PMO Setup T3 - Tips, Tools, and Techniques

For most organizations, the inner workings of a PMO involve and require quite a bit more than any one vendor product offering such as a Project Portfolio Management application can do. And, this is to no discredit to the many fine vendor PPM applications out there on the market. When it comes to setting up and managing a PMO, more and more organizations are implementing an architecture approach for the PMO consisting of the following key components to the PMO Architecture Layer:

1. A Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Application
   • Microsoft Project Server, HP/Mercury ITG, CA/Niku Clarity, Planview, SaaS Appls, etc.
2. Desktop Tools supporting the PMO and/or PPM Application
   • Microsoft Project Professional, Open Workbench, etc.
3. A Collaboration and Document Management Platform (Teamsites, Workspaces, eRooms, etc.)
   • Microsoft SharePoint, IBM Lotus, Documentum, etc.
4. PMO Content Assets (Processes, Templates, Policies, SME Knowledge, Executive Dashboards, etc.)
   • BOT Processes On Demand, PM Solutions PMCoP, Tensteps, etc.

In particular, establishing PMO Content Assets as a component of the architecture is beneficial for a number of reasons. To start, the content assets of a PMO are far more than just a methodology document and a stack of templates. Rather, it is an easy to access and use framework that provides such things as project management processes and templates (PMBOK, SDLC, Agile), PMO processes (governance, portfolio management, continuous improvement, etc.), PMO policies (project type classification, teamsite and document management, roles and responsibilities), management dashboards, and training and skills improvement assets, etc. The PMO Architecture enables these assets to be put in place, used, and continually refined and improved upon. Additionally, the content assets of the PMO, in may cases, will facilitate, if not drive, the usage of the PMO PPM Application and Collaboration Platform. Hence, the PMO Architecture will enable an organization to set up and institutionalize the PMO, implement project portfolio management application functionality, while at the same time fully utilize its existing IT infrastructure, collaboration platforms, and wealth of subject matter expert knowledge.

PMO Architecture - does your organization have one? You bet, every PMO has one, whether it is by accident or design. Typically, the latter is better.

Why is it that so much deliberation is placed on PMO Models? Too often, organizations myopically focus on "the model" and in end up choosing which of many potential approaches is the best fit. And sometimes lost in the deliberations is the fact that each of these many models have practical characteristics that would well serve just about any PMO.

Of course models are helpful. They allow us to envision, in advance, what the final outcome will be. And, they also allow us a common view from which we can have a meaningful conversation, exchange of ideas, and some degree of debate and consensus. And the better the model, the better the chance of successfully achieving the outcome for which the model was entertained in the first place. Like a blueprint for a skyscraper. Right, well maybe not.

One of the problems is that models, especially PMO models, unlike blueprints are typically high level constructs. PMO models often offer a buzzword or catch-phrase followed by just enough description to sound plausible or should I say sellable. Some of the many PMO models out there include such examples as:

• Example 1: The Easy to Visualize Model
  • Control Tower
  • Weather Station
  • Resource Pool
• Example 2: The How Good Can We Be Model
  • Basic PMO
  • Advanced PMO
  • Center of Excellence PMO
• Example 3: The How We Do Things Model
  • Supportive
  • Controlling
  • Directive
• Example 4: The Organizational Chart Model
  • Enterprise Level PMO
  • IT Department PMO
  • Project Control Office
• Example 5: The Simple This Way or That Way Model
  • Support Role
  • Supervisor Role

No doubt about it, PMO Models make for great, entertaining, short little presentations at conferences, seminars, and events. They are ideal for those dinner meeting venues where you can enjoy a fine meal and then listen to just about anyone for the next sixty minutes, especially if also provided is a good cup of coffee, a rich chocolate dessert, and a PDU. But for many organizations, the problem with PMO Models, as a concept, is that they intrinsically are self-oriented and direct much, if not all, of the attention on the PMO as an entity unto itself. This creates a different kind of thinking and mind set and soon lost, forgotten, or misplaced as a priority is the business reason for which the PMO was created and exists to serve. Placing more emphasis on the business reason for the PMO and how the PMO can help people succeed, as opposed to the "model", helps all those involved in a number of ways. For one, it keeps the PMO, as an entity, aligned to the needs of the business and to the changes in the business. Additionally, it enables the PMO to be structured and to exhibit optimal and situational behaviors of more than just one PMO Model.

