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Summary

So, bottom line, does your organization need a PMO? My answer is – if you’re serious about your projects, if you frequently or even occasionally have large scale mission critical projects or at least high dollar projects, and if you are interested in project successes that can be built upon and repea-ted – then, yes. It’s a good idea to construct a great formal project management office, train your organization on how to initiate projects within the PMO and staff it with professionals who know what they are doing. Your project success will pay for it tenfold in the long run.

Readers - what are your thoughts and experiences with PMO's? Do you have additional thoughts on running successful PMO's? Any horror stories to share? Please respond and discuss.

formal process in place to be a central repository for the leadership of those projects? Is that really necessary? The answer can range anywhere from a definite “yes” to “that would be going way over-board for our size, focus and needs." So the real answer is maybe, sort of, or it depends.

I’ve worked in organizations that had PMOs and ones that did not. Most places I’ve worked with or for since the 2000s have had a PMO in place or were building one. Were they all successful? Not even close. But they were trying… and in the case of one organization they kept trying…and tryin-g…and trying. But there was a PMO. What the PMO does allow for is this: a central organization where projects can be sent to be prioritized, led, monitored, and reported on. It becomes much harder to do those things if you’re projects are being led in units or departments all over the com-pany. And that more loose PM organizational structure can work - usually, as long as it' sin a smaller organization or only smaller projects. Once an organization matures, expands it's customer project base and is running larger projects, a more structured project management practice will almost always be beneficial to ongoing successes of those engagements. What the PMO likely brings to the table that the adhoc leadership of projects throughout an organization will never be able to supply consistently are these:

- High level oversight of all critical projects including prioritization.

- Trained project leadership available for all critical projects.

- A standardized process for leading projects.

- A standardized reporting mechanism to organizational leadership on each project and project portfolios or groups of projects.

- A repository of project knowledge (hopefully) from the good and the bad things learned on previous projects (aka, lessons learned).

- Templates for use for leading projects and for the key deliverables that are required on most projects.

Keep in mind that the leadership of the project management office is important to it's success factor. A solid PMO needs a dedicated leader - an experienced PMO Director - at the helm who is in place to guide the project manager, aid their training, provide mentoring and help remove any project roadblocks. It's usually the wrong choice to put a project manager in that role who is also running projects. A strong PMO requires dedicated leadership.

One more thing that the successful PMO must have: senior leadership support. Without the support of the organization's senior leadership funding and resources can be hard to obtain and some pet projects will be handled outside the PMO which can leave the organization's project prac-tice fractured and it's leadership in question. It needs to be an enterprise wide acceptance for the PMO to operate efficiently and effectively for the long term.

To PMO or not to PMO, that is the question. A PMO is a project management office (PMO) defined as a group or department within a business agency or enterprise that defines and maintains stan-dards for project management within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and intro-duce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documenta-tion, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.

Projects happen no matter what your office infrastructure looks like. Whether you have a PMO or just one or more project managers or even no true defined project managers, projects still happen. And sometimes you aren’t even aware there are projects going on. They’re called tasks, assign-ments, must-do’s, emergencies, new initiatives, or whatever else someone who identified the need is calling it today. In reality, they’re all projects to some degree. Big and small, long or short, cheap or expensive... they are all projects.

The question is, do you need a Project Management Office (PMO) wrapped around the process of running these initiatives, projects, engagements or tasks? Does the organization need a more

Is a PMO the Right Strategic Plan?

Article

Summary

So, bottom line, does your organization need a PMO? My answer is – if you’re serious about your projects, if you frequently or even occasionally have large scale mission critical projects or at least high dollar projects, and if you are interested in project successes that can be built upon and repea-ted – then, yes. It’s a good idea to construct a great formal project management office, train your organization on how to initiate projects within the PMO and staff it with professionals who know what they are doing. Your project success will pay for it tenfold in the long run.

Readers - what are your thoughts and experiences with PMO's? Do you have additional thoughts on running successful PMO's? Any horror stories to share? Please respond and discuss.

formal process in place to be a central repository for the leadership of those projects? Is that really necessary? The answer can range anywhere from a definite “yes” to “that would be going way over-board for our size, focus and needs." So the real answer is maybe, sort of, or it depends.

I’ve worked in organizations that had PMOs and ones that did not. Most places I’ve worked with or for since the 2000s have had a PMO in place or were building one. Were they all successful? Not even close. But they were trying… and in the case of one organization they kept trying…and tryin-g…and trying. But there was a PMO. What the PMO does allow for is this: a central organization where projects can be sent to be prioritized, led, monitored, and reported on. It becomes much harder to do those things if you’re projects are being led in units or departments all over the com-pany. And that more loose PM organizational structure can work - usually, as long as it' sin a smaller organization or only smaller projects. Once an organization matures, expands it's customer project base and is running larger projects, a more structured project management practice will almost always be beneficial to ongoing successes of those engagements. What the PMO likely brings to the table that the adhoc leadership of projects throughout an organization will never be able to supply consistently are these:

- High level oversight of all critical projects including prioritization.

