While the concept of a Project Management Office (PMO) has been around since the 1800’s, the purpose and structure of a PMO has changed drastically throughout its evolution. If you have ever embarked upon establishing a PMO or attempting to sustain a PMO, you are familiar with the struggle to promote the business case and continue to prove the value-add.
Research shows the life expectancy of a PMO is between two and four years before overriding organizational change dictates the future of the PMO. The demise of the PMO is predominately due to the lack of vision or a documented roadmap that outlines the strategy, approach, and future of the PMO and how it will evolve to align with the organization. Establishing a PMO is just like any other project: it requires a business case that shows the vision and the value-add. Let’s explore four key areas that we at Sensei Project Solutions have learned support the PMO vision.
1. Define the sustainable vision for the PMO.
While an organization might need a PMO, they are typically challenged with answering the “what” and “how” of the PMO in their organization. Does the organization need a tactical or strategic PMO? Should it be department or enterprise focused? And should it have an authoritative or advisory role in the organization? Likely the answers to these questions will evolve over time as the organization evolves, which is why it is important for the leadership championing the PMO to establish a vision in the form of a roadmap that evolves alongside the organization . The PMO roadmap provides the organization direction, focus, and priority with actions, outcomes, and the value-added capabilities important for success.
Whether an organization is embarking on establishing a new PMO or transforming an existing one, the PMO project is a change initiative. The PMO project’s business case will have a much better chance of success if there is executive sponsorship and strong leadership championing the PMO project . Establishing a vision for wins big and small along the journey will provide the charter for the PMO project’s future success.
2. Ensure processes, skills, and tools support the vision.
Underestimating the importance of documented processes to support the vision/business case is a primary fault of most organizations attempting to establish a PMO. It has been our experience that most organizations face a large amount of ‘process churn’ when implementing a tool to support their PMO, due to the lack of an existing set of tried-and-true processes. While managing the daily duties of a PMO with spreadsheets and manually compiled reports is cumbersome, if there is a process, even a paper-heavy one, in place, at least the PMO and the rest of the organization it supports understands how the projects are executed.
As part of the business case, the organization will have to realize that they will need to assess the skills required to support the PMO. Resources that have tribal knowledge of the organization can be the best change agents for building or transforming a PMO. Organizations should not overlook resources currently functioning as ‘casual project managers’, as they might just be the right people to support the vision and the stakeholders promoting change.
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