The PMO-Executive Tango

  Governance   PMO   ProjectsAtWork  

Executives need projects so they can deliver on commitments, and projects need executives, who control the resources and networks essential to success. This co-dependent relationship is itself a project that can be cultivated within a PMO for an organization's strategic long-term benefit.

As Ronald Reagan said of US-Soviet relations in 1982, “It takes two to tango.” This saying applies equally well to the relationship between executives and project management offices within a company. Success for either depends heavily on the success of the other. Executives depend on the work accomplished by PMOs for their own success, just as PMOs depend on executives for their success.

In a provocative 1999 article in Fortune magazine that addresses why executives fail, the authors get directly to the point and state that the No. 1 reason for executive failure is “bad execution…as simple as that…not getting things done…not delivering on commitments.” The article also states that executives who do not deliver are three times more likely to get fired than their counterparts who are delivering. Of course, the dominant purpose of a project is getting things done. Projects deliver products and services, and they do so according to a schedule. Projects deliver on commitments. Executives need projects so they can deliver on commitments, thus …

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