“Measuring the Value Return on investment serves as the typical metric that many leaders use to evaluate the need for project management. Leaders should consider if they are measuring the correct things. To evaluate the value of project management, ROI seems a good catchall. ROI acts as the great equalizer, and, leveraged well, it effectively illustrates the relative value of competing initiatives. However, it becomes daunting to measure the ROI of project management as the analysis expands to include fixed costs, variable costs and opportunity costs. At some point, the analysis has to stop and the result may or may not favor the practice of project management. Instead, leaders should favor an approach that puts a value on the metrics that align to the strategic initiatives of the organization. For example, if customer satisfaction is the primary strategic focus, then the metrics might be net promoter score, call center volume and intent to return. On the other hand, product quality might be the critical measure (in jet engine manufacturing, for example). In this case, the metrics might be product defects, production rate and line downtime. Culturally and strategically, these might have more bearing on the impact that project management can have on the organization. Consistent execution of project management practices that fit well within the culture of the organization and align with metrics that matter will lead to clear, easy to calculate results”. – Vicki Wrona, PMP, and Rob Zell, excerpted from their article, “Understanding the Value of Project Management” for ForwardMomentum.net, click here to read the article in its entirety. [end]

Insightful and well said!  PMO Advisory offers courses throughout the year designed for project professionals interested in Portfolio (PfMP), Program (PgMP), Project (PMP & CAPM) Risk (PMI-RMP) Management, and Agile (PMI-ACP) certifications.