One More Thing to Manage

John Sullivan is a working project manager who writes and speaks on project and career issues.

 

People often expect the Project Management Office (PMO) to handle everything that "doesn't fit into development," an expectation that can turn the PMO into a dumping ground for every unwanted task. Managing that expectation can be tricky since it often involves tasks that are not clearly within the scope of the PMO's charter. Sometimes it's appropriate to "step up to the plate," accept the task and get the job done. Sometimes it is not.

Such was the case when our PMO was asked to "sponsor" a software program. One of our development team's "wunderkinds," a young and talented programmer who already had one homegrown software program success to his credit (complete with a company performance award), had written a knowledge management program on his own time and had successfully demonstrated it for his boss and the project manager. Now, all three of them expected us to take over the administration and support of his homegrown software.

His actions created a dilemma: If we accepted, we knew our project team would expect us to fix software bugs, make their requested changes and fund enhancements. We did not have the skills, the staff or the money to do that. But if we declined to sponsor it, we wouldn't be "team players," despite the fact that supporting a software program was outside the scope of the PMO's charter.

Despite being set up (again), we realized the right thing to do …

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