Do PMOs Follow A Predictable Life Cycle?

 

Alexander Tytler (1747-1813) was a professor of history at the University of Edinburgh[i], and asserted in his writings that democratic forms of government had a lifespan of roughly 200 years. During that time, he theorized, they tend to go through the following stages, in order:

• Bondage
• Faith
• Courage
• Liberty
• Abundance
• Selfishness
• Complacency
• Apathy
• Dependence,

…after which the cycle begins again.

Similarly, in Geoffrey Moore’s classic Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers (Harper Business Essentials, 1991) a template-like structure is posited, with recommendations included for those instances where predictable business scenarios unfold sequentially due to failures in the management strategy or business model. I believe that Project Management Offices are also susceptible to following a predictable pattern, or structured life-cycle, but I would add in a leading indicator when such phases enter into transition mode: an accompanying Organizational Behavior and Performance marker which, when taken together with the nominal PMO life-cycle transition, provides a clear indication of the trajectory that the PMO is taking.

My list of stages that many PMOs will encounter looks like this:

1. The project-based organization will experience one or more project disasters, where the budget is overrun, key scheduled milestones are missed, and the customer(s) are disappointed.
2. Some executive will suggest – or a long-ignored PM-type will be finally heeded when they recommend – the creation of a centralized PM function, or “area of excellence,” in order to help alleviate current PM difficulties, and avoid future ones.
3. With much enthusiasm and a tentative budget, the new PM organization is started, with a combination of existing and newly-hired personnel.
4. The new PM organization will set out to write procedures and guidance documents, or import already-existing ones, and attempt to persuade all of the project teams to perform work as written. Almost everyone will comply, either because they recognize the inherent value of doing so, or because they don’t want to be seen as incalcitrant.
5. As the Earned Value and Critical Path Methodologies take root, project problems are revealed early enough to prevent overt disasters, and the overall portfolio begins to perform noticeably better.
6. Large overruns and delays become a distant memory, and smaller ones become less frequent. As a sense of complacency sets in, the budget supporting the PMO comes under scrutiny.
7. One PM will refuse to implement the PMO’s processes, citing some (invariably invalid) reason that their work falls outside the purview of the guidance. Once they get away with doing so, other PMs will also look to escape such directives.
8. With so many PMs opting out of the PMO’s view, it can no longer justify its budget. Funds go away, along with the truly talented members, until…
9. A project disaster occurs, and the cycle begins anew.

However, I have become convinced that another, more organizational and behavior-based cycle is also in play as these steps unfold. During Steps #2 and #3, talent is not necessarily the most important determiner of who gets hired or promoted. It’s not unusual for the coin of the realm for a new management team to be loyalty, not talent. The new PM executive team may feel uneasy about the prospects of their canned strategies working in the new environment, not because they feel that these strategies won’t work, but because they don’t know the level of the existing organizations’ willingness to execute the new technical approach to advancing the PM capability. Of the previous numbered steps, only #5 and #6 truly need PM talent to pull off. All of the others can be performed by the medium-level performers. This leads to something of a dilemma for the PMO Director – do you attract and retain the talent needed to find and implement potentially novel solutions to the organization’s PM difficulties, or do you hire and promote those whom you trust to execute an already-derived strategy, with minimal (or no) course corrections needed? With very rare exceptions, each time the dilemma is resolved in favor of the loyal over the talented, the PMO moves away from operating as a meritocracy, which increases the odds that the steps will continue towards their unattractive end-state. Is there a way to interrupt this cycle, with its pessimistic implications? I believe so, but it involves…

Ooops! Look at that. I’m out of pixel ink for this week. Check out this blog next week for my recommendations of how to escape the PMO’s predictable life-cycle.

[i] Wikipedia contributors. (2021, October 15). Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:50, November 1, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Fraser_Tytler,_Lord_Woodhouselee&oldid=1050002662