Do You Love Your PMO?

I am headed to the annual PMO Symposium this Sunday, so I thought I would revisit a post I wrote more than two years ago by the same title. That post was inspired by an exchange I had with Demian Entrekin of IT Toolbox fame http://it.toolbox.com/people/dentrekin/. I left a comment on one of his blog posts sharing my view that far too many PMOs are little more than paper-pushers and process-police. His reply recounted a conversation he had with the CIO of Forbes who said the PMO can (and should) act as a change agent. “Rather than simply running the PMO as the project police, the folks in the PMO actively look for ways to create more value for the organization as a whole, using IT as a leverage point. This certainly supports your point.”

I wrote how his comments were music to my ears and they continue to play a symphony of hope for me today. First, it continues to give me hope for my years-long assertion that technology should be leveraged for strategic advantage as opposed to being a cost to be managed. And it gives me hope that other enterprises will aspire to the role of the PMO at Forbes – the role of value creator.

Almost every PMO I have ever encountered acts as project process enforcers and report generators. Their role is simple, establish project management methodology and then report on the use of that methodology – ergo, the unenviable position of paper pushing project police. Though everyone agrees that sound project management practices are a necessity, these methodology-focused PMOs almost always degrade into something that executive management perceives as overhead to be eliminated and project staff view as bureaucracy to be avoided. Couple the doomed “project police” model with the fact that few PMOs are rarely backed and bolstered by reasoned and rational enterprise-led Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) and it is no wonder so many projects fail. (Sound PPM is essential to PMO success because it provides and oversees a reasoned and rational portfolio of investments upon which to deliver. Here is my description of sound PPM: http://www.itgevangelist.com/blog/2011/10/9/the-ppm-scad-model.html.)

Organizations with sounds governance and PPM processes provide the foundation, but it is up to the PMO to build on that bedrock if they are to have any chance of creating value. There are some great books on the subject of PMOs and every major analyst and consulting firm is at the ready to provide PMO advice and counsel. I am sure this year’s PMO Symposium will offer a plethora of insight and guidance. It would be presumptuous if not foolhardy for me to attempt replicate or replace any of those great resources in a mere blog post. What I will offer are some recommendations for high-level objectives to enable PMOs to assume the role of value-creator as well as one simple question every organization should ask PMO stakeholders – Do you love your PMO?

I have been repeatedly advised by people for whom I have great respect to not use the word “love” in a professional setting. The word is too “soft” or too “emotional.” I understand this perception but I use the word love because it is the quintessential human feeling – and that is where I want the focus of my PMO – on humans. If somebody asked me to describe in one sentence, “What does a PMO do?” I wouldn’t talk about methodology, or frameworks, or processes, or tools. My answer would be, “PMOs make people successful.” I believe people will love a PMO that makes them successful. And making people successful is the surest way of creating value in an enterprise.

In my PMO presentation titled, “Enable Enterprise Success through your PMO”, I identify nine high-level objectives for a PMO:

• Drive project cycle times down
• Facilitate choosing the right project mix and priority
• Provide the data required to make reasoned and rational decisions
• Track and report high-level status
• Identify and help projects in trouble and assist in corrective action
• Facilitate the PPM Steering Committee
• Provide marketing and communications
• Provide archives and performance improvement data
• Become Center of Excellence

I also provide another view of what a PMO can do to make people successful – from a metrics and measures perspective:

Facilitating and Enabling Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)

• % of investment decisions influenced by PMO-provided data
• % of projects aligned with organizational goals
• % of projects reviewed during execution by Executive Management
• Executive satisfaction with PMO – survey based

Influencing Project Success

• Project success rate (upward trend)
• % of projects delivered ahead of schedule
• % of healthy Projects
• % of projects governed by the PMO

Establishing a Partnership with Project Managers

• Project management competence (upward trend)
• Number of mentoring relationships
• Number of training days delivered
• Project Manager satisfaction with PMO  - survey based

Fostering Processes that Enable Success

• Project standards, processes, tools and templates are designed and implemented
• Project processes are owned and managed (process management lifecycle)
• % of projects complying with project management standards & methods
• Value of PMO is measured and understood

Each set of objectives listed above is intended to serve program and project stakeholders. These stakeholders include project customers, business and IT leaders, directors and functional managers, program and project managers, and project team members. To meet each of these objectives, PMOs must make these people successful. Done properly, these objectives enable:

• reasoned and rational stakeholder decision-making
• processes and procedures that make work possible and practical
• risk management and problem resolution
• development, learning, and growth 

“Making people successful” may seem like a trite or obvious purpose, but it sends a powerful message that can be used to foster a very singular and effective mindset. Building a PMO on the foundation of making people successful will shape the mission, goals, objectives, and most importantly, the mechanisms deployed. PMOs that enable success will deliver value. They will be embraced by project managers and cherished by executive leadership. They will be loved.

~Steve~

Comments

[PM Hut]

Hi Romero,

This is an excellent post, and it's amazing that I've overlooked it. I think that it's a good thing that the PMO is finally getting the interest it deserves.

I would like to republish your post on PM Hut under the Project Management Office category, where many project managers will benefit from it. Please either email me or contact me though the "Contact Us" form on the PM Hut website in case you're OK with this.