Mark MullalyPresident| Interthink Consulting IncorporatedToronto, Ontario, Canada
The PMO Mystique is a new discussion forum to explore the issues and challenges associated with selling, developing and managing Program and Project Management Offices.
I encourage you to share ideas, ask questions, suggest solutions and contribute experiences from your own background and work.
In my article The PMO Department - A New Face I laid out some of my thoughts and ideas for the direction of the PMO department on gantthead.com
What isses would you like to see explored in the coming months? What challenges are you facing with your PMO (as a staff member, a customer or a sponsor...)? What solutions or approaches have you found that work?
Derry SimmelProgram Manager| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South CarolinaChapin, Sc, United States
A lot of good discussion let me post some counterpoint to Christopher's comments. Yes, I know they are "huge generalizations", but that's how we spice up debate.
David, If you can get exec approval and go top down, go for it. The problem today is that some execs still view PMO's as administrative overhead and an organizational burden. In my particular case, we are building a PMO from somewhere around the middle. And it is working so far. I think that is because of the culture of my company. We are a very employee oriented, entrepreneurial company. Edicts from upper management are rare and local authority and control in a decentralized model is the norm. This can fly in the face of a centralized PMO model.
Look to the culture of your company. A PMO with only CEO support will succeed, but it probably will not be a lot of fun, you will need champions everywhere. In my role as the director, I spend as much time evangelizing the PMO as anything else. Here are some key points I’ve found.
• Avoid threatening in any way – I always tell people that the PMO is there to help, assist and enable them, not to dictate standards, or make decisions. We take more of a support role on most projects, although we have PMs essentially running more than a few.
• Talk until you think you are going to scream from repeating yourself, and then keep going. A lot of people do not understand or appreciate PMOs, it is up to you to bring that message, consistently, firmly and cooperatively. If you mix this with a non-threatening stance, you may find (as we did) that people come looking for you no matter what level you are.
• Find champions – don’t pin your star to one exec. The PMO is a corporate asset, and if everyone thinks it is so-and-so’s pet, then when so-and-so moves on, your PMO is meat. The more independent and the wider the base of support, the more success and the greater your contributions.
• Figure out what you’re trying to do and stick with it. Our PMO is there to integrate project management discipline into the corporate culture – period. We look at everything from that perspective, and it helps enormously. Once you and your team have a direction, things will move quickly.
Like you don’t have enough advice, there is some more. Good luck, contact me if you’d like, we are all struggling in this together.
Saving Changes...
Neville TurbitDirector| Project Perfect.com.auAbbotsford, Nsw, Australia
We have set up a number of PMO's and, as mentioned by a some of the people who responded, the single most important thing is to establish your mandate. You need to list all the areas you touch and determine which of the following three things you do for each area. Manage, Influence or Monitor.
If you would like a list of likely areas, we put them into a white paper on setting up a project office. We wanted to help people avoid the common trap most start ups experience. If you adopt this approach, you will generate some lively discussion, but it will be worth it and save a lot of pain when you are operational. Download a copy of the white paper from our web site at www.projectperfect.com.au Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Bruce, your post and these replies are great. Thanks! I would only add that the PMO can also play a critical role in driving organizational project management maturity, enabling a culture of continuous improvement, and ensuring audit and compliance such as Sarbanes-Oxley and post-project confirmation of project benefits. Effective execution in these areas result in sustained performance improvements, tangible and realizable benefits, and defect elimination and reduction of waste. The PMO is uniquely positioned to contribute greatly to a company. Perhaps by the end of the decade OPM3, or something like it, will be an accepted and applied standard and how organizations apply it, PMO or no PMO, will be of lesser consequence. Thanks again for a good post and string of insightful replies. Cheers. -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Suneel Kumar NadellaDirector (Self Employed)| Manasai Services Pvt Ltd (Self Employed)Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Dear Mr.Mark, I have joined PMI forum in 2017 and I have been a project manager from 2000 onwards working in regulatory, energy, utilities, banking, retail and non-profit/trade organisations over last 22+ years. I happened to read this article now. As several things have changed over the last 16 years(from the date of your publication), I believe the importance of PMO has not changed at all. In fact, it became more significant now and where it sits really depends on the type, size and culture of the organisation. Only problem I see now is organisations becoming more agile and duplicating systems and applications without proper due diligence. The federated approach is stuttering and time to go back to basics is the way forward and in that process, PMO plays a key role. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Mark
Thanks for sharing this information.
I just clicked the link:
"The PMO Department - A New Face" and the result is "Page not Found" Saving Changes...
