PMO Insights – Where Leaders Meet

I'd like to briefly review a few areas that might be worth looking at if you would like to enhance the value your PMO provides to your internal or external customers or to your organization overall. We all know we need to constantly evolve, grow, adapt and look for areas to add new value for all our stakeholders. The below suggestions are meant to provide a few ideas for you to consider.

Client specific Program Management Offices - in commercial relationships, overseeing one large client contract and Program - often have lifespan of multiple years and undergo significant change in scope and related processes as client scope, services, cost pressure, technology advances or other factors over time enable or require their PMOs to change too.

• I see a big opportunity for many PMOs in gradually adopting a stronger focus on Benefit Realization Management and the associated life-cycle, process tools and governance practices.
• Start by utilizing Benefit Breakdown Structures, Benefit Registers and Benefit Realization Road-maps for your initiatives and gradually add enhanced reporting, related governance, improved benefit analysis and other elements as you go along. Improve your Business Case practices as needed to get better insight to the underlying dependencies and assumptions of the Program and Project Benefits.
• The Client relationship value can be very significant when for example service provider PMOs are able to drive and demonstrate the planned benefits being realized within their Client's existing cost base as service upgrades or technology transformation successfully take place. That can be a significant advantage for both parties.
• Other opportunities might be to formalize or strengthen joint, professional Risk Management processes shared by the Client and the service provider run Program. If contractual terms are vague or lack direction in this area, it will often be a very worthwhile effort to formalize roles, responsibilities and the related governance of program risks. Benefit Realization Management and Risk Management practices also complement each other extremely well.

Regional Client Program Management Offices - overseeing multiple different Client Programs/Contracts with a vertical or regional focus - often have lifespan of multiple years. Over longer periods, the supplier organization typically must adjust to business changes and likely enhances the range of delivery methods, tool-sets, perhaps performs business process re-engineering and outsourcing, and they add new commercial services requiring different project delivery skills and approaches. There is a lot to facilitate and keep straight in such an environment.

• For these Regional PMOs I often see opportunities in the area of improving Scope Management practices, change control governance and resulting integration management.
• All too often I find that needed scope and change management controls are not appropriately defined or they may be ineffective. These are among the most critical program processes and a strong shared or regional PMO can assist its own projects and programs with best practice frameworks, processes, needed templates and training. Often individual programs struggle to do this satisfactorily or with needed authority on their own. Assist with implementation of effective, yet simple workflows where possible.
• Other opportunities might be to implement common client satisfaction surveys at relationship level and perhaps transactional level. It will give you invaluable input for your continual process improvement plans. Perhaps you start with twice yearly relationship surveys and add transaction level surveys later for contract milestones and other key operational events later.

Corporate/Enterprise PMOs - supporting the governance of Project, Program and even Portfolio Management processes for an entire corporate organization or division. EPMOs are typically focused on developing, implementing and governing enterprise level methods, standards and processes for project and program management and likely are also overseeing a handful of the largest, most critical initiatives of the organization.

• For EPMOs, I see great opportunities in the area of driving improvements in the Portfolio Management practices, improving business case formats and benefits analysis - and thereby enabling improved alignment with strategy and corporate goals and ultimately improved portfolio performance and value.
• Depending on the size of your organization's project portfolio and organization, you may start by simply focusing on common planning practices across all Business Units and corporate functions (goal setting, common project inventory, resource planning, financial planning etc.).
• Another valuable opportunity might be to develop, facilitate and drive best practices of Organizational Change Management (OCM) practices for larger and transformational initiatives across the organization. The criticality of OCM cannot be overestimated and too often related program and project plans are inadequate when it comes to change adoption and OCM.

Other types of PMOs - include PMOs overseeing large initiatives internal to an organization - perhaps those assigned to large optimization initiatives, those overseeing M&A transactions or large product development and infrastructure deployment efforts. They might have similarities or represent a mix of the above and based on specific needs benefit from several of the recommended elements.

