Tailoring Guidelines & Instructions: Customize Your Project Approach Effortlessly
By: Hajime Estanislao, PMP; Editor: Geram Lompon; Reviewed by: Alvin Villanueva, PMP
Not every project fits neatly into a predefined approach. Sticking rigidly to one creates more friction than momentum, especially when priorities shift, teams evolve, or stakeholder needs change.
Project management provides structured frameworks that guide the tailoring process. Whether coordinating a highly structured initiative or managing flexible sprints in an organizational context, tailoring allows you to work with what makes sense. It helps align methods with your team, timeline, project requirements, and environment without overcomplicating things.
Imagine leading projects where the approach fits your work, not the other way around, where tools match the needs of your team, and plan to adapt when change happens. With a solid understanding of tailoring that includes stakeholders’ input, you can reduce waste, strengthen team alignment, and confidently respond to change.
This article offers practical steps to tailoring in traditional, Agile, or hybrid environments. It also includes a downloadable Tailoring Guidelines Template to help clarify your plan adjustments.
What Is Tailoring in Project Management ?
Tailoring in project management means adjusting your approach to fit a project’s unique challenges, specific needs, goals, and environment. Rather than following a standard method from start to finish, project managers choose which elements to use, adapt, or leave out.
Project management emphasizes tailoring by encouraging flexibility over rigid adherence. The Project Management Institute (PMI) plays a role in
It is a thoughtful way to balance structure with real-world variability, whether using a traditional framework, an Agile method, or something in between.
What Is Adaptability Quotient?
Adaptability Quotient (AQ) is the ability to adjust to change, remain effective in unfamiliar situations, and continuously learn. In project settings, this means handling uncertainty without losing direction.
Where IQ measures intelligence and EQ focuses on emotional awareness, AQ reflects your capacity to shift gears, rethink strategies, and move forward when the unexpected happens, maximizing the project’s potential.
Application in
- Adjusting project methods to reflect current realities
- Maintaining momentum during unexpected changes
- Encouraging team learning and reflection
- Supporting a flexible, context-aware mindset
- Including project team members in tailoring decisions that affect their work
High adaptability makes tailoring more natural and effective for achieving success, allowing project managers to work with changing priorities rather than against them.
Reasons Why Adaptability Is Universal
No project follows its original plan. Project managers who work with flexibility, not against it, are better equipped to lead through uncertainty.
- Scope, budget, or timelines often shift.
- Stakeholder feedback may change expectations.
- External factors like regulations or technology shifts can affect the work.
- Teams evolve.
- Tailoring becomes more practical with adaptable thinking.
- Adaptability supports continuous learning and revision.
- Helps transition between traditional and Agile practices smoothly
- Strengthens communication during changes in direction
- Adaptability is crucial throughout the project lifecycle to ensure management styles and tools are effectively tailored to each stage, enhancing the chances of success while minimizing risks.
Benefits of Tailoring in Project Management
- Better alignment with project objectives: Tailoring helps shape methods around real goals, not generic templates.
- Fewer wasted steps: Focus on what’s relevant and skip what’s not.
- Responsiveness to change: Adjust as needed without disrupting the flow.
- Clear documentation: Customize processes and outputs based on actual requirements.
- More relevant governance: Match oversight to project scale and importance.
- Stronger stakeholder relationships: Meet expectations more directly.
- Enhanced efficiency with
project management software: Tools like Microsoft Project, Asana, and Trello facilitate planning, scheduling, tracking, and collaboration, making the tailoring process more efficient and productive.
Factors Influencing Project Tailoring
Tailoring your
Project scope and complexity
The scope and complexity of your project are primary drivers in the tailoring process. A highly complex project with numerous dependencies will require a different approach than a straightforward, small-scale initiative. Project managers must assess the intricacies involved and the available project resources, adjusting their methods accordingly.
Resource Availability
Resources – human and material – determine how you tailor your project management practices. Limited resources may necessitate a more streamlined approach, while abundant resources might allow for more comprehensive planning and execution.
Stakeholder Expectations
Understanding and managing stakeholder expectations is vital. Different stakeholders may have varying priorities and levels of involvement, which can influence how you tailor your project management processes. Effective communication and stakeholder engagement are key to aligning your approach with their needs.
Constraints and Risks
Every project operates within constraints such as budget, time, and regulatory requirements.
Additionally, potential risks must be identified and managed. Tailoring your approach to address these constraints and incorporating robust risk management strategies that align with your risk tolerance is essential for project success.
Balancing Competing Factors
Project managers often have to balance competing factors. For instance, meeting tight deadlines while ensuring high-quality deliverables can be tricky. The ability to adapt and find a middle ground is crucial in the tailoring process.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Implementing Tailoring as a Project Manager
Tailoring is not guesswork – it is a thoughtful, practical response to real project needs, aiming to improve project outcomes. Ensuring a proper project management methodology fit is relevant in this process, as it involves customizing elements like project selection processes, governance structures, risk assessment strategies, and roles and responsibilities to best suit specific project requirements.
