Laura KreofskySr. Advisor/Consultant| Impact AdvisorsPortland, Or, United States
My client ( a large organization) has a central PMO and is struggling with the pros/cons of having PMs report to the Bus Line leaders vs reporting to / thru the PMO to senior leadership. I'm curious to know what other organizations do, if there's a predominant approach in the industry, and what some pros/cons are.
In my experience, where there is a PMO, the PM would report to that. I have also encountered where the environment is matrix managed and they have a dual reporting alignment to the PMO and the business. Personally, I prefer a single reporting line, and if there is a PMO it seems logical to report to that solely. However, if that is the case you must still remain close to the business.
Saving Changes...
George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Hi Laura,
It depends on the type of PMO the organization has in place. Generally speaking, there are 3 types of PMOs that may exist in an organization:
Supportive PMO: This is the most common type of PMO, with the Project Managers reporting to the Business Lines and PMO focuses on supporting projects through training, mentoring, administration and reporting.
Controlling PMO: With controlling services such as project reviews, audits, assessments and governance, the PMO can influence project delivery. It can also enforce standards, implement processes and manage overall project risk. However, the Project Managers still report to Line Managers, but the organizational management supports compliance with PMO processes etc.
Directive PMO: The least common, but sometimes most effective type of PMO, is one that does not just support and control projects, but it's responsible for actually running them with delegated authority from the business lines. In a Directive PMO, each of the Project Managers reports to the PMO Director as their supervisor.
Hope it helps,
George Jucan
Saving Changes...
Amro Elakkad PMP M.Sc.Managing Director| Amro Solusi Manajemen (ASM)Nyc, Ny, United States
Hi Laura,
It depends on the industry, the company culture and the maturity of project management within the organization to name a few factors.
The more the company is versed/matured in project management, the more centralized the PMO will be (meaning project managers reporting to the PMO).
On the other hand, the more functional, or traditional an organization is, the more it’s likely that the PMs will report to the business lines, instead of the PMO.
In-between, you will find variations where PMs can report directly to a functional/business line, while informally to a PMO (a hybrid approach), or to a PMO while specializing in line of business operations.
Industries like the Construction, the Army/Navy, space programs/NASA and Engineering, are more mature in their understanding of project management and so they tend to centralize their PMOs, even though they might also go for the business-alignment approach on occasions. Other industries like the IT, Insurance/Financials, banking and Pharmaceutical/Health Care have their challenges when it comes to project management maturity and appreciation for the profession. As a result, those later industries are more inclined towards having the project managers aligned with the business units. IT seems to be leading this pack in moving towards a centralized or hybrid approach to PMOs.
Which form of PMO works best? Again, it depends on what suites the organization, but also what your goals are.
Each approach has its advantages, and disadvantages. A centralized PMO has the advantages of ensuring that the PMs follow certain methodology, get enough training if needed, the flexibility of assigning PMs to different projects based on need, and the opportunity to be an honest broker in managing and reporting on projects.
On the other hand, a centralized PMO has the disadvantages of not acquiring particular business knowledge (especially if its PMs are always on the move), not being aligned with business units goals, and being seen as an outside organization by some of the business units.
With the PMO aligned within the business unit, the biggest advantage is that the project managers will acquire the business knowledge more quickly and this should facilitate some of the processes that otherwise would have taken longer time to establish (think Governance approval of a project business case for example).
One of the biggest disadvantage of the PMO reporting to a business unit, is that it might loose its independence and ability to report honestly on projects status and recommend remedies to project problems/situations. Another advantage for this de-centeralized approach is that the project management methodologies, processes and procedures will not, most likely, be consistent across the organization.
Whatever form you choose to go with, you must do some selling of the project management concept, and try to score early successes through actual managing (or helping to manage) critical projects. Its when people see what a PMO can do for them, that they will begin to listen more and pay more attention.
