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Evaluating Organizational Readiness for a PMO

by David Blumhorst

Adoption of a Program Management Office is not a decision that should be made quickly or taken lightly. Careful preparation, clear alignment with organization objectives and stakeholder feedback are critical to a PMO’s success.

PMO Trends

by Patti Gilchrist, PMP

Many PMOs do not fully understand their role within the larger enterprise. What can PMOs do to improve lackluster performance and increase the return on investment? Let’s look at a few of the emerging trends for PMOs to help answer that question...

The Pensky File

by Patti Gilchrist, PMP

Many times, organizations focus on the “what” (i.e., specific tasks) and the “how” (do our actions reflect corporate culture and core values?), but forget about the “why”. That can be dangerous...just ask George Costanza.

Governance Planning

by Patti Gilchrist, PMP

Governance is concerned with the best use of an organizations’ resources. Thus, effective IT planning processes are essential. Organizations must gain insight into (and ultimately retain control over) the demands being made on IT.

Hiring or Assigning a Project Manager (Part 2)

by Mike Tressler, MBA, PMP

As our two-part series concludes, we look at the three most common approaches to selecting PMs that one expert has seen in the business world: assigning the in-house subject matter expert, hiring a project management specialist and hiring a project management generalist. Warning: These aren't always best practices...

Process Mapping Saves the Day

by Joe Wynne

Mapping business processes is not just a method to grind out workflows. It should be the way IT works with the business to communicate how innovative technologies will transform activities.

Stamping Out Requirements Dysfunction

by Michelle Stronach

All project failures are related to miscommunication of requirements. And it's the requirements that define the purpose, function and value--the business requirements--that are the biggest culprit as they are especially hard to define.

Spring Cleaning of Applications

by Kevin Kern

Call it application sprawl, application bloat or whatever you like, most companies that rely on applications could use a good old-fashioned spring cleaning to reassess and determine which apps in a company’s portfolio provide unequivocal value and which should make a polite exit.

Annual Planning in the PMO

by Andy Jordan

The PMO must have an easy time of annual planning, right? It's a service function that provides resources based on the overall project portfolio, and the organization determines which projects to approve. Based on those decisions, the PMO knows how it needs to adjust its resource model. But life’s not quite that simple...

Topic Teasers Vol. 5: Agile Sales Teams

by Barbee Davis, MA, PHR, PMP, PMI-ACP

Question: We are totally committed to agile in our production teams, but is there any way to use the agile philosophy for a sales team?

A. Agile was written by software developers, and any attempt to move it outside of that sweet spot has proven unsuccessful.
B. The agile philosophy is appropriate for any group that needs a flexible approach to providing increased value to the organization through a collaborative approach.
C. Since the Scrum methodology includes software prototyping, testing and rework, salespeople must learn enough code to experience those parts of the agile process to use it.
D. The agile philosophy is appropriate for any group that needs a step-by-step solution that can be replicated by each team in the organization to provide product consistency.

Crawl-Walk-Run: Building Public Sector IT Portfolio Management Maturity

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
Reseach Director David McClure discusses the vast benefits of IT portfolio management, when it's implemented with the requisite management commitment and discipline. He also addresses those challenges unique to public sector projects of this type.

Adapt or Die - The PMO Emergent

PREMIUM presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
Gartner's Matt Light and Donna Fitzgerald discuss important strategies for maintaining a PMO that will be able to withstand the business pressures that threaten its very existence.

Adopting PPM for Greater Product and Process Innovation

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit 2007
Gartner Research Director Marc Halpern leads this presentation to illustrate how PPM can help your organization to incorporate innovative process and support into new product development projects.

Beyond the Business Case: Projects in the Enterprise Architecture

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
By identifying the common themes between PPM and EA, both have the opportunity to strengthen each other and do more with less. Failure to rationalize EA and PPM is negligence. In this presentation, Gartner V.P. Robert Handler will look at the theory, reality and opportunity behind a collaborative approach.

PPM Maturity Model: A Roadmap for an Evolving PPM Function

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
Most organizations have a tendency to get stuck somewhere between level 1 and level 2 of the maturity curve. In this presentation, Donna Fitzgerald will discuss how you can keep moving along the path to full PPM maturity.

Business Engagement: Fixing the Most Common Problem in IT Governance

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
The most common CIO complaint about the effectiveness of IT governance in their organization is that, in one way or another, "business management isn’t sufficiently engaged." This presentation will examine the various reasons why and offer pragmatic best practices for addressing root causes and proposing remedial actions appropriate for various styles of organization.

PPM State of the Art: What's Hot and What's Not

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
Join a panel of Gartner analysts as we test your views on both the future of PPM and today’s common wisdom. We will present research findings that may reinforce that your plans are right on target or surprise you by making you question your most fundamental assumptions. Either way, you should leave the session better prepared to handle both today and tomorrow.

Project and Portfolio Management Applications: Making It Work

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
The market for project and portfolio management suites has seen a flurry of innovation from established players and new entrants, and even continued growth. Amidst confusing market positioning and recent M&A activity, this session makes sense of it all.

IT Modernization: Facing Inevitable Change

presentation

From Gartner PPM Summit
Gartner Research Vice President Jim Duggan discusses how IT organizations can move their portfolios into the future while dealing with elements that date back decades.

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You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, "My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!

- Dave Barry