Is Your PMO an Integral Part of Organizational Leadership?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Organizational Project Management   PMO   Portfolio Management   Stakeholder Management   Strategy  

The PMO is now an integral part of project execution for most organizations. The days when PMOs had to justify their existence are largely behind us, and there is a recognition that the PMO is a significant value add to the way that projects are undertaken.

However, the role of PMOs is also evolving--it’s no longer seen as sufficient to monitor and guide project management practice and process. Rather, we now look to PMOs to take more of an active role within the entire lifecycle--from idea creation and enhancement through to benefits realization. For that expanded role to be successful, the PMO needs to be more than simply the guide and controller for project execution; it needs to be accepted into a leadership role within the organization--partners with business units and accepted experts on portfolio execution.

However, that partnership doesn’t happen because of an organizational announcement or as the result of a decision to create the function; it’s something that the PMO has to earn within the organization, and that’s what I want to take a look at here. Of course this is a two-way relationship--the business departments need to be prepared to accept the PMO as a strategic partner. But in my experience, if PMO leadership can demonstrate capability and willingness, then the rest will come (relatively) easily.

Capability first
Before a…

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