1PMOStep Project Office Framework™ Copyright © 2009 TenStep, Inc

Successfully Market your PMO

Tom MochalPresident, TenStep, Inc

2PMOStep Project Office Framework™ Copyright © 2009 TenStep, Inc

AgendaAgenda

• Background• PMO Communication Plan• Marketing the value

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HighHigh--level Value Propositionlevel Value Proposition

• Companies define goals/strategies toward a desired future state

• Projects move a company toward goals / strategies• Project management enables projects to be more

successful• PMOs implement good project management

practices and support projects

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Understand Your PMOUnderstand Your PMO

• There are a thousand PMO types• Determine which one is best for your organization• Difficult to market PMO without knowing purpose

– Purpose might come from your sponsor– Purpose might come from discovery

• Current State, Future State, Gap Analysis

• Need solid foundation to push back when challenged

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The Value of Project ManagementThe Value of Project Management

• First, more predictable results• Second, better/faster/cheaper

– Reduced cycle time and costs– Improved quality of product deliverables– Better understanding of problem and how to solve

• Better estimating and scheduling

– More proactive management of the project• Communication, issues, risks, scope, …..

– Reduced time to get up to speed on new projects

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The Value of the PMOThe Value of the PMO

• Helps project teams be more successful– Develops and deploys common methodology– Determines skill gaps and areas of training focus– Accelerates adoption of project management– Helps ensure compliance with PM standards

• Provides consolidated view of projects and status• Measures project and project management value• Drives the culture change for project management• …..

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Communicate Early and OftenCommunicate Early and Often

• Communicate, communicate, communicate• Proactive communication can help change culture• Get out front with a value proposition• Deal with any skepticism early• Get people used to seeing your name

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PMO Communication Plan

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Determine Stakeholder GroupsDetermine Stakeholder Groups

• Know who your sponsor is– Do they have organizational power?– Do you need to rely mostly on persuasion to be

successful?

• Identify your PMO customer– Is it the project managers?– Is it the entire organization– Is it your business managers and sponsors?– Need to know who you are trying to please

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Set up Communications PlanSet up Communications Plan

• Determine stakeholder groups and communication needs– What information do they need?– How will you provide it?– What medium?– How often?– Who will do it?

• In a larger PMO, this could be a substantial part of a person’s job

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Communication PlanCommunication Plan

• Compliance– Mandatory, “push”

• Informational– General information, how-to, “pull”

• Marketing– Sell, “push”

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Compliance ExamplesCompliance Examples

• Status reports • Status meetings• Meetings with Steering Committee• Government required reports and other information• Union reports• Safety reports• Audit reports

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Informational Examples Informational Examples

• Awareness building sessions (not training) – Lunch and learns– Brown bag meeting

• PMO documents placed in a common repository– Tell people the information is there– Place in a location people can access

• Project information on a website

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Marketing ExamplesMarketing Examples

• PMO newsletters with positive marketing spin• Contests with simple prizes to build excitement• PMO slogans to portray positive images• Celebrations to bring visibility to the completion of

major PMO accomplishments• PMO memorabilia to celebrate accomplishments

– Pins, pencils, cups, T-shirts, etc.

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Branding the PMOBranding the PMO

• More sophisticated form of marketing communication

• Establish identity that conjures up a positive image• Associate an emotion when a person hears of PMO• Proactively build your brand, rather than have one

branded on you– All PMOs get branded– If you don’t control, it is usually negative

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First Phase of CommunicationFirst Phase of Communication

• You don’t have accomplishments – focus on awareness building– Explain purpose of PMO and how it will impact people– Perhaps separate messages for staff and managers– Lunch and learns, staff meetings, intro emails

• Get your brand out– Logo, pins, pens

• Establish website• Ask for input from the staff to get more buy-in

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Second Phase of CommunicationSecond Phase of Communication

• “Quick hitter” projects– Provide value as soon as possible

• Communicate and make a big deal out of early wins• Solicit and distribute testimonials• Communicate about harder work ahead• Ask for more input• Communicate accomplishments so far

– Problems solved– People trained– Charters written

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Third Phase of CommunicationThird Phase of Communication

• Continue marketing message, but not as frequent• Find reasons for positive communication

– Celebrations– Now content– Good class feedback

• Start to mix in long-term statistics– Total number of staff trained– Number of project managers adopting good processes– Disasters avoided– Projects cancelled

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The Holy GrailThe Holy Grail

Provide and report evidence of the PMO value

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The Key to Successful MarketingThe Key to Successful Marketing

• YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO DELIVER VALUE!

• What is the PMO doing?– Consolidated reporting– Methodology management– Training / coaching– Project Quickstarts– End of project reviews– Governance model– Organization assessments– ….

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Focus on Providing ValueFocus on Providing Value

• Focus on external value to the organization– Not internal PMO-focused value

• Validate that each product/service is providing value– Communicate the value provided

• Write value-added status updates• Seek performance feedback to ensure you are

meeting expectations• Be evangelists about the PMO and the value

provided

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Activity vs. ValueActivity vs. Value

• We trained 25 project managers

• We built 31 templates

• We have successfully deployed common project management processes

• We talked with four executive managers about project management

• Project managers rank their confidence level 4.2 out of 5.0

• Project managers report they have the tools they need to do their jobs

• We are completing 75% of projects within expectations vs. 55% one year ago

• We cancelled three projects that no longer made business sense

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Common ProblemsCommon Problems

• Staffing the PMO with poor communicators• PMO does not know what they are doing• PMO does not believe they are providing value• People are talking … about what a poor job the

PMO is going• PMO is doing great things but no one knows• PMO communicates accomplishments but not value• The sponsor cannot articulate the value of the PMO

to peers and executives

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SummarySummary

• Make sure you know what you are doing and why• Successfully marketing the PMO is a matter of:

– Creating a set of value-added products and services– Communicating purpose and value provided– Defining and executing a Communication Plan

• Focus on marketing communication

– Delivering successfully against expectations– Proactively communicating PMO value (not just

accomplishments)

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More Information on TenStepMore Information on TenStep

TenStep, Inc.Tom Mochal, President877-536-8434Tom.Mochal@TenStep.com

• Contact us via the survey or email for:• Copy of the slide deck• Certificate of participation for 1 PDU

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More Information on ASPEMore Information on ASPE--SDLCSDLC

• Software/Systems Development Life Cycle Training

• Public courses taught in over 75 cities• Customized on-site delivery• Free white papers & resources available on

our website

www.ASPE-SDLC.com877-800-5221

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Questions??Questions??