Are PMO Models helpful? You bet. Is there one PMO Model that is right or right for you? Probably not. How much time should be spent debating PMO Models? About an hour, coffee and dessert are optional.

Why is it that in a business conversation the simple term PMO conjures up such vast differences in thoughts, ideas, and convictions? There are those people that think of this three letter acronym more as a four letter word - and not a nice one at that. These folks often cite examples of organizational bureaucracy, inflexible methodologies that could choke a horse, and a focus on producing project documents rather than producing project results. And to no discredit of any of these people, they often have a very legitimate point of view and beef. And, then you have those people that are so passionate about "All Things PMO" that you sometimes wonder where all of that PMO passion comes from? Well, I am one of those people and let me tell you where my passion comes from..!.

Over twenty-five years ago, my immediate manager called me into his office and told me that he had an "opportunity" for me. I put opportunity in quotes because it was a well known fact amongst the non-managers in the office that whenever a manager said they had an opportunity for you, it was really a problem in disguise and the monkey had just been placed on your back. It took me years to appreciate that it is actually the other way around and that a "problem" is really an opportunity in waiting. But that is a story for another day.

So what was this problem? Well, to put things in context, the year was 1981 and the company was IBM and the problem was that the investment analysts were unhappy with IBM's business model. In particular, the so-called experts didn't like the fact that IBM's revenue, driven by the rental of mainframe computers, produced a contractually committed, multi-year, recurring revenue stream with nearly 80% of the next year's revenues and 60% of the year after that, and 40% of the year after that being known in advance. You see, back then you couldn't purchase or lease a 3033 mainframe, or a 3705 communications controller, or a 3350 direct access storage device (DASD), or a 3420 magnetic tape sub-system, or a 3270 cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, etc. You could only rent them. And, for reasons still unknown to me today, the investment community back in the late 70's and early 80's felt that IBM should sell, not rent, its products and recognize a greater amount of initial, one-time revenue for such customer data processing needs [the terms information systems or information technology weren't yet in use]. The end result was that despite repeated, strong year after year financial performance, the investment analysts didn't rate IBM stock highly. Rather, it was positioned as a "Low Risk - Low Return" portfolio balancer. And, as virtually every IBMer participated in the IBM Employee Stock Program, this made us all mad. There's nothing like skin in the game to foster teamwork.

So what does all of this have to do with PMO Passion? Well, IBM announced to the world that it would begin selling, not renting, its data processing equipment. And as part of this new corporate strategy, IBM was committed to converting the huge rental revenue stream by getting customers to purchase their installed machines as well as purchasing new machines. No more rental, though it was still an option.

To make this new financial strategy a reality, quite a bit had to take place both internally and externally. There were requirements that had to be met from just about every aspect of the business; applications, financial planning, field training, information dissemination, reviews with the customer of financial options and alternatives, more field training and support, etc. And, all of this had to be driven down from corporate staff to division staff to district staff to the local sales and marketing branch office level where the rubber met the road and the work got done. Of the more than 250 sales and marketing branch offices that were all trying to accomplish the same thing, a few of these offices had branch managers that formed a project office to lead, manage, stay on top of and report back, the myriad of project efforts required to achieve success. And, big bonuses were on the table as was the risk of losing your branch office if you couldn't produce.

Thus, I was given the opportunity to be part of a newly formed PMO within a sales and marketing branch office that would only exist for one year and that had very specific objectives [how much by when] to achieve with minimal direction. So, to fast forward, after the year was over, we exceeded our objectives for which the PMO was established in the first place and to our surprise and delight we finished as the number two branch out of more than 250 branches in the division. But the real kicker was that the branches that established PMOs, about 25% of them did, far exceeded those that didn't and exceeded their targets by ten to fifteen percent. It didn't take a financial genius to realize that an improvement of a ten to fifteen percentage points on a branch office's hundred million dollar revenue plan adds up to some real money, real quick.

This was my first of many exposures to the business value of a PMO. Many years later, and after having been involved with PMOs of all shapes and sizes such as line of business, IT, software development, sales and marketing, global, and even virtual, my appreciation for PMOs and the business results that they can produce has only increased. The business value of the PMO - that's where my "PMO Passion" comes from.