Organizations that have a project management office (PMO) show they are moving toward a centralized management of project resources and strategic alignment to business goals.
But I find a certain level of readiness has to exist in an organization for it to create the platform for a worthwhile and cost-effective PMO--the type of PMO that contributes to the business not by simply being an extension that offers extra resources, but that works and evolves with the business.
There are key issues in organizations that usually hinder this:
• Senior teams do not understand the PMO or its purpose
• Senior management teams do not understand what project management is all about and how it can help them lower the costs of implementing projects
• The PMO is viewed as something you install without careful and business-aligned planning
In my mind, PMO implementation must be viewed and managed as a project. A company should know why it's seeking to implement a PMO in their organization, what business issues it's trying to fix and what inefficiencies it's trying to improve.
A company has to consider:
1. Organizational Readiness
Organizational processes will require changes to ensure the process flows into and out of the PMO are integrated into the organization.
2. Cultural Readiness
The organization has to assess its readiness based on current resource pools, whether the resources can be migrated to PMO teams, and how other members of community will be able to align with PMO requirements based on their knowledge, experience, skills and mindset.
3. Strategic Alignment
The goal is not just to have another department, but to have a team of people agile enough to act quickly and in a focused manner. And planning of the PMO has to include reasons that align with direct impacts on strategic goals of the organization.
But I find a certain level of readiness has to exist in an organization for it to create the platform for a worthwhile and cost-effective PMO--the type of PMO that contributes to the business not by simply being an extension that offers extra resources, but that works and evolves with the business.
There are key issues in organizations that usually hinder this:
• Senior teams do not understand the PMO or its purpose
• Senior management teams do not understand what project management is all about and how it can help them lower the costs of implementing projects
• The PMO is viewed as something you install without careful and business-aligned planning
In my mind, PMO implementation must be viewed and managed as a project. A company should know why it's seeking to implement a PMO in their organization, what business issues it's trying to fix and what inefficiencies it's trying to improve.
A company has to consider:
1. Organizational Readiness
Organizational processes will require changes to ensure the process flows into and out of the PMO are integrated into the organization.
2. Cultural Readiness
The organization has to assess its readiness based on current resource pools, whether the resources can be migrated to PMO teams, and how other members of community will be able to align with PMO requirements based on their knowledge, experience, skills and mindset.
3. Strategic Alignment
The goal is not just to have another department, but to have a team of people agile enough to act quickly and in a focused manner. And planning of the PMO has to include reasons that align with direct impacts on strategic goals of the organization.
