Why PMOs Should Start Measuring Project Performance Now

Michelle Stronach has over 20 years of experience in the project management field, with experience creating successful PMOs and implementing project, portfolio management and IT governance frameworks. Michelle truly appreciates the value of feedback and welcomes comments on her articles. https://twitter.com/mlstronach

  Governance   PMO  

A previous boss asked me to implement project performance metrics. I had only just started the job as the new centralized Project Management Office (PMO) manager, and the unit's project management maturity was so low it was sub-zero. Documentation and plans were weak at best, and of the 45 or so projects (that I knew existed), only one had a schedule that was creatively documented in excel--and there were no signs of resource planning anywhere. There was also no attempt to manage project finances; instead, project costs were embedded in operational budgets, hidden to the project manager. How do you evaluate what doesn't exist?

I thought the idea of measuring performance was simply crazy. I was wrong.

What is crazy is a PMO not having a baseline to show the impact of improved project management starting from ground zero. How else can a PMO demonstrate value to the organization except by clearly illustrating project performance and successful outcomes as a result of process improvements? My boss might have been asking me to report project performance metrics, but by doing so, I am really reporting on the performance of my unit.

Unfortunately, when one is starting up a new PMO the idea of creating performance measures is often mistakenly farthest from the mind. I know I was worried about a lot of critical issues to solve and felt that my highest priority …

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