Kathleen WilliamsSr. Director, People & Operations| Ripple EffectMd, United States
I just interviewed with a small consulting firm (focused on community change/social justice issues) that is interested in hiring me to start a PMO because they have a lot of projects and no consistency. Anyone here have experience in doing so, with an organization that is not at all IT focused? As background, I have a masters in social work and a PMP so I think I have the skills/experience necessary but this is new territory for me to set something up for a company. They currently use Unanet for PM I think? Saving Changes...
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Judith FaginPrincipal | Project Entrepreneur| Judith E. Fagin, PMP | Project Management AssociatesSarasota, Fl, United States
Kathleen, I only recently joined this site even though your query was over a year ago. I have spent my long, long career managing non-IT projects (including a PMO with both IT and non-IT) prior to PMI even existing, and find it astounding that the non-IT cohort is so silent. If it is still relevant to you to discuss this I am happy to share my thoughts, but after a year I am sure you are well on your way to success. Saving Changes...
Starting up a PMO in a non-technology vs. a technology context isn't that different. You need to clearly understand the mandate for the PMO, develop a plan for delivering its services (across people, process & technology) and work the plan.
If the organization is at a low level of project management maturity, you'll need to use all of your OCM skills to get changes to "stick".
Make sure you have support from more than one executive - I've been through the pain of losing the sole PMO executive champion and wouldn't wish that on anyone!
Kiron Saving Changes...
Kathleen WilliamsSr. Director, People & Operations| Ripple EffectMd, United States
Thank you Judith and Kiron for your responses. I had almost forgotten I posted this. I did take the job and the first year was a whirlwind of lessons learned...there was a lot of chaos when I joined and I had to organize a back-log of stuff that needed to be done. Then my boss left... anyway, I am now almost exclusively focused on building the PMO.
The good - I have full support from the CEO and VP (the only executives), and I love doing OCM.
The bad - there have been lots of attempts to make PM "better" in the past so I have jaded and exhausted staff to work with. Saving Changes...
