The Trials of Leading a PMO

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  PMO  

Leading a project management office can be a very different challenge than just leading a project or a project team. In fact, many project managers may not be interested in project management office work. But as more and more companies are establishing PMOs, some project managers will have no choice but to deal with them--and perhaps even lead or manage one. In that case, the project manager should be ready with the knowledge of what it takes to successfully lead a PMO. What are the trials and tribulations, and how can we overcome them in order to make a positive impact on the organization?

Training Newbies
In the project world, resources are often expected to come onto a project ready to work, with the knowledge and experience already gained for what they need to be doing. The project management office operates differently. Because this is an ongoing office and not a time-limited project, there should be the opportunity for training new employees and for hiring people with little or no experience that can grow into their jobs. This means that the leader has to be ready to deal with training and developing the people in the project management office.

The project manager should have standards and training sessions, and short- and long-range developmental goals for all new employees that join the project management office. Having the infrastructure in place to deal …

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