Should You Establish a Project Management Office (PMO)?

1. Should You Establish a Project Management Office (PMO)?

2. 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

3. 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.

4. The PMO Value Proposition Quality A successful PMO could improve performance in all three areas of the QSP triangle Service Price

5. The PMO Value Proposition Quality The cost of the PMO must be exceeded by the benefits (More Valuable Deliverables) Service Price (More Efficient Performance) (Reduce Waste)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. PMO’s in IT • PMOs have been around for years • IT “discovered” PMOs during Y2K • Consulting firms used PMOs

10. Building a PMO • No two PMOs are alike • PMOs are customized to the organization • Define the PMO’s function • Full/limited • Formalize the PMO organizationally • Decision making/expectations

11. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • What the PMO does • How it is done and for whom • Alignment with business value • Vision statement • Principles/Goals "The Acme Project Management Office (PMO) implements and supports project management methodology to enable our organization to deliver projects faster, cheaper, with higher quality, and within estimates and expectations."

12. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • High-level set of directions • Align PMO strategically • Long-term goals (years) • Tactical decisions (day-to-day)

13. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • Responsible for PMO funding • Manager PMO reports to • Critical for culture change • Political support • Policy enforcement

14. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • Person/group staked in PMO • Internal/External • Collaborative organizations • Suppliers • Investors

15. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • Requestors of PMO service • Others the PMO helps • achieve their project and • business goals

16. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • Concrete statements • Lower-level milestones • Achievable • Measurable • Timed • Evaluated at end of project • and/or end of time period

17. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • Tangible deliverables • Services • Fulfilling others’ needs • Achievement of objectives

18. Components of a PMO • Mission • Strategy • Sponsor • Stakeholders • Clients • Objectives • Products/Services • Transitional Activities • Building the PMO • Staffing • Procedures

19. 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

20. 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

21. Deploying a PMO • Culture change • First do a gap analysis to show need • Culture • Enablers/Barriers/Attitudes • Success rates • Roles • Skills • Standards • Work environment

22. 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

23. 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

24. The Methodology • Processes • Procedures • Templates • Best Practices • Standards/Guidelines/Policies • Must be adaptable • “Methodology management”

25. Methodology Management • Development • Build/Buy/Buy and Customize • Support • Questions/Repository/Training • Enhancements • Expanding/Training/Enhancing Don’t over-engineer it. Don’t let methodology get in the way.

26. PMO Training • Scope of training • Teach all stakeholders • Decide which skills you will teach • Determine needs • Respond to feedback • Create training strategy • Delivery, audience, timing, in/outside • Develop/buy curriculum

27. PMO Coaching • More informal than training • More one-on-one • Talking through situations • Align coaching services with deployment

28. 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

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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

32. 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)

33. 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

34. 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

35. Other PMO Services • Document Repository • Re-use of templates, schedules, project documents, etc. • Use technology • Historical archive

36. Other PMO Services • Best Practices • Post-mortem analysis on projects • Lessons learned • Improve methods, procedures

37. Other PMO Services • Common Resource Pool • Shared staff • Re-used documents/forms • Software, code library • FAQs • Document review services • Document preparation