What is Project Tailoring?
Project Tailoring is the deliberate adjustment of the project approach, methods, and governance to fit the unique context, complexity, and environment of each project, maximizing value and efficiency.
Defining Project Tailoring
Tailoring is defined as the deliberate adaptation of the project management approach, governance, and processes to make them more suitable for the given environment and the work at hand.
It is one of the 12 Project Management Principles defined in The Standard for Project Management (alongside principles like Stewardship, Team, and Value). This principle recognizes that each project is unique and that success is achieved by adapting the approach to the unique context of the project.
Tailoring involves the "mindful selection and adjustment of multiple project factors," regardless of whether the specific label "tailoring" is used. The guiding factor in the tailoring process is ensuring accountability, clarity, and alignment while striving to maximize value and minimize cost.
The alternative to tailoring—using an unmodified framework or methodology rigorously—is inefficient, costly, and often wasteful, failing to account for specific project size, complexity, or duration.
The Importance and Objectives of Tailoring
Tailoring is not merely customization; it is a strategic necessity driven by the goal of optimizing project delivery performance:
1. Maximizing Value and Efficiency: Tailoring aims to maximize value and manage constraints by utilizing "just enough" processes, methods, templates, and artifacts to achieve the desired outcome. This helps reduce waste in terms of unnecessary actions or resources.
2. Adapting to Context and Complexity: Projects exist in complex, dynamic environments. Tailoring allows the project team to select an approach that aligns with the specific level of uncertainty, project size, stakeholder diversity, and organizational culture. For instance, a small, colocated team may remove the requirement for extensive meeting minutes due to effective communication channels, thus reducing waste.
3. Ensuring Project Success: Adapting the approach contributes to a higher level of project performance and an increased probability of success. Organizational factors, such as culture, values, and risk appetite, must drive the tailoring process.
4. Fostering Commitment and Innovation: When project team members participate in defining the approach, it can lead to deeper commitment. Tailoring also encourages experimentation, leading to the discovery of improved outcomes, processes, or methods, which increases innovation and long-term organizational adaptability.
What Aspects Should Be Tailored?
The tailoring process involves selectively modifying five key categories based on the unique project context:
1. Life Cycle and Development Approach Selection: Deciding the overall project life cycle structure (e.g., phased approach) and the underlying development approach (e.g., predictive/Waterfall, adaptive/Agile, or hybrid). This could involve combining a predictive approach for construction with an iterative approach for implementing IT capabilities in the same project.
2. Processes: Determining which process elements should be added (for rigor), modified (for suitability), removed (to reduce waste), blended (to combine benefits), or aligned (to harmonize multidisciplinary efforts).
3. Engagement: Adjusting how the project team engages with individuals, including evaluating the skills and capabilities of the team, selecting who should be involved, defining the appropriate level of team empowerment (local decision making), and integrating diverse contributors (e.g., contractors and internal staff).
4. Tools: Selecting the appropriate software and equipment the project team will use (e.g., specialized BIM tools for construction or Kanban boards for adaptive work).
5. Methods and Artifacts: Choosing the means (methods) used to achieve outcomes and the necessary templates or documents (artifacts) that need to be created, ensuring they are appropriate for the culture and environment.
The Tailoring Process (The Four Steps)
Tailoring is a continuous, iterative process, typically involving four major steps:
1. Select Initial Development Approach: Determining the best-suited approach (e.g., Predictive, Iterative, Incremental, or Adaptive) based on awareness of the product, delivery cadence, and available options.
2. Tailor for the Organization: Adjusting the approach to align with the organization’s overall project methodology, governance, culture, maturity, and specific constraints (e.g., regulatory policies or mandated methodologies). Organizations with a Project Management Office (PMO) may review and approve these organizational tailoring decisions.
3. Tailor for the Project: Making specific adjustments based on the unique attributes of the project itself, such as its compliance/criticality level, the product type (software vs. physical building), the size and experience of the project team, and the stability of requirements.
4. Implement Ongoing Improvement: Throughout the project life cycle, inspecting and adapting the tailored approach by collecting feedback (e.g., through retrospectives or lessons learned) to evaluate effectiveness and ensure continuous improvement.