How Flexible and Adaptable Is Your PMO?

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.

  Agile   PMO  

You’ve probably figured out by now that PMI’s latest research report, produced in conjunction with PwC, is all about The Evolution of PMOs. An evolution that is so extensive that PMI is proposing a new catch-all term of “xMO” to reflect the fact that the name of the function is changing in a number of organizations to better align with the roles that they are performing. But there’s a lot more to the report than a simple name change.

Consider this quote as an example:

“It is the mindset of a value- and outcomes-focused xMO that distinguishes it from budget- and schedule-focused PMOs. The xMO mindset helps shift the focus to enabling value delivery, and it has an almost obsessive focus on how it supports the organization, empowering teams and decision makers to deliver value-based outcomes for customers.”

Now, let me ask you, and be honest: Does that sound like the PMO that you are a part of? Or that you interact with?

I’m guessing that for most of you, it doesn’t. Even among a lot of the PMOs that have begun an evolution journey away from process compliance, reporting, governance and related functions, I don’t see much evidence of “an almost obsessive focus on how it supports the organization.”

I agree with PMI that mindset is the key (or at least a key) to a successful future for PMOs (or …

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