level or another. The points being:

In some things, we're level 1 or 2, making it up as circumstances emerge -- Innovation may occur here.
In other things, we've advanced to level 4 or 5 because we know exactly how to do it, and we're committed to making it even better --- Productivity (and profitability) may occur here.

And, so having read this far:

Is there something useful here, or
What's the utility?
What's the action item for a project office?

Answer:

Maturity models are checklists, on the one hand -- stuff we should be doing. Are we doing them?
Maturity models can serve as strategic objectives (to climb the steps), giving a glimpse of a differentiated future. Do we have a plan to get to one step or another? After all, who wouldn't be striving for the fifth step, always focusing on improvement?