For a company working on 50+ IT/ engineering projects at any one time - what would be the ultimate staffing for a PMO in numbers and resource descriptions? Saving Changes...
This is my idea of a good, core PMO team to support a portfolio of about 50 projects (assuming about 10% are enterprise-level and about 10% are small upgrade projects) - start at three and grow as necessary. Always remember, keep the PMO footprint as small as possible without damaging its effectiveness.
Person #1 = PORTFOLIO-LEVEL PROJECT SUPPORT
1A - Interproject Resource Management (this usually leads companies to buy PPM software)
1B - Project Collateral/Knowledge Management (real time feeds as well as post mortems)
1C - Architectural Alignment (think relationship management) and Asset (hardware, software and licences) Reuse
1D - Interproject Vendor Management (without stepping on procurement's toes)
Person #2 = PORTFOLIO CONTROL
2A - Initiative/concept Proposal Processes (e.g. who reviews what and how)
2B - Prioritization Metrics and Processes (don't adopt too many)
2C - Project Auditing (track strategic projects and random sampling of the rest)
2D - Business Case Templates (makes #2A easy)
Person #3 = LEADERSHIP/SPONSORSHIP
3A - Organizational Change/Project Culture Development (this will be the most time consuming task)
3B - PMO Marketing (this covers executive support tasks, etc. - leverage output from 3C)
3C - PMO Value Add Auditing (you need to prove that the PMO is adding value)
3D - Project Methodology Standardization (don't reinvent the wheel here)
3E - PM Training and Certifications (this plus execution/leadership-abilities can increase successes)
3F - Hole Filling for Persons #1 and #2
A Virtual PMO can provide this core team with much more strength. Reference "IT Project Portfolio Management" by Artech House Publishers for more details on VPMOs. Saving Changes...
