What is Project Tailoring?
Tailoring is an essential concept used in project management. The PMBOK Guide mentions tailoring several times, emphasizing its importance in the project management field. This blog post aims to answer the following questions: What exactly is project tailoring? What are the benefits of tailoring your project methodology? What are the negatives of tailoring? How can you tailor your project methodology?
Project Managers usually apply project management methodology to their work. Methodology is a term that refers to an arrangement of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules adopted by those who work in a specific discipline. Sean Whitaker, Project Management Consultant, and expert claims in a 2014 PMI White Papers:
"A methodology is an appropriate, professional, repeatable, standardized, and documented collection of processes, tools, techniques, and templates that you choose to use. Tailoring is the process of choosing which of these are appropriate to use on any given project. One size doesn't fit all."
The adverse outcomes in the absence of a defined and appropriate project management methodology are:
inefficiencies
decreased morale
decreased repeat business
financial losses
fewer chances of delivering successful projects
The perks of having a defined and appropriate methodology:
efficient project management activities
better chances of project success
possessing the right processes, templates, documents, and guidelines
program and portfolio managers can access standardized information for reporting and assessments
In project tailoring, the project manager chooses appropriate project management operational components to manage a project. There is no need for every single process, input, tool, technique, or output to be used on every project. The project manager typically collaborates with the project team, sponsor, and organizational management in the tailoring process.
The Project Management Institute defines tailoring in the PMBOK Guide sixth edition as:
"Determining the appropriate combination of processes, inputs, tools, techniques, outputs and lifecycle phases to manage a project."
A project manager should use tailoring to fit the uniqueness of every project. Tailoring should also address the competing constraints of scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk. Project managers tailor the strategy for managing these constraints based on the environment, organizational culture, stakeholder needs, and other ongoing variables. A project manager should also examine changing levels of governance that may be required within the project. Project Management Consultant Sean Whitaker's says:
"The process of tailoring is a process of customizing a project management methodology. The result of tailoring is that the project management methodology will be suitable for use in specific types of projects, and a tailored methodology will reflect the size, complexity, and duration of the project as appropriate for the organizational context along with adaptation to the industry within which the project is undertaken."
The additional option to tailoring is using an unmodified, uniform, off-the-shelf project management methodology. These methodologies are available and are accessible by running a quick online search and can usually be purchased for a fee. A project manager must know that these uniform methodologies aren't customized to the organization's context. People often erroneously assume that because it works for someone else that it will work for them.
These broad types of methodologies shouldn't be applied to every project. Some experts claim that these one-size-fits-all approaches are counterproductive and rarely lead to project management success. These options aren't overall terrible, but they are not as good as your own tailored methodology, which should be flexible and scalable enough to use on all your projects.
Here are some signs that your project management methodology is not tailored correctly:
project team members are not using the methodology
project team members are independently modifying the methodology
your methodology features process for the sake of process
your methodology is a one-size-fits-all approach to projects of differing sizes and complexity
The benefits of a tailored approach to your project management methodology are:
buy-in from team members
customer-oriented focus
focus on best-for-project approach
more efficient use of project resources
The steps to developing a tailored project management methodology are:
Identify types or projects
Identify inputs
Identify constraints
Identify resources
Develop and document the methodology
Derive output
Conduct continuous improvement
Monitor key performance indicators
Repeat for each of the different projects
Industry research infers there's a linear correlation between using a tailored project management methodology and increased project success. It's proven that the higher the level of project management methodology tailoring, the greater the level of project success.
Tailoring Project Management Methodology Checklist
Use this checklist to determine which elements the tailored project management methodology should have.
Project selection, justification, and approval process
Project phases, stage gates and/or milestones
Project governance
Project sponsorship
Delegated authority limits
Project roles and responsibilities
Business case preparation
Project charter preparation
Project management software selection
Requirements definition, management and control
Work breakdown structure development and control
Scope definition, management and control
Cost estimating, management and control
Budget development and control
Project financial processes
Schedule estimating, management and control
Monitoring project performance, metrics/KPIs, reporting
Managing project scope changes
Project status reporting
Quality assurance processes
Process audit procedures
Quality control processes
Risk assessment, management and control
Resource estimation, leveling and management
Project team formation and development
Project communications development, distribution and control
Stakeholder identification, engagement and management
Customer engagement and management
Procurement and contract assessment and management
Vendor management
Claims administration and resolution
Health and safety
Environmental management
Deliverable acceptance procedure
Operational handover process
Project, or phase, closure process and checklist
Gathering, documenting and evaluation of lessons learned
Benefits realization and/or post implementation review process
Methodology tailoring guidelines
Project change management
Project complexity assessment
Form templates
References:
Whitaker, S. (2014). The Benefits of Tailoring: Making a Project Management Methodology Fit. PMI White Paper.
Whitaker, S. (2012). The art of tailoring: making your project methodology fit. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2012—North America, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Project Management Institute, Inc. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Sixth Edition. 6th ed., Project Management Institute, 2017.