Unleashing the Power of the PMO

  Career Development   PMO   PM Network  

When a project man agement office (PMO) is leveraged to its full potential, it can foster strategic alignment, improve project perfor- mance, develop future proj- ect leaders and support the success of the entire organization. But if that same PMO is left to languish without leadership and support, it can become a burden on the bottom line.

Overall, it’s clear that PMOs help organizations increase their project success rates. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession™ report found that 65 percent of projects at organizations with a PMO were suc- cessful, compared to 56 percent at those without one.

However, not all PMOs are created equal. A November 2012 survey by The Hackett Group showed just how uncertain the world of PMOs can be. The two-year study of 200 large global organizations found that those with high PMO use had higher IT costs, and failed to deliver projects with higher ROI.

“When many PMOs first begin, they’re small, tac- tical and agile,” says John Reeves, IT advisory leader at The Hackett Group, Miami, Florida, USA. “But as they grow, they can get fat and bloated, they become too bureaucratic. The more people and responsibili- ties organizations throw at them, the more regula- tion becomes necessary, and the more difficult it is to get things done.”

There’s good news, though: The Hackett Group study …

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