Enhance your PMO: Regardless which type of PMO you are working with today or in the future, I hope you'll find areas of potential inspiration and improvements in this blog, and I encourage you to look for additional ideas in the PMO Quick Tip Guides published by PMI. These small summaries were compiled by a handful of PMO enthusiasts to help you with ideas of this type. They are available here:

https://www.pmi.org/pmo-symposium/resources

Thanks a lot, until next time,

Morten Sorensen, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, ITIL

Vice President PMO, Peraton

Morten Sorensen has been in global IT and Telecommunications his entire career and has lived in Denmark, Germany and now US. He is Vice President of the Project Management Office at Peraton. Morten is certified in Portfolio Management (PfMP), Program Management (PgMP) and Project Management (PMP) and a frequent speaker on topics of:  Strategic Initiative Management, Benefits Realization Management, Portfolio Management and roles of PMOs (Project Management Offices).

By Quynh Woodward

Across industries and organizations, there is a greater awareness of the PMO, its different structures and capabilities, and the diverse ways that the PMO can contribute to the success of the organization. High-performing PMOs are setting trends and influencing how their teams deliver value to the organizations that they support.  

As a PMO leader, you have your own list of top PMO priorities and are advancing these objectives for 2019. Based on various discussions, surveys and topics discussed at the PMO Symposium this past November, below are three top priorities that we are hearing from PMO leaders across the globe. 

1.      Continuously Evolve and Improve Your PMO.  

The PMO can’t stand still while the pace of innovation and the speed of obsolescence are driving dynamic changes and disrupting the business landscape. According to the 2018 PMI^® Thought Leadership Series, – Forging the Future: Evolving With Disruptive Technologies, nearly 80% of organizations have undergone a significant transformation over the past year. These transformation pursuits are requiring a conscious effort to evolve and improve the PMO continuously. At the PMO Symposium^® 2018, we heard speakers talk about collecting data about what is working, what is not and what can be improved. Some PMOs are sending regular surveys to their sponsors, stakeholders and customers to inform their need to adapt and foster a culture of continuous improvement. As a PMO leader, have you reexamined your PMO’s operating model, processes and capabilities lately to ensure alignment with the strategy and current needs of your organization? Some PMOs are reconfiguring and rebranding themselves to convey their value and offerings more effectively. And some are changing approaches and plans to enhance the speed of project delivery while others are shifting roles to be closer to the customers to help promote relationship building and a greater understanding of customer expectations and needs.  

2.      Ensure a Robust Change Management Program.

While change management has always been a critical focus of the PMO, it has taken on a renewed importance at the enterprise level as organizations focus on significant transformation efforts. Well-defined change management strategies are needed to enhance stakeholder engagement and build support for the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. The PMO is perfectly positioned to take the lead role in this effort. Does your PMO have sufficient resources allocated for change management activities? Is the change management effort appropriately reflected in your project portfolio? Is there clear accountability and ownership for these change management activities? How do you ensure and sustain adoption of your organizational changes? 

3.      Build a Culture of Continuous Learning. 

Rising uncertainty will be the norm in the future of project work. For many PMOs, there is no longer an emphasis on eliminating uncertainty, but rather to adapt more effectively. This shift implies the need to bring their teams up to speed on the latest technologies, skills and techniques. To prepare for the future and for delivering strategic changes for their organization, PMOs are looking for ways to foster a culture of continuous learning. It is not just about having a structured educational format, but also informal knowledge sharing between team members. What formal, informal and self-directed learning opportunities are available to your teams? Are you encouraging your project teams to share lessons learned and insights on a regular cadence? Are you engaging senior-level leaders to make their experiences known, either informally or through internal organizational channels? In a culture of continuous learning, teams are continually developing in knowledge and enhancing performance. 

While each PMO is unique and has its own vision and mission, what are your top PMO priorities for 2019? Please share your thoughts and perspectives.