How can we market PMO?

So, if the PMO is established to solve a problem (as advised by the OGC P3O Guidance and others) and the problem(s) to be solved and purpose of the PMO is determined by the leadership team; then solve the problem. In such a case, you don't need to sell them on the PMO, they have already made the decision to have a PMO and told you exactly what they want. Hence, much like the sales organization that is seeking to make their annual objective (as established by upper management), the PMO should seek to achieve its annual objectives (how much by when) related to the mandate of the PMO and the PMO objectives that serve as control measurements against that mandate.

It is when the PMO is set up with no real mandate and supporting Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives (how much by when), Strategy, Needs, Critical Success Factors, etc, that we then (often) end up having to "sell" the PMO. And to make matters worse, we often end up talking the language of project management - not the language of business. So my point is, if you have the above mandate, then all you need to do (simplification of the work effort of course) is to fulfill the mandate - "run the PMO like any other business unit."

Now if an organization does not have the mandate, if given the choice of "selling the PMO" or "managing the PMO like any other business unit" vis a vie proper business planning, I would prefer the latter. And as a caution to all those that give or follow the advice of "selling or marketing the PMO", I would ask what Sales and Marketing experience and best practice do you intend to utilize - Radar, SPIN, COS, MDM, TAS, Miller Heiman, etc..? If the answer is that you have very little to no sales and marketing experience and you are not familiar with, or even aware of, the various sales and marketing best practices, then all the more reason to NOT engage in selling.

But at the heart of this are some very interesting questions and perspectives. Does a service organization have to sell itself? And, what do we mean by "selling"..? Do we mean reporting progress against the mandate/objectives of the PMO and periodically validating the mandate..? I would agree with that, if that is what we mean by selling or marketing the PMO, though I would strongly prefer to not us those terms.

Or, in the context of a service organization having to sell itself, do we mean trying to justify the existence of the PMO by telling people what a PMO is, what a PMO does, and why they should want a PMO - without first asking what problems the business has for which a PMO of some kind can be address..? It is that approach, often called "selling the PMO", that I would not advocate.

Not to beat the horse dead (especially since there is always a context to such high level discussions in which after lengthy discussions we often arrive at a point of violent agreement), in research that we have conducted over the years, we have seen very consistent findings and perspectives on this "selling the PMO" mind-set:

• First, those PMOs that are run like other business units in the organization and that have such things as constituent determined Mandate, Vision, Mission, Goals, and Measurable Objectives are typically viewed as highly successful PMOs by the leadership team and in these PMOs there is typically no marketing/selling of the PMO - only reporting progress against objectives and continual validating of the PMO mandate and business plan.


• Second, those PMOs that are NOT run like other business units in the organization and that do NOT have such things as constituent determined Mandate, Vision, Mission, Goals, and Measurable Objectives are typically viewed as marginal PMOs by the leadership team and in these PMOs there is typically a mind-set by the PMO that the PMO needs to engage in marketing/selling of the PMO in order to demonstrate that it is more than marginal (value) or keep it from getting shut down.

Naturally, there is a context to be considered. At a high level starting point, many folks advocate, and I agree with, a business-driven approach to setting up PMOs in which the constituents of the PMO determine the mandate of the PMO, the Vision, and Mission, and Goals and Objectives of the PMO (their PMO). From that construct, the PMO manager as the servant-leader and subject matter expert develops and executes a constituent approved strategy that fulfills the mandate and achieves the measurable objectives of the PMO. In such a case, the PMO need not engage in selling and marketing of itself. That would not only be unnecessary but likely irritating to the execs as they have already told the PMO what they want and have expressed it in measurable objectives.

It is in this context that I am not a big fan of "marketing/selling" the PMO or even using those terms to describe the work effort involved in setting up and managing a PMO. I suppose this is a subtle distinct to some, but over the years I have seen so many PMOs that have engaged in some form of selling/marketing themselves in lieu of proper business planning that the term "selling the PMO" has become loathsome to me.

Note: if the executives do not want to take the time to discuss what the mandate of the PMO (their PMO) is and all of those things that I mentioned above, I would advocate not bothering with it all. Don't have it to begin with or shut it down.

Again, that context thing, I suspect if and as we continue this discussion further, we will end up in a "kum-bay-a" moment. Great post and replies - I hope we hear and learn from others on this topic..!