Project Management Methodology - part 2
There are several properties that are generic to all project management methodologies, including all of the following:
- A project management methodology should define all of the stages of work. These stages of work may vary based on how an organization wants to chunk out the work, but should define all five “W”s. These five are: Who, What, Where, When and Why, and they should all be established. In order for you to be able to define the direction of your project you must be able to synchronize all of the work responsibilities and relationships between all of the different steps in the methodology. The definitions should have all of the following characteristics:
a - They should be measurable. You should be able to evaluate each stage of work in terms of how long it is going to take for you to perform You should also provide criteria which will substantiate the completion of deliverables, allowing you to essentially ensure that a quality product will be delivered.
b - They should be independent of techniques and tools. These techniques and tools may be deployed as they are required, but they should be independent of the project management methodology.
c - They should be independent of other aspects of project management. These methodologies can exist with project management systems or even without them.
If your methodology does not match the criteria listed above, then the odds are that it is not really a methodology, but rather is a specific technique or a tool.
There are three types of project management methodologies, which will be covered in part 3 of the methologies series.