Now, On To THE PMO Problem

 

As I discussed in last week’s blog, fake experts are a definite problem, but they’re not the most difficult barrier in front of successful Project Management Office (PMO) implementation. I asserted that the most difficult issue before the PMO director is obtaining the support of the people from whom you need regular data feeds in order to create and maintain your portfolio management information system. In getting this participation, several common mistakes are made by the average PMO – it’s your job to avoid these mistakes. But first, you must avoid self-inflicted errors. Here are a few of those.

Another Quick Elimination Round

The Management Information System (MIS) experts have an expression: begin with the end in mind. If you, as a newly minted PMO director believe that your end-game is to have many (if not most, or even all) of the people in your organization convinced of the benefits of “doing” project management, and simply await your insight as to how best perform PM, then you have lost already. It’s pointless to examine how you came to believe this myth – the fact that you have arrived in such a position is ipso facto evidence of your inadequacy. Do yourself and those around you a favor, and resign. Get a job as an entry-level scheduler, and begin your education anew.

For the rest of us, who are unimpressed by process per se but do know how to deliver results, there’s hope. Going back to the “begin with the end in mind” motif, what are the legitimate ends we seek? Well, we don’t debate the efficacy of project management theory. It’s pointless to do so. Rather, we seek to demonstrate its utility in the starkest fashion available. Those who already appreciate PM will outperform those who don’t, if given the opportunity. So, let’s give them the opportunity.

“Iceberg, Right Ahead!”

The PMO director is best served by asking the people who need to know the cost and schedule performance information of the projects within their portfolios what it is that they need to know in order to make informed decisions. I worked for a rather large organization that did a lot of project work, and a newly-installed CEO had the foresight to ask his program and project managers to tell him what is was that kept them awake at night. The majority of respondents replied that it was the fear that they were sitting atop a project or program that was getting into real cost/schedule performance trouble, and no one would tell them about it. Either because the information streams that would raise flags didn’t exist; or, if they did, the lower-level PMs had convinced themselves that they could manage their way out before the project neared completion, this was the thing that robbed them of their peace of managerial mind.

Offer your program/project managers a suite of report formats, and let them choose what they want to see in order to make them confident that the disasters-in-the-making are being identified early and accurately. Some of them may select traditional formats, such as Gantt Charts or Cost Performance Reports (CPR) in Format I. Others may opt for something more intuitive, such as a histogram that compares the calculated Estimate at Completion (EAC) with that project’s budget at completion, revealing those projects most likely to overrun, come in on-budget, or underrun.

It’s Really Not That Hard

Once the formats have been selected, boil down the data requirements to their bare minimum. Getting all huffy about how the project teams MUST provide a long list of items proving they are obeying procedure is a sure symptom of PMO failure. For many reports – even the traditional ones – much valuable information can be gleaned from nothing more than a time-phased budget (based on the Work Breakdown Structure), the monthly cumulative actual costs, and an estimate of the percent complete as of the end of the reporting period. This drives many process-oriented PM “experts” crazy, but it’s true. And, most importantly, such an approach will establish that basic PM techniques in cost and schedule performance information stream creation will alleviate that which keeps the key decision-makers up at night (literally). It’s those times that the information streams that the new PMO needs to establish get larded down with unnecessary requirements that participation from your key data feeds dries up, and rarely returns.

And yet, many PMOs make this exact error. I wonder if their leaders failed to read my blog from last week, and have too many fake experts on board.