Here’s a four-step approach that works across different industries and delivery styles.
Pick Your Starting Point
Choose a base project methodology (traditional, Agile, or hybrid) that reflects the general nature of the work. Consider:
- Is the project clearly defined or expected to evolve?
- What delivery timelines are involved?
- What experience does the team have with various methods?
It becomes your working foundation for the project life cycle, not a fixed rule book.
Read the Room (and the Organization)
Tailor your selected method to fit the broader environment and the specific project characteristics. Ask:
- What are the governance expectations?
- Which tools and templates are already in use?
- How much decision-making flexibility does the team have?
Aligning with organizational structure improves practicality and reduces resistance.
Match the Project Management Methodology to the Moment
Adapt your approach to the project’s specific context to ensure a project methodology fit:
- How complex is the work?
- What are the stakes?
- What does success look like to stakeholders?
Tailor workflows, timelines, and roles to match – not overwhelm – the project using a tailored approach.
Adjust Along the Way
Tailoring continues beyond planning. Check in regularly:
- Are current processes still working?
- Is the team aligned and clear on expectations?
- What feedback points to the need for adjustments?
It keeps your approach responsive without losing structure.
Project and Management Approach
Understanding and tailoring these organizational factors and approaches to fit your project’s unique needs is crucial for effective execution.
The project approach is a high-level plan that outlines how the project will be managed and delivered. It includes the overall strategy, methodologies, and processes used. Tailoring the project approach involves selecting the most suitable project management methodology (traditional, Agile, or hybrid) based on the project’s nature and requirements.
The management approach guides the project team in managing and delivering the project. It encompasses the tools, techniques, and practices used to manage the project’s scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risks. Tailoring the management approach means adapting these elements to align with the project’s objectives and risk management strategies.
Aligning with Project Objectives
The project and management approach should be close to the project’s objectives. This alignment ensures efforts toward achieving the desired outcomes and that the project team remains focused and cohesive.
Adapting to Stakeholder Needs: Tailoring these approaches also involves considering the needs and expectations. By doing so, project managers can ensure that the project remains relevant and valuable to those it aims to serve.
Implementing Risk Management Strategies
Project tailoring requires integrating robust risk management strategies into the project and management approaches. This proactive stance helps identify potential issues early and mitigate them before they escalate.
Considerations for Successfully Enhancing Adaptability for Project Success
Adaptability and tailoring go hand in hand. One shapes the process; the other shapes how you respond to it. Strong adaptability means knowing when to shift gears and how to do so without causing confusion or delay, supporting ongoing improvement.
10 Facets to Strengthen AQ and Tailoring Practice
- Self-awareness: Know your response to uncertainty
- Listening actively: Catch early signals for needed change
- Embracing uncertainty: Treat unpredictability as usual.
- Scenario thinking: Stay prepared for alternate paths
- Learning over certainty: Use reflection, not rigid rules.
- Observing patterns: Spot signals early across the project
- Balancing structure and flexibility: Stay grounded but open
- Seeking outside perspectives: Learn from other approaches
- Staying close to purpose: Make changes that still support the goal.
- Letting go of perfectionism: Favor progress over polish
Taking It to the Next Level: Hybrid Project Management
Hybrid
For example, planning may follow a structured model for executive reporting, while delivery teams iterate using Agile tools. Tailoring helps bridge these two modes of support rather than contradict each other.
It requires selecting the right mix of tools, reporting, and meeting rhythms to suit the project.
Project Documentation and Tailoring
Not every project needs the same level of documentation. Tailoring project documentation means shaping it to fit the project’s needs, not just compliance checklists. The project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) guides tailoring project documentation to ensure it meets the requirements of various projects.
Start by reviewing and considering if further tailoring is needed :
- Project size and complexity
- Stakeholder involvement
- Regulatory or contractual requirements
- Adjust the format, frequency, and detail of your documentation. Assign documentation tasks clearly to avoid gaps or duplication.
Wrapping Up: You’re in Control
Tailoring is not about removing structure but making it work for your situation. It helps you lead projects that are grounded in reality, not stuck in rigid models. Whether using a classic approach or something more iterative, a tailored methodology supports clarity, flexibility, and momentum.
ROSEMET offers practical tools to help you along the way. ROSEMET offers downloadable templates and step-by-step articles for training designed to support your development as a project manager. Explore what fits your needs and shape your project approach with purpose.
References
Deloitte. (2025, April). The future belongs to the adaptable. Retrieved from https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/services/consulting/services/future-belongs-adaptable.html
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
Project Management Institute. (2020). Tailoring in project management: Guidance for tailoring the application of
Project Management Institute. (2014). Choosing the right project approach: A guide for practitioners. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/choosing-right-project-approach-9346
Wells, H., & Smyth, H. (2021). The influence of project context on the use of project management standards and frameworks . International Journal of
