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You’ve probably already figured out that very rarely are two projects ever the same. Even projects with the same scope, stakeholders, schedule, and budget yield different outcomes when external factors differ from one project to the next. Since so few projects fit into a precise, repeatable mold, why then would you use the same approach, methods, and artifacts (to name a few) to manage every project? The answer is you wouldn’t. The concepts covered up to this point can be universally applied to all projects. Many other project factors, however, are better suited for some projects and organizations than others.

Tailoring is defined in PMBOK 7 as the deliberate adaptation of the project management approach, governance, and processes to make them more suitable for the environment and the work at hand.

Nearly everything you use to manage your project can and should be tailored, including:

 Life cycle and delivery approach

 Processes

 Engagement

 Tools

 Models, methods, and artifacts

Let’s deconstruct these project factors to understand what each entails and the value each offers.

 The life cycle and delivery approach is one of the most impactful factors to tailor. Approaches range from predictive (Waterfall) to adaptive (Agile) with various hybrid models in between that each utilize different aspects of predictive and adaptive approaches (see Chapter 18 for more on Agile methodology). The approach you elect to use at this stage will set the foundation for the rest of your project.

 Processes are added to bring more control or address unique product or environment conditions and requirements; they are modified to better suit the project or project team requirements; they are removed to reduce cost or effort when the benefit they offer does not justify the cost to keep them; they are blended to enhance other processes by incorporating select elements that add the most value; and finally, they are aligned to ensure they have consistent definition, understanding, and application.

 Engagement tailoring addresses people, empowerment, and integration. People (project team and leadership) should be evaluated for their skills and capabilities and selected for the project based on their ability to complement each other and round out the team; empowerment involves the project responsibilities and the decision-making authority that resides with the project team or is reserved for leadership; integration considers all contributors to the project, internal and external (i.e., subcontractors, channel partners, and vendor partners, to name a few), and aims to bring them all together as a unified team working toward a common goal.

 Tools that the team will use to manage the project, such as software applications and equipment, can also be tailored. Two factors that most often influence which tools are best suited for a project are cost to procure or use the tools and the familiarity of the project team and stakeholders with the tools.

 The strategies, or models, to explain project processes, the means, or methods, to achieve project outcomes and the documents, templates, and presentations, or artifacts, to be prepared and used or delivered during the project should be tailored to include only those that add more benefit than the cost required to prepare and maintain them.

Tailoring can yield tangible and intangible benefits, as depicted in Figure 3-2.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 3-2: The tangible and intangible benefits of tailoring a project.