Big Blue PMO

Janis is an award-winning journalist and editor who has covered many industries beyond project management, including health care, financial services, higher education and retail sales.

  PMO   ProjectsAtWork  

Supporting more than 26,000 project managers worldwide, IBM’s project management office has quantified its value over the years, including a 25 percent drop in troubled projects. Global mentoring and knowledge-sharing programs have helped “personalize” its huge PM community, putting people skills above formulaic processes and spreading best practices. Developing responsiveness and handling increasing complexity are the next challenges.

Is it possible for a project management office to be personal and global at the same time? If it is IBM’s Project Management Center of Excellence, then the answer is yes.

The PM/COE was honored in September with the PMO of the Year Award, an annual award sponsored by PM Solutions and, for the first time, The Project Management Institute’s PMO Special Interest Ggroup. According to an independent panel of judges, IBM was selected based on its measurable success with developing individual project managers while delivering consistent methodologies across the worldwide reach of the company.

IBM’s move to establish a corporate PMO began in the early ’90s when the company identified a critical need to improve its project management capabilities. Based on a 1996 charter by senior executives from all major business units, the PM/COE was created to lead that transformation. Today’s PM/COE has …

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