PM10 assessment

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When dealing with a team of project managers, to work with them to improve their capabilities and be able to be consistent and equal with every body, you need a framework that enable you to have common path forward.

PM10, or project management 10 is a framework we all use in CSC for the assessment and common understanding about where a project manager is.

The assessment sheet

It’s a basic spreadsheet with a lot of intelligence and data there that can give you a broad understanding of the concrete experiences a professional has. To enter the data the first time is very tedious, but once done it’s a good basis for discussion. It looks like this:

PM10 assessment sheet

The process

The process is as follows:

  • The project manager enters all initial data in the spreadsheet.
  • The project manager and the team lead review the data and try to gain understanding of all experiences and work done as project manager.
  • Then, both define a set of needs and priorities.
  • An action plan is defined for the next fiscal year.
  • During the fiscal year, a meeting per quarter is done (30 min is enough) to review the progress on the work done, informal meetings help too when it’s possible.
  • At the end of the fiscal year the assessment sheet is review and updated with the work done and the progress done.

Experience using this tool

I find so many pros and small amount of cons to using this tool.

Pros:

  • It’s common to everybody.
  • It’s very well aligned with the evolution of experiences and training.
  • It covers so many angles: technology, scope, type of project, finance volume, team volume, etc.
  • It helps to gain consensus about where someone really is.
  • It contains a common nomenclature that enable to define what other people need.

Cons:

  • To enter and review the data is tedious, and not everybody is willing to go to this level of detail.
  • It takes time to work on it and stablish as something basic for an organization. Once done, it’s very useful, but do not expect that there is initial buy in.

One of the most interesting things to do is when someone ask you for a project manager: “I need a PM”. Ok, but what type of PM? I send the spreadsheet and enable the requester to enter the basis of what s/he needs. In this way the expectations and reality can fit better.

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