Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I'm at PMI's EMEA Congress in Dublin and one of the presentations today was about the role of Chief Project Officer. What do you think someone in this role should be doing? Do you work in a company that already has board-level representation for projects? I'm interested in how widespread this concept is. Thanks! Saving Changes...
Imran ManirSenior Project ManagerBurton On Trent, United Kingdom
Hi Elizabeth,
We've "adapted and adopted" Prince 2 as our project delivery methodology. Depending on the size of the projects, we can either simply have the Senior Supplier on the board (mini project) or the full blown board consisting of a Senior Supplier, Senior User, Business Executive and Senior Maintenance. In my personal experience, this has worked very well. The Project board represents the interests of important stakeholders such as the customer, the suppliers, the users and are critical as part of the structure of a project in ensuring the right channels for communication, escalation, resolutions and getting things done exist. It also allows the Business Executive to own the business case for delivery and be ultimately accountable for the success for the project. Management on the board is by exception and the commitment of the board translates into management commitment for the delivery. If the management team aren't behind the project, your chances of a successful delivery are that much harder! Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Hi Imran. I didn't mean the Project Board, I meant the Corporate Board. The Chief Project Officer would typically work for the CEO and hold the same status in the organisation as the CFO, CIO and the other C-suite executives. Do the people who sit on your Project Board operate at this level? Saving Changes...
Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Interesting idea, is it just that the people suggesting it are bored of seeing Finance, Information and other managment staff getting an additional promotion and an extra wadge of cash? or have done the project support officer >project engineer/project officer>project manager>programme manager career path and find themselves with nowhere to go.
Look at what other C-level roles are: Executive, Finance, Operating, Information, Technology, Marketing, Clinical...the list is growing
From a business perspective I think, as usual, it would depend. The corporate architecture and infrastructure may lend itself to this sort of post if the projects are a significant part of the output and activities. Are people suggesting making a distinction between Chief Project and Chief Programme Officer... we used to be happy with Head of's, SVP's, VPs, Managers etc...surely it will come down to how much importance each company places on the activitiy.
Interestingly the same debate is occurring in the discipline of Procurement/Purchasing & Supply. So, we can add another "P" at C-level. Shame they all start with PRO - Project, Procurement, Programme, Professional...
Saving Changes...
Jiju NairSenior Manager| Fannie MaeReston, Va, United States
Elizabeth, Interesting question. . In organizations where I have worked, project authority is usually role based and have not seen a CPO.
It is hard to find an executive (CXO level) as a participant in the corporate board who is classied as a Chief Project Officer. At that level, a COO will be the right fit. However, I can also see the value of such a role at the board level responsible for reporting enterprise projects' status to the board members thereby providing instant visibility of a corporations tactical direction. It laos need to be noted that such a role can easily become target of board members' dissatisfaction as real time project/prgram statuses are presented to the board who may have lesser exposure to the impact analysis of such projects.
I am also interested in finding out on your understanding of the core responsibilities of such a role. Saving Changes...
Imran ManirSenior Project ManagerBurton On Trent, United Kingdom
Hi Elizabeth, thanks for the clarification. There are a few very large programmes of work that i'm aware of managed up to programme board level (at our org). I'm not aware of any involvement of a Chief Projects Officer at the corporate level on these programmes of work, though given the scope of these deliveries would be suprised if a similiar role did not exist to oversee these major programmes of work at the corporate level. Saving Changes...
Hi Elizabeth,
I think it is a good question, but if we have this role in any organization, what will be the difference between this person and the PMO director? or the portfolio manager?
I think the PMO director or the portfolio manager should play this role and could be pat of the company board. Saving Changes...
Conrado MorlanConsultant| The Smart PMsPlano, Tx, United States
Elizabeth,
I believe the function of the Chief Project Officer is to ensure that all projects, current or future, will emanate from the business strategy and will support the company goals. The current business environment does not allow organizations to start projects that will not enable the organization to achieve business goals.
The Chief Project Officer must have vast business acumen and extensive experience in the project management field. These skills will enable him represent business and project interests.
Working as a program and project management for more than fifteen years in different continents, I am not aware of any medium or large organization that may have board-level representation for projects. I think this will depend on the organization and its culture. If the organization perceives projects as agents of change that will bring value to the organization at some point the board-level representation will be required.
Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Ahmed, I think you have made an excellent point. The PMO Director or Portfolio Manager should (in my opinion) be the right person to sit at a strategic level in the organisation. So to answer Jiju's point: I think that the role of a CPO is very similar to PMO Director, if not identical.
Do PMO Directors sit at Board level in your organisations? I haven't seen companies operating like this - the COO is the nearest I have come to seeing a role with these responsibilities on the Board. Saving Changes...
Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
This discussion is fun.
I'm not convinced that the COO is the closest person to represent projects on the board. If we define projects as unique and temporary endeavours...and operations as the ongoing activities of the business, then surely the COO is not going to be the right representative. I reckon the PMO Director (or similar) would be the better champion.
Conrado is right to point out that the CP(roject)O role should be to disseminate business goals to projects and ensure that projects are not disassociated to the overall objectives - at the same time, we all know that projects can drive business change and ultimately success. Hmm, that's where the CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) might have to get between CPO and COO...
Oh, I'd be happy to help create and deliver the role of CPO for any organisation looking to try it out. Saving Changes...
Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
perhaps we should start drafting the person spec and job description Saving Changes...
