Project Management tools should be applied commensurate with the complexity, importance, and cost of the project. The development and deployment of a standard is an important first step in the lifecycle of continuous process improvement.

There are a wide variety of tools, sample templates, and Sharepoint sites available from Main IT that can serve as examples. This standard will continue to evolve and course corrections will be applied as they are discovered and vetted. While the standard does relate most closely to the waterfall SDL, it can be applied successfully using agile methodology. Indeed, within IT there are several big projects using the PM standard and agile methodology. The two are not mutually exclusive and the standard is flexible enough to cover any model.

One of the primary benefits of the PM standard is to begin to raise awareness of best known practices as they relate to project management, and to continue to nurture the quality journey here at UNM. Sound project management is not about checking boxes or filling out reams of documents. It is about applying sound PM principles to projects commensurate with the demands of the project to help shepherd the project to a successful end (agnostic to methodology).

The standard represents a compilation of “best known methods” (BKMs) and globally accepted project management practices. The UNM PMO will be glad to assist you with answering any questions you may have in applying the standard as well as supplying proven templates and sample documents (tools). We understand that there is more work that needs to be done to sharpen the standard and to make it more suitable to cover the wide spectrum of projects here at UNM.