Defining and Ensuring A Mandate For The PMO

Mark Mullaly is president of Interthink Consulting Incorporated, an organizational development and change firm specializing in the creation of effective organizational project management solutions. Since 1990, it has worked with companies throughout North America to develop, enhance and implement effective project management tools, processes, structures and capabilities. Mark was most recently co-lead investigator of the Value of Project Management research project sponsored by PMI. You can read more of his writing at markmullaly.com.

  PMO  

As I have assumed responsibility for gantthead's Program Management Office department, I have tried to raise some of the fundamental challenges and issues that face the typical PMO in an organizational context. While admittedly theoretical in some regards, the first few columns have endeavoured to lay the groundwork for a more involved discussion of developing PMOs. This column continues a multi-part series that addresses the practical steps and considerations in setting up a PMO in today's organizations.

As with so many projects, the assignment of responsibility for the creation, implementation and staffing of a PMO can lead to the very direct temptation to start building it. And as with any project, yielding to this temptation is dangerous indeed. The creation of a PMO should be no different than any other project--it needs to be understood, defined and planned before we can begin to build it. As with any project, the first thing that we need to do is confirm that we have a mandate. With a mandate, we have both the authority to proceed and an understanding of how we should proceed--and where we need to go. Without it, we run the risk of getting nowhere fast.

It is important to recognize that few people wake up one day and say "We really need a PMO." That they should is not the point here; they just don't. The creation of a PMO is usually tied …

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