Laura AmannSenior Manager| XO CommunicationsHerndon, Va, United States
I am establish a new PMO organization to focus primarily on project management for high priority strategic projects with some capacity for crisis management of troubled projects / processes. We have 2 projects managers and budget for a third. Do you have any suggestions for how to start this organization? Saving Changes...
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Mick GavinPMO Co-Ordinator| NHS PensionsFleetwood, United Kingdom
Laura
You say that you have budget for 2-3 project managers. Therefore I'm assuming that somebody, somewhere has justify/make a (business) case for this to be approved. Lets call this person 'the Sponsor'.
Again, I'm assuming but I think I'm on fairly solid ground. The Sponsor will have very definite views about what they hope/expect to achieve. I wouls spend as much time as possible witht he Sponsor to extract this information e.g. what does success look like ? how will they know if their objective/vision has been achieved. Once you have obtained this information you will know what you have to achieve and can then plan accordingly.
Otherwise you run the risk of being busy without achieving the Sponsor's vision. Saving Changes...
Peter TaylorVP Global PMO and Keynote Speaker/Author| DayforceNewent, United Kingdom
Consider planning your PMO focus through the 5 Ps
People:
• Recruitment
• Profiles
• Training
• Induction
• Certification
• Assessment
• Team Building
Process
• Methodology
• Certification Program
• Quality Assurance
• Assessment
• Authority
Hi Laura,
I am also in the process of setting up a PMO and have done some research and there are so many different "flavours" of PMO that you really need to start with the old fundamentals and run this as a project. You need your scope and business requirements. You need to engage your stakeholders especially if you are changing the project governance around how projects are started, approved, stage gates, role of PMO in this process. Do you have PM tools, a central PMIS do you want one etc? What are the roles and responsibilities required for your PMO, does it have an annual budget? etc etc.
Imran ManirSenior Project ManagerBurton On Trent, United Kingdom
Hi Laura,
Firstly, define the problem, speak to the person/s commissioning this. What do they think the issues are? Are these the actual issues or symptoms of a bigger problem? What need/s are the requirements to fulfil?
If they typically require a PMO, then look at the "service offering" for this PMO. Be clear about the scope (create a charter?). What service offerings need to be developed for the PMO? I'd suggest Planning, Risk & Issue Mgt, Change Mgt, Resource Mgt, Communication, Onboarding, Project Governance and Reporting. For each of these areas you could consider developing processes and procedures.
In addition, I would recommend that as part of governance and solutions delivery, that you work closely with the Project Managers, Change Managers, Senior Users etc to develop a unique project delivery methodology, perhaps based on Prince 2 or similiar. The benefit being that the services such as Planning, Change, Risks Mgt etc would support a project management methodology specific to your business and industry. This will allow you to introduce a "exception stage" for crisis mgt of troubled projects. It will also allow you to insert key go/no go points during the project lifecycle and entry/exit gates/criteria for moving from one project phase to the next (i.e. from build to test). Good luck! (Oh and treat this as a project in itself - manage accordingly!). Saving Changes...
Alan CaseySenior Project Manager| Ford Motor Credit CompanyDewitt, Mi, United States
First, dedicate yourself to be a practical help to your PMs, and not a heavy-handed compliance-driven PMO.
Second, consider reading the material in gantthead university. There is a track on PMO and the first module (the one I've read) is quite good. Get a PDU while you're at it.
Lastly, don't reinvent the wheel. Look for a good model for both "how we do projects" and "how we manage the project protfolio" - start with a strawman from an existing PMO - try it - and make it your own.
Best of luck! That sounds like fun.
Alan Casey Saving Changes...
Elyse NielsenSenior Project Manager| Ascension Health Information ServicesHaines City, Fl, United States
Hi Laura,
What an exciting opportunity! A great place to start out maturing. A lot of good suggestions here as to where to start. I would like to add a couple of considerations.
Along with assessing the current issues to be resolved from the individual sponsoring this pmo, I would also reach out and touch base with your peers. Observe and a gain a sense for what constraints can be removed to help assure timely delivery of the key projects you mentioned. Help to alleviate constraints and collaborate with the other leaders.
While engaging in this activity, look for a couple of quick wins which will help the company. Often this can be as simple as a project status dashboard of all the project efforts currently underway to offering some training on key project management concepts.
Sunando ChaudhuriDirector - PMO & Governance| ModonDist: Burdwan, West Bengal, India
Hi Laura,
I have done a similar exercise in my current organization and my previous organization (where I was the first person to get hired as a PMO and had to put a structure around) have seen it mature over the last 3-4 years. I am really excited that you have such an opportunity and I would have looked forward to get another go as I might have done it better this time.
My suggesitons would be take it step-by-step and build on it. When you suggest Strategic projects, I would think finance will become key and you might find start from there as well. Getting the guys to get a hang of the projects, know the resources etc. Of course the other aspects of day-to-day monitoring will come at some point and tracking and reporting would be the deliverables. I am sure there would be senior stakeholders looking at these and hence quality is key I reckon.
Crisis management of problem projects would need a slightly different kind of mentality I think and the PMO members would need more authority where they would be able to question people and make things happen.
Do let us know how you get along and can share and learn as we go. Thanks Saving Changes...
