Taking
is no longer an option for organizations looking to stay competitive. According
to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth Report: Organizational Agility, nearly
90 percent of executives surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked
organizational agility as vital for business success.
As project leaders adapt to these changes—either by adjusting their existing methodologies or adopting agile approaches—it’s tempting to view older,
traditional processes as outdated or cumbersome. After all, when a team is
cranking out the next hot app, who wants to think about earned value management (EVM)?
Yet thinking of EVM as a holdover system from an earlier age ignores the
many perspectives it can bring to an organization, says Shoaib Ahmed, senior
project manager, Eagle Technology, Wellington, New Zealand. “From an operational point of view, we need to pay closer attention to those projects with lower
earned-value scores. From a strategic point of view, we need to learn what we’re
doing well in the projects with high earned-value scores and implement the
lessons learned. In an individual project sense, EVM needs to provide me with
the pattern so it is possible to identify trends before they fall below a critical
reporting threshold.”
their time
to change
Earned Value
Management:
A methodology that combines
scope, schedule and resource
measurements to assess project
performance and progress
