PMs & PMO

PMO

BN Jha Union City, Ca, United States

Wanted some insight as to whom should the PMs report to, PMO or the other line functions. In my past experience I found PMs reporting to PMO to be more effective and they are in a matrixed to line functions. Any thoughts and feedback.

Posted: Apr 18, 2006 9:23 PM

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Mark Price Perry Business Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT International Orlando, Fl, United States

Dear BN Jha,

Regarding whom should the PMs report to, PMO or the other line functions? Naturally, each situation is different and the answer always is, "it depends." But generally speaking, many people (and I) agree with you. I would also hasten to add that the organization and reporting structure of the PMs is secondary by a considerable order of magnitude to the existence of useful and usable processes and best practices for both the immediate project efforts as well as the policies, measurements, and controls of the management and leadership team of the organization. Cheers..!

Mark Perry

VP of Customer Care

BOT International

Posted: Apr 20, 2006 1:39 PM

Derry Simmel Program Manager| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina Chapin, Sc, United States

BN - Great question.

I've done some thinking myself on this and I have to agree with Mark - "it depends." I think that the place to start would be with a centralized group of Project Managers (living in the PMO probably). I would argue that the more mature the organization and the better the organization becomes, the less the need for centralized project management. A good usable, useful - and used set of processes is far more important, and if a project management culture exists, then the location of the PMs is not relative.

Unfortunately, most organizations start out with PMs distributed among line departments and that dilutes their ability to make a difference in the overall culture. In distributed models, the effectiveness of the PMs often vary greatly leading to the overall impression that the success of projects is more related to individual competence than to the use of standards and practices. Ultimately, many PM initiatives fail because some people are really good at it and their success is attributed to their skills not project management.

This is where a centralized model can make a greater difference. If we create a model where “the PMO” is leading successful projects, then project management can be seen as a useful and successful tool and is more likely to be widely adopted.

Sorry – I get a little windy sometimes. If you would like to read more of my soapbox ideas about PMOs, check out www.aboutpmos.blogspot.com , lately I’ve been talking about metrics, but I want to soon get back into people, processes and tools.

Derry Simmel, PMP, MBA
VC Membership PMOSIG

Posted: Jun 12, 2006 3:49 PM

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