Project management as an organisational capability · Part III · Chapter 10 of 11
The reference model: working differently, leading together
Projects are different. The way an organisation leads them does not have to be different from scratch every time.
Different projects, different paths
A construction project follows a different logic from software development. An organisational and change project needs different work steps from a procurement. Companies work with different types of project and process models, for example with classic or agile approaches, HERMES, PRINCE2, SAFe, RUP, SIA, ASAP or an approach of their own; PMI-based approaches can also be accommodated. Standards such as DIN 69901-5 are not process models but terminology references. That is not a problem. An approach should fit the task and the organisation.
It only becomes difficult when shared leadership disappears with every type of project. When every undertaking speaks a different language, knows different decision points and describes its status differently, the organisation loses the overview. This is exactly where the reference model comes in.
What stays the same although the projects differ
The reference model is not an additional project method. It is a shared leadership framework above different approaches. Its idea is simple: the concrete project execution may differ. The organisation's leadership nevertheless needs reliable points at which it can decide, steer and exercise responsibility.
That is why the reference model spans an arc:
- Project impulse
- Initialisation
- Concept
- Realisation
- Introduction
- Use
does the result hold in operations?
- Customer projects: up to handover
- Internal projects: into use
Project execution with your own method: HERMES, PRINCE2, SAFe, SIA, PMI-based, own approach
Management milestone: leadership decides here
Project work differs; manageability is preserved.
Along this path lie management milestones. They give leadership orientation and create defined moments at which an undertaking can be reviewed and decided on. Underneath, the actual project execution can look different. Project work differs; manageability is preserved.
Method-neutral, not structureless
The reference model does not require a company to give up its proven method. Those who already have an approach of their own can keep it. Methods, phases and milestones can be tailored to the organisation. The reference model creates a shared view above them without making the concrete way of working underneath uniform.
So it is not about making all projects the same. It is about being able to lead different kinds of projects together.
Which approaches can be accommodated
- HERMES: the results-oriented project management method developed in Switzerland, standard in the Swiss federal administration and widespread in cantons, municipalities and companies. Those who work with HERMES do not have to give it up.
- PRINCE2: an internationally widespread method with clear roles, continuous business justification and management by stages.
- PMI-based: a company-specific approach oriented to the standards of the Project Management Institute, such as the PMBOK Guide.
- SAFe: Scaled Agile Framework, for coordinating agile and lean ways of working beyond individual teams.
- SIA: standards and service models of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects for planning and realising construction projects.
- RUP, ASAP: an iterative software method and an SAP implementation logic; both stand for an existing logic that can be accommodated.
- DIN 69901-5: not an approach but a standard that defines project management terms. It serves as a terminology reference.
- Your own approach: What matters is whether it suits the organisation, is understandable and can be applied reliably.
Detailed explanations can be found in the glossary.
Five levels of responsibility, one connection
This shared leadership includes five levels of responsibility: strategy, portfolio, steering, leadership and execution. They answer a different question from the eight areas of clarification.
- Strategy
- Portfolio
- Steering
- Leadership
- Execution
- The eight areas of clarification ask: what must be clarified in handling the new?
- The five levels of responsibility ask: who carries which responsibility in it?
- The maturity level asks: how far has the organisation come with it?
These three perspectives complement each other and must not be confused. An area of clarification such as decision rights or reliable information can affect several levels of responsibility at the same time. That is why the eight areas of clarification are not reduced to the five levels.
From project impulse to use
Chapter 1 distinguishes between line and project logic. The reference model makes a typical project path visible: an undertaking begins with an impulse or order, is clarified, conceived, realised and introduced or handed over. For internal change projects, the arc of leadership extends into use; for customer projects, up to a reliable handover and the agreed result.
A management milestone after introduction stands for no longer asking only whether a project result has been created and introduced, but whether it actually holds in operations and delivers the expected benefit. This makes the idea of this publication concrete: the new should become the proven. What this point is called and where it lies can be defined for the specific organisation or integrated into an existing method.
In the last chapter you can clarify for yourself where your own next undertaking stands in this picture.