Governance through project management methodologies

When organizations mature in their project management, they tend to include governance in their well-established routines, often built into a project management methodology. Organizations may either adopt a published, all-encompassing project management methodology, adjust and adapt a methodology intended for a specific project type (such as product development or IT), or design and develop their own unique methodology based on their experienced good practices. Such methodologies specify the core principles, processes, tasks, tools, and actors’ roles and responsibilities that are anticipated to lead to successful project outcomes. This chapter outlines the basic features and components of project management methodologies as mechanisms of governance, differentiates the alternative methodology types (adopted, adapted, designed) in terms of their contextualization and use, and reviews current-state knowledge on the benefits and challenges of using project management methodologies. While formalization of project management through these methodologies may promote capability development and learning from one project to another, it also may cause rigidity, which may become quite destructive in dynamic project contexts. The chapter, therefore, discusses the necessity of flexibility, interpretation, adaptation, and continuous learning in using project management methodologies.