Project Management Office

The logic behind having a Project Management Office must be compelling for any company employing several project managers, whether they are in the public sector or in the private sector, whether they are commercial or non profit.

At the highest level, having a separate, centralised organisational unit directly responsible for the successful delivery of a portfolio of projects that will implement an organisations strategy and achieve its objectives is very appealing and, in theory, is bound to enjoy the enthusiastic support of top management. The Project Management Office and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) can be seen as two sides of a coin in this regard.

In a world where information is abundant if not overwhelming, customers are becoming ever more sophisticated and competitors ever more innovative. All company executives have to meet both operational goals and innovation goals. They have to both minimise costs and increase value. In other words they have to oversee continuous improvement programmes and projects. In a typical organisation, these programmes and projects will involve multiple departments and multiple functions. Having a well-funded, well-resourced Project Management Office seems like the obvious answer.

Apart from the promise of a highly effective bridge between an organisation’s strategy and the project portfolio that will underpin the successful execution of that strategy, the benefits offered by a PMO are many and varied

The Many attractions of a Project Management Office

The list is endless, but the following will give some idea of the breadth and depth of the benefits that are possible with a well-funded and effective Project Management Office:

• Management and control of strategy implementation
• Project Portfolio Management
• Holistic approach to resource management
• Comprehensive project reporting
• Timely and effective communications system
• Exception management and project rescue
• Standardised processes relating to project management
• Analysis and selection of the most effective project planning tools, project reporting tools, and project management software ranging from scheduling and task management through to sophisticated project portfolio management tools.
• Optimised project management information system
• Integration with organisation’s operations planning and forecasting systems
• Knowledge management and continuous improvement processes

Amazingly, with all of these benefits and more on offer, why is there so much negative publicity about the humble Project Management Office on the web? The answer is simple. It’s because so many PMOs have failed to meet expectations. The question now becomes: why do Project Management Offices fail?

Many reasons why PMO’s fail

There is plenty of information on the web about why PMO’s have failed in a wide spectrum of organisations across all sectors both public and private. It is useful to review some of the categories or clusters of where things have gone wrong.

• Lack of commitment from the top – setting up a PMO is an expensive business and unless it delivers results very quickly, senior management commitment can wane very easily. Furthermore, if the Project Management Office is directly responsible for key projects that are critical to the business, they can get caught in the crossfire of corporate politics when things don’t work out and the blame game begins.

• Structure and operation of the PMO – in some cases, the Project Management Office fails into the trap of being seen as an ivory tower where support resources are seen as being too theoretical and divorced from the real world of the frontline project manager.
• Lack of clarity in the services offered – there are many forms a PMO can take. Some PMO’s define their mission as being a support role defining and maintaining standards, processes and tools for use by project managers across the different functions in an organisation. They have no direct involvement in projects and are often seen as inflexible policemen of the favoured methodology such as PRINCE2 or PMBOK. Such a PMO could miss out on the benefits of pooling skills and expertise via mentoring and skills matching, peer group post project reviews and documentation of lessons learned.
• Communicating the value proposition – it is of little use if a Project Management Office has a clear value proposition not clearly articulated and communicated. This is a recipe for misunderstanding, mismanaged expectations, lack of synergy and ultimately undermines the effectiveness of the PMO.
• Project manager rebels and anarchy – if project managers believe the PMO is not helping them to deliver their projects on time and within budget with minimum stress, they will look for alternative approaches to managing their projects. A recent survey indicated that as much as 60% of the money spent on IT is spent outside of the IT department. With the advent of the cloud and availability of the most sophisticated project planning tools and project portfolio management software online, most project managers have access to sufficient funds to use their tools of choice. This is yet another reason why the Project Management Office should consider selecting, supporting and standardising on online tools that best suit their organization’s overall strategy and skills.

The PMO X Factor

There is one factor that seems to have a major bearing on the success or otherwise of the Project Management Office. This is the underlying philosophy behind its structure, roles and responsibilities, its modus operandi and its culture.

The chances of success will be higher if the organization takes a modern approach rather than a traditional approach to the PMO.

Characteristics of a modern approach would include factors such as:

• Seeing the organisation as a dynamic living system rather than a fixed if complex structure
• Having a holistic perspective with a focus on the organisation’s strategies and culture rather than tactical issues and micro management
• Emphasis on objectives, policies rather than a scientific or prescriptive approach to project management
• Outcomes driven rather than process driven
• Collaboration, rules based on guiding principles and adapted where appropriate rather than strict adherence to rules and excessive governance
• Focus on effectiveness before efficiency – doing the right things, then doing things right

These are just some of the factors representing a modern approach to project portfolio management and the operation of a Project Management Office. The attributes of the modern approach and the traditional approach are by no means mutually exclusive although a skew toward the modern approach would appear to significantly increase the chances of a successful PMO.

The modern Project Management Office

Those responsible for the success of a PMO have a huge opportunity that didn’t exist in the past. As mentioned, the most sophisticated project and portfolio management software and tools are now available on the cloud and accessible by any browser, anywhere, any time. These are products that cost tens of thousands of dollars in the past and are now available from as little as $20 per user per month. ProjectVision from Cora Systems is one of these. The online version is an updated and advanced version of the original enterprise management software and it can provide the foundation and the cement to support the needs of both the PMO and its project manager clients.

Any organisation, in the public sector or in the private sector that is considering setting up a Project Management Office or is in the process of reviewing the effectiveness of their current PMO should assign one of their best project management tools mentors to take the 30-day free trial. It is the only way to appreciate the power and adaptability of this software and the ways in which it can improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the PMO at every level.