Should You Establish a Project
Management Office (PMO)?
What is a PMO?
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Deploys a consistent methodology
Provides common management structure
Promotes best practices
Training/Mentoring/Coaching
Gathers/Tracks metrics from all projects
Promotes PM throughout the organization
The PMO Value Proposition
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A successful PMO enhances an
organization’s ability to execute projects
and make deliverables on time and under
budget while improving the overall level of
quality.
The PMO Value Proposition
Quality
Service
Price
A successful PMO could improve performance
in all three areas of the QSP triangle
The PMO Value Proposition
Quality
(More Valuable Deliverables)
Service
(More Efficient Performance)
Price
(Reduce Waste)
The cost of the PMO must be
exceeded by the benefits
Styles of PMOs - Centralized
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One PMO office with a group of
managers and services
Every project includes a PM from the
PMO
Easier to manage and consolidate
metrics
Expertise may not be portable among
projects
Styles of PMOs - Distributed
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Central PMO organization not
including PMs
Might have multiple document
repositories (for different disciplines)
Supports PMs on projects
Consistency is harder
Coordination might be harder
Styles of PMOs - Assistive
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No, or very small, central organization
Offers guidance to other departments
on project management issues
Training/coaching
Good way to do a little that could pay
off a lot
PMO’s in IT
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PMOs have been around for years
IT “discovered” PMOs during Y2K
Consulting firms used PMOs
Building a PMO
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No two PMOs are alike
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Define the PMO’s function
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PMOs are customized to the organization
Full/limited
Formalize the PMO organizationally
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Decision making/expectations
Components of a PMO
Mission
• What the PMO does
 Strategy
• How it is done and for whom
 Sponsor
• Alignment with business value
 Stakeholders
• Vision statement
 Clients
• Principles/Goals
 Objectives
 Acme
Products/Services
"The
Project Management Office (PMO) implements and supports project
management methodology to enable our organization to deliver projects faster,
 Transitional
Activities
cheaper,
with higher quality,
and within estimates and expectations."
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Components of a PMO
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• High-level set of directions
Mission
• Align PMO strategically
Strategy
Sponsor
• Long-term goals (years)
Stakeholders
• Tactical decisions (day-to-day)
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
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Mission
• Responsible for PMO funding
• Manager PMO reports to
Strategy
• Critical for culture change
Sponsor
• Political support
• Policy enforcement
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
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Mission
• Person/group staked in PMO
• Internal/External
Strategy
• Collaborative organizations
Sponsor
• Suppliers
• Investors
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
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Mission
• Requestors of PMO service
Strategy
• Others the PMO helps
achieve their project and
Sponsor
business goals
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
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Mission
• Concrete statements
• Lower-level milestones
Strategy
• Achievable
Sponsor
• Measurable
• Timed
Stakeholders
• Evaluated at end of project
Clients
and/or end of time period
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
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Mission
• Tangible deliverables
• Services
Strategy
• Fulfilling others’ needs
Sponsor
• Achievement of objectives
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
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Mission
• Building the PMO
• Staffing
Strategy
• Procedures
Sponsor
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Deploying a PMO
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Create (or buy) a project methodology
Provide training and coaching
Conduct project audits/assessments
Provide consolidated metrics
Consulting firms can fill gaps
Culture change
Deploy in waves
Deploying a PMO
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Culture change
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People will have to do things differently
Requires different behaviors
More than teaching new skills
Evaluate aspects driving behavior
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Reinforce positives
Eliminate/change negatives
Consultants can drive change sometimes
Deploying a PMO
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Culture change
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First do a gap analysis to show need
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Culture
Enablers/Barriers/Attitudes
Success rates
Roles
Skills
Standards
Work environment
Deploying a PMO
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Culture change
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First do a gap analysis to show need
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Use a cross section of staff
Interviews
Surveys
Focus groups
Use the gap analysis to define the future
look of the PMO
Deploying a PMO
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Deploy in waves
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Don’t change things all at once
General awareness sessions
Project management training
Standards/Templates
Reward/Recognition system
Get management buy-in
Audits and evaluations
PMO support organization
The Methodology
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Processes
Procedures
Templates
Best Practices
Standards/Guidelines/Policies
Must be adaptable
“Methodology management”
Methodology Management
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Development
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Support
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Build/Buy/Buy and Customize
Questions/Repository/Training
Enhancements
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Expanding/Training/Enhancing
Don’t over-engineer it.
Don’t let methodology get in the way.
PMO Training
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Scope of training
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Determine needs
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Respond to feedback
Create training strategy
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Teach all stakeholders
Decide which skills you will teach
Delivery, audience, timing, in/outside
Develop/buy curriculum
PMO Coaching
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More informal than training
More one-on-one
Talking through situations
Align coaching services with
deployment
Audits
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In order for new processes to be
adopted successfully, they must be
used properly
Project-level audits
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Don’t audit every projects
Identifies failures to use methodology
Organizational audits
Audits
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Project-level audits
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Did stakeholders participate?
Stakeholders approve project definition?
Work plan being used? Is it accurate?
All deliverables completed?
On track: cost, duration, quality?
Are risks being managed?
Are issues being managed?
Consider outsourcing this effort.
Audits
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Organizational-level audits
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Show how the “gap” is closing
Keep you stakeholders informed
Identifies compliance (or not)
Identifies whether or not the PMO is a
good idea for the organization
Identifies if PMO is being delivered in the
best way for the organization
Consider outsourcing this effort.
Audits
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Trend successive audits
Identify changes that need to be made
Identify training needs
Stress progress along lines of
business alignment
Don’t be afraid to say things are wrong
It’s probably not going to be totally
successful
Metrics
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Consolidate metrics and reporting
Organization-wide portfolio
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This is a great way to be visible and
useful to upper management
This can also be time consuming
Very hard to measure the value of the
PMO precisely (like holding a cloud)
Metrics
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Problems gathering project metrics
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Timeliness –response is low priority
Accuracy – reported status is not correct
Completeness – too brief
Be clear and concise
Use standards and automation
Metrics
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Savings with scope change mgmt.
Savings with risk management
Savings by proactive action
Savings by way of re-use
Assess the value of increased quality
The PMO is likely to increase everyone’s
workload and responsibility… so probably
won’t be liked by everyone
Other PMO Services
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Document Repository
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Re-use of templates, schedules, project
documents, etc.
Use technology
Historical archive
Other PMO Services
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Best Practices
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Post-mortem analysis on projects
Lessons learned
Improve methods, procedures
Other PMO Services
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Common Resource Pool
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Shared staff
Re-used documents/forms
Software, code library
FAQs
Document review services
Document preparation