Project Management Efficiency, Experience & Expertise

One author (Mills 2004), differentiates professional services providers among three categories; those who sell efficiency, those who sell experience, and those who sell expertise. He calls this the three E's model.

With respect to project management, Scope, Schedule, Quality, and Risk Management are relatively mature knowledge process areas, as such, these services utilize standardized methods that simplify problems and are widely distributed throughout many industries. Mills (2004) also notes that efficiency driven services are generally differentiated on price and methodology. The other KPAs are subject to much wider variations in complexity and standardization within and across industries which implies that they are not necessarily purchased based on proven methods or low price.

The differentiating factor between needs that are served best by expertise rather than by experience is the relative level of uniqueness of the problem. While all projects can be characterized as having some level of uniqueness (Mandjak & Verez 1998), effectively applying Project Management methods combined with experience in their application helps to reduce unique problems to common inputs that can be applied across one or more of the KPAs described above resulting in manageable levels of uncertainty. From the consumer’s perspective the need for high cost expertise can be at least partially satisfied at potentially lower cost by experienced project management. So one way to characterize the demand for Project Management services is along the dimension of buyer’s needs based on the 3E’s model.

REFERENCES

Mandjak, T., and Verez, Z. (1998). The D-U-C model and the stages of the project marketing process. Paper presented at the 14th IMP conference. Turku, Finland

Mills, H. (2004). The Rainmaker's Toolkit: Power Strategies for Finding, Keeping, and Growing Profitable Clients. AMACOM