Interaction between Project Class, Process Effectiveness and Team Strength
How do the three parameters — Project Class, PE, and TS — interact?
With 5 classes and 11 possible levels for both PE and TS, we have a
three-dimensional space with 605 possible values at the intersections.
While 5 project classes seem appropriate, eleven levels for PE and TS seem
excessive. Yet people seem to gravitate to evaluating these parameters on a "10-point"
scale, even though no one can estimate them with such accuracy. All one can reasonably
expect is that if PE or TS is claimed to be 7, it is somewhere between 6
and 8. Certainly any digit after the decimal point is pure fantasy.
Our ability to estimate the input with limited accuracy leads to a similar
conclusion with respect to the output. A success percentage of 62% means "somewhere
between 60% and 70%," and likely closer to 60% than 70%. Results should be rounded
up or down to the nearest 5%.
The self-documenting nomogram shown in Figure 3 allows
one to obtain a prediction of project success. Here are the steps:
- Determine which of the five classes most resembles your project. This is your
project class.
- Determine the strength of your team (TS) on a scale of 0 to 10, and the
effectiveness of the process (PE) you will use, also on a scale from 0 to 10.
- Locate your values for TS and PE on the axes that are appropriate for your
project class.
- Connect the two points with a straight line.
- Read off the value you arrived at for your project.
Figure 3: The Marasco nomogram for project success
(For a full size 8.5"x11" PDF download, press HERE.)
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