Program Management Office (PMO) > PMO Communications & Marketing

This writer has seen some truly atrocious project communications where the PMO seems at a loss to be able to assist. In this article, he looks at a few ways that the PMO may be able to assist in building a communications model that brings consistency without burying the PM in “dashboard hell”.

How many people in your organization know what the PMO actually does? Here, we look at the work that the PMO can do to help a key group of people understand how the PMO operates: project stakeholders.

Many companies struggle with justifying the need to maintain a project management office after it is established. But the onus is on the PMO itself. Here are five key performance indicators that PMOs should use to measure effectiveness and ensure alignment with the needs of the organization.

A project management office can operate on a continuum, from providing project management support functions in the form of training, software, standardized policies and procedures to actual direct management and responsibility for achieving the project objectives. Here, we look at some of the key responsibilities and features of a typical PMO.

Establishing a program management office is a project in Itself. And like all projects, you need a charter that presents a clear and measurable purpose, scope, schedule, quality, budget, risks and critical success factors. Here are guidelines for creating a charter for your PMO project.

From Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation offers compelling insights into the impacts that process can have on culture and vice versa. This organization understood the four reasons why many organizations fail to transform their Project Management cultures, and avoided these pitfalls with their PMO working with OPM Experts LLC.

Ever thought of a Project Promotions Office? We centralize many functions in a PMO, but what about promoting our projects?

Contrary to a recent report, PMO longevity doesn't lead to greater success; PMO success leads to longevity. And PMOs that thrive share fundamental commonalities of alignment, from culture to customer, that they start getting right early in their existence. Here are six ways your PMO needs to be aligned.

Do PMOs have value? Arguably, yes. At least...sometimes. According to the results of recent research, the presence of a PMO was often a contributor to the attainment of organizational value. What was of particular concern, however, was the actual role of the PMO within the organization. Two broad types emerged within the research; find out what they are inside...

Those with solid agile project management experience and knowledge--coupled with an entrepreneurial vision to see the trends and navigate incubating startups to launch--are poised to take great advantage both monetarily and professionally in years to come.

Based on the best practices of winners and finalist from PM Solutions’ annual PMO of the Year award, a new book offers tips, insights and checklists for people management, performance measurement, strategic alignment, organization design and more.

Project management is all about people and relationships--and there will be times when not everyone gets along. Projects have the potential to be political hotbeds as stakeholders have their own personal agendas--and that applies just as much to team members as it does to the sponsor or customer. Here we present a true story of politics and the destruction of departmental relations...learn from it before it's too late!

We are all leaders of our teams, and that’s a responsibility that we shouldn’t take lightly. Your project team looks up to you--don’t let them down. Here's some advice on how to set the right example.

Collaboration is a common theme throughout many of the leading trends for project management in 2012, as determined by a global panel of senior executives and subject matter experts.

One of the unsung PMO functions is managing risk. There are a lot of aspects of risk management where the PMO can provide tangible support to project managers in their endeavors. In this article, we explore some of that support in terms of identification, analysis and response.

Making strategic portfolio management decisions in a tight economy isn’t easy. Here’s some help in trying to achieve an empowered PMO when the going gets tough.

Is there any advantage to using Cloud-based project management tools to manage projects? Is it cheaper and more effective? Are the tools more feature-rich? And what about the disadvantages? Here is what some research has revealed…

If you want to ensure that your organization can differentiate itself based on quality, you need to ensure that everyone is focused on achieving that goal. Quality goes far beyond the individual project, and this article looks at some of the steps needed to ensure that you are capable of delivering quality projects on a consistent basis.

As we enter 2011, it's time for a refresher--it's the perfect time to explore the cross section of views and perspectives about PMOs. It's the perfect time to see what others are thinking regarding the state of PMOs, and this article will focus on starting a PMO, avoiding PMO failure, trends and the future of the PMO.

Welcome to the PMO! Does your Program Management Office have a plan for helping new project managers? More than any other function, the PMO varies hugely from one organization to the next--and even from one division to the next. That means that there will always be a ramp-up period for anyone entering as a project manager--and yet many PMOs make no allowance for this.

