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Project Management Offices (PMO's) are great organizations, and many companies are looking to implement them to help deliver projects more successfully. However, there are almost as many models for a PMO as there are companies implementing them. The first thing to recognize is that there is no right or wrong way to implement a PMO. The bigger question to ask first is what value does your company intend to receive from the PMO? What is the mission and vision, and what are the goals and objectives of the PMO? Some PMO’s are a center of excellence where all the project managers are assigned. In other companies, the PMO is responsible for setting project management standards, processes, and a consistent set of templates and tools. In other organizations, they maintain overall status on all active projects. There are other models as well. In general, PMO’s are most common in large companies, but there are some enlightened smaller companies that also use them.
Should you create a PMO?
The term ‘PMO’, or Project Management Office, is not without its controversy. Much like putting ketchup on a hot dog there are those with strong opinions for and against having a formalized and structured organization managing the portfolio of programs and projects a business unit runs.
Create an Aligned Enterprise to get Everyone Moving in the Same Direction
Alignment is all about having all the resources in your company striving toward the same general purpose. Alignment comes from making sure that people and organizations know what is important to the company. It also means that people have incentives to move the company in that one direction and not in directions that are counter to the general themes.
Synchronizing Business goals with PMO goals...
It is imperative to understand the overall Business goals of an Organization while it comes to executing Projects.
In today’s world of rapid change, often Management has to fine tune the methods and roadmap to reaching Business Goals. Eventually this frequent one degree shift impacts the whole Organization. However these changes are not trickled down to the floor where the work gets done - as a result the projects start drifting away from the Project goals and the PMO start panicking....
The ongoing economic downturn has forced Organizations to live on split second decision. Probably it’s a new way of governing Corporations and the project Teams have to learn it fast to cope with it.
I think the PMO should work very closely with the Management and any and every shift and turn should be propagated to the Team members with its impacts. This open communication helps to rebuild the lost confidence, keeps the project in focus and finally accomplish Corporate goals.
Posted originally: 04/11/2009
One Way PMOs Contribute To Your Company's Bottom Line
I was having a cup of tea/coffee with Renata Weir at Starbucks this morning. Renata asked me "Do you believe that PMOs contribute to a company's bottom line?". My answer was yes. I believe that PMOs contribute. Maybe not directly, but indirectly. Here is what I mean.
Most companies have a strategic plan. The intent of this plan is usually to take the company from the place where it is at today to a place where it should be. The reason for making this shift is fueled by senior management's desire to improve the company's profit. Be it by implementing processes that are less wasteful, adding a new product line to increase sales or take advantage of new market opportunities. And for each of these strategies we need a tactical implementation. This is where projects (and later PMOs) come into play:
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