The 21st Century PMO

Andy Jordan

Andy Jordan PMP is the founder and president of Roffensian Consulting. Andy is a seasoned business professional with experience in many industries on two continents. After a career managing high profile, business critical projects for many organisations Andy moved into leadership of project management offices and built a reputation for building, rescuing and improving this key function. His approach of tailoring processes to the style and ability of the organisation, and focusing on the development of project staff rather than the short sighted approach of meeting project deliverables at all costs has repeatedly shown dramatic results.

As Mark Mullaly shifts his focus to organizational project management, ProjectManagement.com has asked me to become the PMO Subject Matter Expert. I agreed without giving it too much thought--it sounded like an exciting opportunity, but now I’m sitting here trying to figure out how I can replace someone like Mark--those are big shoes to fill. Having stared at a blank page with a flashing cursor for half an hour, I’ve decided that I can’t. So instead, I’m going to reinvent the PMO (at least for this article…).

PMOs have been around for quite some time, and in the last decade or so some consistency has developed in their structure. We seem to be moving from the “every PMO is different” model to the “PMOs fit into one of several types” model. However, it seems to me that 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. It may be that I am a power-crazed egomaniac, but I think PMOs can run the organization (if not the world).

Organizational basics
If we distill an organization down to its very basic elements, there are two types of functions--the function that concentrates on executing things the way that they are today (let’s call that Operations), and the function that focuses on improving the way that …

Please login or register below to read the rest of the article.

Members login here:

If you were a member of gantthead.com, you are already registered here--just use the same username and password to login and enjoy the same valuable resources and connections you have come to rely on.

OR
ADVERTISEMENT

Not a member yet? Sign up here:

You must have JavaScript and cookies enabled to use this website. Please enable javascript and refresh this page.
How do I enable JavaScript in my browser? | How do I enable cookies in my browser?
  • required fields
  • First Name
    Last Name
  • Pick a password
    Confirm your password
  • please enter the text below:


  • You must have JavaScript and cookies enabled to use this website. Please enable javascript and refresh this page.
    How do I enable JavaScript in my browser? | How do I enable cookies in my browser?

  • projectmanagement.com is accredited under Return Path's Sender Score Certified™ Program. The Sender Score Certified Program helps to increase successful email delivery by requiring senders to adhere to a set of specific email standards. For more information, please see www.senderscorecertified.com.
ADVERTISEMENTS

"Of all the 36 alternatives, running away is best."

- Chinese Proverb

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors