As I continue reading the PSM Guide I’m continuing to keep the targets of this study in mind - the entire technical services division within my organisation. The problem here is that, if history is anything to go by, what we will need is a methodology that is dead easy to follow and produces quick and easy wins.

Which is beginning to strike me as problematic, at least when it comes to metrics. The more I take in the less it seems like it can be done without the person/people doing it being willing to invest effort in a few different areas:

    •Understanding the methodology

    •Determining what should be measured

    •Determining how things should be measured

    •Measuring

    •Analysing the measurements

    •Reporting on the measurements

Don’t get me wrong, this still seems great. But I’m becoming somewhat cynical that it’s a methodology that can be enforced across all projects because, just like any other process, people who don’t care or are insufficiently committed can scrape by with the minimum effort to make it seem that they’re following the methodology and produce no benefit whatsoever.

Of course, if measurement reports are deliverables mandated at regular intervals by the project board, and irregularities or indicators of poor performance investigated when they arise, there is the potential for tremendous benefit.

The time for measurement selection grows nigh.

Stay tuned...