We don't have a PMO and on account of that we do not have any formal project manager positions within our IT department. Do project managers have to report to a PMO? Can you have a project manager report to an IT Manager or Applications Manager? Saving Changes...
I have talked with several PMO Directors who have all project managers report to them, but this is the exception to the norm. Though I see large and midsized, project-centric companies going more in this direction, the current norm still appears to me to be PMs that are either the project sponsor or report to the project sponsor (i.e. they can come from anywhere in the organization). The benefit of following the new trend of all PMs under the PMO director is that you have consistent/standardized training and tracking (i.e. lower costs, greater success probabilities). The down-side is that if you overstaff PMs, you'll end up with (to borrow from the consulting world) a populated "bench" or "beach". Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Anonymous, you can have PMs report anywhere in the organization and I agree with Mr. Bonham's fine points. A number of organizations that don't have a PMO often times put a person in charge of setting up a "virtual" PMO. That is, setting up and managing the PMO processes and tools, etc. with the PMs still reporting to the functional managers. For emerging organizations this can be a very effective approach that can last or can transition to a formal PMO with all of the PMs reporting to its head. The pros and cons are just as Mr. Bonham posits. Good luck. -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
In answer to your question, you do not need a PMO to have project managers. Depending on the maturity and stability of your organisation, the needs and mix will be different. A starting point is to run projects as projects. Then the issues around developing a PMO or other support/ governance arrangements can be considered. Saving Changes...
