Should You Establish a Project Management Office or Not?
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Transcript Should You Establish a Project Management Office or Not?
Should You Establish a Project
Management Office (PMO)?
What is a PMO?
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
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
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
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
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
PMOs have been around for years
IT “discovered” PMOs during Y2K
Consulting firms used PMOs
Building a PMO
No two PMOs are alike
Define the PMO’s function
PMOs are customized to the organization
Full/limited
Formalize the PMO organizationally
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."
Components of a PMO
• 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
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
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
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
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
Mission
• Tangible deliverables
• Services
Strategy
• Fulfilling others’ needs
Sponsor
• Achievement of objectives
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Components of a PMO
Mission
• Building the PMO
• Staffing
Strategy
• Procedures
Sponsor
Stakeholders
Clients
Objectives
Products/Services
Transitional Activities
Deploying a PMO
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
Culture change
People will have to do things differently
Requires different behaviors
More than teaching new skills
Evaluate aspects driving behavior
Reinforce positives
Eliminate/change negatives
Consultants can drive change sometimes
Deploying a PMO
Culture change
First do a gap analysis to show need
Culture
Enablers/Barriers/Attitudes
Success rates
Roles
Skills
Standards
Work environment
Deploying a PMO
Culture change
First do a gap analysis to show need
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
Deploy in waves
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
Processes
Procedures
Templates
Best Practices
Standards/Guidelines/Policies
Must be adaptable
“Methodology management”
Methodology Management
Development
Support
Build/Buy/Buy and Customize
Questions/Repository/Training
Enhancements
Expanding/Training/Enhancing
Don’t over-engineer it.
Don’t let methodology get in the way.
PMO Training
Scope of training
Determine needs
Respond to feedback
Create training strategy
Teach all stakeholders
Decide which skills you will teach
Delivery, audience, timing, in/outside
Develop/buy curriculum
PMO Coaching
More informal than training
More one-on-one
Talking through situations
Align coaching services with
deployment
Audits
In order for new processes to be
adopted successfully, they must be
used properly
Project-level audits
Don’t audit every projects
Identifies failures to use methodology
Organizational audits
Audits
Project-level audits
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
Organizational-level audits
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
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
Consolidate metrics and reporting
Organization-wide portfolio
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
Problems gathering project metrics
Timeliness –response is low priority
Accuracy – reported status is not correct
Completeness – too brief
Be clear and concise
Use standards and automation
Metrics
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
Document Repository
Re-use of templates, schedules, project
documents, etc.
Use technology
Historical archive
Other PMO Services
Best Practices
Post-mortem analysis on projects
Lessons learned
Improve methods, procedures
Other PMO Services
Common Resource Pool
Shared staff
Re-used documents/forms
Software, code library
FAQs
Document review services
Document preparation