Mark MullalyPresident| Interthink Consulting IncorporatedToronto, Ontario, Canada
I recently posed the question: if you could design your perfect PMO -- the PMO that you would want as a project manager -- what would that be?
Would you want a PMO that is an active supporter, advisor and coach? Or a passive source of information? Should the PMO be a laissez-faire source of information, to use as you will? Or an active influencer in ensuring projects are successful?
Weigh in and provide your perspective. Contribute to the design of the perfect PMO. Your input and comments will provide the basis for a continuing series of columns in the Program Management Office department.
One that creates space between the organisational politics and the project in order that the job can get done.
One that takes the bureaucratic demands from the HQ and turns them into pragmatic value-adding or minimum effort approaches Saving Changes...
I think a PMO should be project manager-centric. It should provide tools and templates, administrative support, training and mentoring, enforcement of consistent standards across a program of work and be responsible for converting raw project metric data into the variety of reports and statistical analysis for a varying audience of stakeholders. In other words, oil for the machine rather than a project overhead. Saving Changes...
The PMO should be a buffer between the coal face PM and the Ivory Tower. Lifting and standardising adminstrative items away from the PM to allow the PM to work with tools, templates and methods as defined/supplied by the PMO to deliver the project(s) the PM has been tasked to deliver.
The PMO should also have the overview of the portfolio of projects under way to spot trends and common issues and also ensure the portfolio is correctly alligned to the corporate strategy. Saving Changes...
A perfect PMO is one that emphasize on strong partnerships with PMs and Senior Management. This undertaking with one another is based on shared "risks" and "profits" with clear accountabilities defined in the Program Governance structure. For this partnership to have a sound foundation, there is a need for a relationship of trust between partners and clarity of what is the gain for each partner involved.
Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Mark, great post. All the replies are right on target. In addition to the formal and functional role of the PMO, a number of PMOs (many mid-size and smaller) take aim to establish and facilitate project management as a company-wide best practice and core competency (ie. like people management). That is, outside of IT and the PMO and the formal project portfolio, etc., there are a number of small to mid-size project efforts in the various business units resulting in quite a number of "informal" project managers and "informal" projects. Though any one of these "informal" projects may not be that significant or mission critical, collectively these "informal" projects and people represent a tremendous opportunity to improve projectized thinking, habits, work efforts, and of course project results. Hope to hear and learn more from others. -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Mark,
The perfect PMO has three functions:
1) Provide the infrastructure for project management, i.e. uniform reporting and management processes, forms, templates and tools
2) Manage interproject priorities by coordinating upper management's objectives and priorities with the reality of each project's state and the issues identified by the project managers
3) Serve as the primary conduit for communication bewteen the project teams, as a whole, and upper management as a whole. They need to fill the gap imposed in the management of multiple projects by the variety of line management objectives and priorities.
Great artical and question.
Thanks,
Pat Saving Changes...
I have worked as both a project manager and as a specialist in the PMO and, hence, have a well rounded perspective on the desired PMO role. Undoubtedly, the PMO needs to provide guidance and direction to project managers vis a vis standards, tools, templates, education, mentoring, etc. However, I discovered that many PMOs implement process for the sake of process and burden the PMs with excessive paperwork and administrative functions. Relieving PMs of the administrative tasks enables the PMs to concentrate on managing project resources, monitoring performance and delivery, managing risk and issues, meeting deadlines, and delivering a quality product. The PMO should provide resources that can assist a PM with all of the administrative tasks; i.e. status reporting, project scheduling, project documentatuion and the like. More importantly, the PMO should provide performance benchmarks and rank enterprise projects by ROI, risk and value added. The PMO should assist the PMs in understanding the ranking of projects based on established criteria and the inter-dependencies. The PMO should make recommendations for shifting the scheduling of projects or abandoning projects based on a thorough understanding of organizational goals,resource availability (personnel, technology, funding) and business value. The PMO is responsible for communicating with PMs in a timely and cogent manner and should make every effort to partner with PMs rather than dictate to them. Saving Changes...
Nancy WirtzConsultant| BMO HarrisGlendale Heights, Il, United States
On March 9, 2005 I kicked off our department PMO with full support of management. I arranged a meeting of those who spend the majority of time managing projects whether they were "tagged" by title as a project manager or not. We did a full day session, off site with our department director to define what our PMO would look like. We are defining best practices for our department based on corporate direction for project management. We are making a difference in the renegade, cowboy style of project management! The director seeks my advice on projects I wouldn't normally have anything to do with and respects what we are doing because he knows it will ultimately benefit his whole department. We're still completely matrixed but the vision is for us to be an entity unto ourselves that report directly to the department director. My advice to others is BABY STEPS! And keep your key project managers involved in the decisions. Saving Changes...
Having been a Project Manager and started a PMO, I would suggest that the first thing the PMO do is find out what the PMs, and their business clients, need to make the projects more successful. In my case, the first need was prioritization - helping both the business and the PMs identify the projects that would have the highest payoffs per dollar spent. That required some frank questions and hard answers, but it got everyone on the same page, and with the same commitment to the chosen projects.
Then the PMO should be the repository of collected knowledge, about the projects themselves, the techniques that work and don't, the resources available and their costs, and the steps being taken outside of the projects to ensure that the payoff occurred. That way, the PMs regard the PMO as an additional resource, not an additional burden. Saving Changes...
Jim WhittenSenior Program Manager & Principal Consultant| Project ROI, LLCLoveland, Co, United States
My bias from experience is that the the PMO should be a center for knowledge, tools and practice -- and as small as possible. Being the "host organization" for all PMs in an organization can create a resource bottleneck, leading to quotes like "I can't start my project because there's no PM." But there's no One True Answer. The right answer for any specific organization needs to come from that very organization. Saving Changes...