Microsoft hopes a beta release feature pack that integrates Project Server and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server will bridge project managers, software developers and different methodologies by simplifying data exchange.

What does your project management office need to do to ensure that it's serving your organization? What makes it effective? In this writer's professional experience, five primary factors greatly influence the ultimate success of the PMO.

There are many ways you can poison your PMO and ensure that it doesn’t see tomorrow’s sunrise. In our last article, we looked at some leading PMO killers such as failing to identify an identity, ignoring your stakeholders and making things complicated. In the conclusion of this two-part series, we look at five additional deadly deeds.

Too many PMOs are not yielding demonstrable positive financial results, often due to limitations outside of their control. Here are two common problem scenarios that can be fixed by changing the way in which the PMO is chartered, operates and is perceived within the business.

If you’re struggling to implement PMO processes in your organization, here is a no-nonsense, lean PMO process set that focuses more on delivery—and less on bureaucracy.

A wide variety of technology solutions and services are available to help organizations implement, customize and improve their project portfolio management processes. Here is our August roundup of recent updates and announcements from CA, Daptiv, Innotas, Oracle Primavera, Planview, PowerSteering, Rally and others.

PMOs might take a page from New York City’s war on crime, which produced a sustained drop in reported crime. By focusing on solutions instead of symptoms, then targeting the most serious strategic or execution-related pain points, a PMO is more likely to make a transformative impact.

We seem to be moving from the “every PMO is different” model to the “PMOs fit into one of several types” model. However, since the heady days of Y2K the world has changed a lot--and created a lot of opportunities for PMOs to reinvent themselves and create a new model. This writer may be a power-crazed egomaniac, but he thinks PMOs can run the organization (if not the world).

The head of the PMO has a significant responsibility to the project managers to act as career coaches and mentors. Are you taking that role seriously?

Thinking about how to use social media? Your project team members are already there. Social media has morphed from something that you play with to something businesses use for marketing, advertising and reputation management--or for encouraging networking, the exchange of ideas and collaboration within their organizations.

A new survey from Project Management Institute identifies key trends in project, program and portfolio management, including a renewed focus on talent development and increased use of agile methods. The results also point to critical success factors, among them clearly defining expected benefits, ensuring top-level management support, and creating a career path for project participants.

Management consultants are being called on to help establish project management offices that are simply not equipped to succeed after they leave. Here are three things they’re doing wrong.

From the Saudi Arabian MOI NIC
The history and culture of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia posed unique challenges to the Ministry of Interior’s PMO. Like Harris Corporation, they understood the four reasons why many organizations fail to transform their Project Management cultures, and avoided these pitfalls working with OPM Experts LLC. But as a counterpoint to Harris, the NIC’s case shows how the culture can be the driver of process deployment.

How can you ensure that your PMO is as strong as it can be as the economy recovers? In this article, we look at how you can use this opportunity to improve your PMO--making it a more significant contributor to your organization than it was before the downturn.

New benchmark study on project management offices shows consistent, two-year trend in delivering quantifiable value, with upwards of $400,000 in savings per project.

PMOs: A panacea for some, a disaster for others. If like many others you anticipate a bad ending, you've come to the right place. Want some sure-fire approaches for disaster? Here are some tips on killing your PMO. (Optimists can go ahead and do the opposite...)

The project management office has a different role in the operational team than in project teams. In general, there are two major reasons for having a PMO as part of the operational team--and it's up to the PMO to ensure that it is supporting operations instead of hindering them.

What will project management look like in the future? One writer summons his smarts as he comes up with some dramatic predictions about governance, PMOs and the accountable PM. Is he a genius or a goofball? You be the judge...

Does your PMO Produce Multiple Obstacles for your project or Promote Many Opportunities for success? PMOs often get a bad reputation on agile teams, but it need not be that way--they can also add tremendous support and be a great help.

Social media has become a mainstay for people and companies these days. However, not all social networking tools are prudent for use on projects--and in some cases can spell trouble. So which types of social media tools are best suited for inclusion in project communication plans?

What should the PM know about a larger program? Should the PMO mandate a consistent level of understanding for PMs whose initiatives fall into larger program? It's time to explore the right program-level perspective for the project level manager.