Thomas MauserProject Manager| Project X LimitedNorth York, Ontario, Canada
Hello everyone,
My name is Tom Mauser, and I am a PMP-certified project manager in the IT industry, specializing in Business Intelligence (BI).
I have been tasked with setting up a one-person Project Management Office (PMO) for my employer, an IT consulting firm.
I have never set up a PMO before, and would greatly appreciate any guidance, or knowledge-sharing, that would assist me in successfully setting up, and running, such a PMO.
Thanks in advance for your assistance - greatly appreciated! Saving Changes...
Kurt KochProject Manager, Pediatric Clinical Integration| University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's HospitalWadsworth, Oh, United States
Mar 11, 2018 10:22 AM
Replying to James Lombardi
...
Kendall/Rollins book is excellent. But need to validate what kind of PMO office they really are looking to set up.
Thanks, James: you are speaking of - in terms of Kendall/Rollins - Project Repository vs. Project Coaching vs. Enterprise PMO Model, yes?
So, my thought process is this: I sit down with my Direct Supervisor, who has created my position and championed the idea of applying PM methodology to her Department's process, and say something to the effect of: "since we are establishing this basic foundation of PM methodology, why not take it a step further and begin the groundwork for creating a project management office, so the entire organization can benefit from this work we are doing?". If she buys in, it would be necessary to take this idea to Senior Leadership within the organization to get their buy-in, and establish what type of PMO the company would profit from? Does this sound like the correct, initial approach? Saving Changes...
Kendall/Rollins book is excellent. But need to validate what kind of PMO office they really are looking to set up.
Yes; the PMO can play the roll of controlling all the project activities in an organization. Or it can have more of an oversight (governance) function. At the lightest-touch end it could simply be supportive --- whereby it provides guidance on best practices etc. but doesn't own the projects or governance. Depending on how 'heavy' the leadership wants to go will dictate your direction. Saving Changes...
Thomas Mauser - Interesting question. Up until last fall I was also a PMO of 1 and understand your struggles. I work for a consulting company in a different industry. In reading the above responses, I agree with James Lombardi - understanding what your organization wants, needs and expects will help you establish a prioritized list of goals.
Kurt Koch - I may be misunderstanding what you are saying but it seems that what you are describing is an operational model not necessarily a project management methodology. However, with that said you could "Pilot" a process using methodology and then deploy to enterprise resource. Which would mean you are on the right path. My background "old days", is data mining, mapping, and data analytics - I personal would want to document this existing process, but that is just my personal thought. Good luck!
...
1 reply by Kurt Koch
Mar 23, 2018 9:51 AM
Kurt Koch
...
Mary:
Thanks for your response. Sorry its taken me so long to reply: I'm acclimating myself to my new position and responsibilities here during my first week and its been hectic. So, your reaction mirrored mine in that I felt much of what I might be doing would be operational in nature vs project work. I've found out that what currently exists here in my new team is "accidental" project management, so there exists some bare bone methodology which I am co-opting and integrating into a new plan. I've decided that one of my first steps will be to conduct some lunch-and-learns in order to educate everyone on formal PM methods, and invite the one or two other PMs that exist in the organization so they can provide their insight. I want to make sure I align my strategy with any that might currently exist in the organization - as it seems that there is a desire to eventually create a PMO here.
Saving Changes...
Kailash KantProgram Management| DLF Ltd.New Delhi, Delhi, India
Find the very purpose of the PMO,
As this is a one-person PMO, its probably for coordination / overview / stakeholder management / expert advice or similar "role". In all cases there will be Inputs and Outputs of the PMO,
Design a system around the IO,
Keep it simple & automated if possible, because one-person PMO would have chances of failure if it involves large analysis. Do keep space for a personal touch. Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
I am in the process of setting up a PMO. There are 5 of us on the team to do this. Our PMO is going to be an Oversight PMO.
We plan to have total transparency through use of a dashboard to track our progress.
We will ensure that the projects coming in to the office are valid with an ROI. Before, the development team was at the mercy of any executive who had an idea for a cool new project. Often the work was completed, but the project never used.
The PMO is being set up to protect the project manager from this type of waste. We will help the project managers create charters for each new project and project management plans. Then we will perform health checks throughout the projects to make sure they stay on track.
We are still in the beginning stage of this initiative, so will see how it goes.
...
1 reply by Kurt Koch
Mar 23, 2018 9:56 AM
Kurt Koch
...
Dinah:
Thanks for your reply: keep me posted on your progress as it seems we are on a somewhat similar trajectory and your insight would be useful to me.
It would seem that my first task is to really integrate project management methodology into my immediate team. But after reading many of the responses here, I'm definitely not naive enough to think that this will occur in a vacuum and I want to be cognizant of any over-arching efforts in the organization to implement a PMO.
Saving Changes...
Kurt KochProject Manager, Pediatric Clinical Integration| University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's HospitalWadsworth, Oh, United States
Mar 14, 2018 10:19 PM
Replying to Leeann S
...
Thomas Mauser - Interesting question. Up until last fall I was also a PMO of 1 and understand your struggles. I work for a consulting company in a different industry. In reading the above responses, I agree with James Lombardi - understanding what your organization wants, needs and expects will help you establish a prioritized list of goals.
Kurt Koch - I may be misunderstanding what you are saying but it seems that what you are describing is an operational model not necessarily a project management methodology. However, with that said you could "Pilot" a process using methodology and then deploy to enterprise resource. Which would mean you are on the right path. My background "old days", is data mining, mapping, and data analytics - I personal would want to document this existing process, but that is just my personal thought. Good luck!
Mary:
Thanks for your response. Sorry its taken me so long to reply: I'm acclimating myself to my new position and responsibilities here during my first week and its been hectic. So, your reaction mirrored mine in that I felt much of what I might be doing would be operational in nature vs project work. I've found out that what currently exists here in my new team is "accidental" project management, so there exists some bare bone methodology which I am co-opting and integrating into a new plan. I've decided that one of my first steps will be to conduct some lunch-and-learns in order to educate everyone on formal PM methods, and invite the one or two other PMs that exist in the organization so they can provide their insight. I want to make sure I align my strategy with any that might currently exist in the organization - as it seems that there is a desire to eventually create a PMO here. Saving Changes...
Kurt KochProject Manager, Pediatric Clinical Integration| University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's HospitalWadsworth, Oh, United States
Mar 15, 2018 9:29 AM
Replying to Dinah Young
...
I am in the process of setting up a PMO. There are 5 of us on the team to do this. Our PMO is going to be an Oversight PMO.
We plan to have total transparency through use of a dashboard to track our progress.
We will ensure that the projects coming in to the office are valid with an ROI. Before, the development team was at the mercy of any executive who had an idea for a cool new project. Often the work was completed, but the project never used.
The PMO is being set up to protect the project manager from this type of waste. We will help the project managers create charters for each new project and project management plans. Then we will perform health checks throughout the projects to make sure they stay on track.
We are still in the beginning stage of this initiative, so will see how it goes.
Dinah:
Thanks for your reply: keep me posted on your progress as it seems we are on a somewhat similar trajectory and your insight would be useful to me.
It would seem that my first task is to really integrate project management methodology into my immediate team. But after reading many of the responses here, I'm definitely not naive enough to think that this will occur in a vacuum and I want to be cognizant of any over-arching efforts in the organization to implement a PMO. Saving Changes...