- Trained project leadership available for all critical projects.

- A standardized process for leading projects.

- A standardized reporting mechanism to organizational leadership on each project and project portfolios or groups of projects.

- A repository of project knowledge (hopefully) from the good and the bad things learned on previous projects (aka, lessons learned).

- Templates for use for leading projects and for the key deliverables that are required on most projects.

Keep in mind that the leadership of the project management office is important to it's success factor. A solid PMO needs a dedicated leader - an experienced PMO Director - at the helm who is in place to guide the project manager, aid their training, provide mentoring and help remove any project roadblocks. It's usually the wrong choice to put a project manager in that role who is also running projects. A strong PMO requires dedicated leadership.

One more thing that the successful PMO must have: senior leadership support. Without the support of the organization's senior leadership funding and resources can be hard to obtain and some pet projects will be handled outside the PMO which can leave the organization's project prac-tice fractured and it's leadership in question. It needs to be an enterprise wide acceptance for the PMO to operate efficiently and effectively for the long term.

To PMO or not to PMO, that is the question. A PMO is a project management office (PMO) defined as a group or department within a business agency or enterprise that defines and maintains stan-dards for project management within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and intro-duce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documenta-tion, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.

Projects happen no matter what your office infrastructure looks like. Whether you have a PMO or just one or more project managers or even no true defined project managers, projects still happen. And sometimes you aren’t even aware there are projects going on. They’re called tasks, assign-ments, must-do’s, emergencies, new initiatives, or whatever else someone who identified the need is calling it today. In reality, they’re all projects to some degree. Big and small, long or short, cheap or expensive... they are all projects.

The question is, do you need a Project Management Office (PMO) wrapped around the process of running these initiatives, projects, engagements or tasks? Does the organization need a more

info@triskellsoftware.com www.triskellsoftware.com

SPAIN

MadridFRANCE

ParisUSA

MiamiUK

LondonSWITZERLAND

Geneva

Article

Summary

So, bottom line, does your organization need a PMO? My answer is – if you’re serious about your projects, if you frequently or even occasionally have large scale mission critical projects or at least high dollar projects, and if you are interested in project successes that can be built upon and repea-ted – then, yes. It’s a good idea to construct a great formal project management office, train your organization on how to initiate projects within the PMO and staff it with professionals who know what they are doing. Your project success will pay for it tenfold in the long run.

Readers - what are your thoughts and experiences with PMO's? Do you have additional thoughts on running successful PMO's? Any horror stories to share? Please respond and discuss.

formal process in place to be a central repository for the leadership of those projects? Is that really necessary? The answer can range anywhere from a definite “yes” to “that would be going way over-board for our size, focus and needs." So the real answer is maybe, sort of, or it depends.

I’ve worked in organizations that had PMOs and ones that did not. Most places I’ve worked with or for since the 2000s have had a PMO in place or were building one. Were they all successful? Not even close. But they were trying… and in the case of one organization they kept trying…and tryin-g…and trying. But there was a PMO. What the PMO does allow for is this: a central organization where projects can be sent to be prioritized, led, monitored, and reported on. It becomes much harder to do those things if you’re projects are being led in units or departments all over the com-pany. And that more loose PM organizational structure can work - usually, as long as it' sin a smaller organization or only smaller projects. Once an organization matures, expands it's customer project base and is running larger projects, a more structured project management practice will almost always be beneficial to ongoing successes of those engagements. What the PMO likely brings to the table that the adhoc leadership of projects throughout an organization will never be able to supply consistently are these:

- High level oversight of all critical projects including prioritization.

- Trained project leadership available for all critical projects.

- A standardized process for leading projects.

- A standardized reporting mechanism to organizational leadership on each project and project portfolios or groups of projects.

- A repository of project knowledge (hopefully) from the good and the bad things learned on previous projects (aka, lessons learned).

- Templates for use for leading projects and for the key deliverables that are required on most projects.

Keep in mind that the leadership of the project management office is important to it's success factor. A solid PMO needs a dedicated leader - an experienced PMO Director - at the helm who is in place to guide the project manager, aid their training, provide mentoring and help remove any project roadblocks. It's usually the wrong choice to put a project manager in that role who is also running projects. A strong PMO requires dedicated leadership.

One more thing that the successful PMO must have: senior leadership support. Without the support of the organization's senior leadership funding and resources can be hard to obtain and some pet projects will be handled outside the PMO which can leave the organization's project prac-tice fractured and it's leadership in question. It needs to be an enterprise wide acceptance for the PMO to operate efficiently and effectively for the long term.

To PMO or not to PMO, that is the question. A PMO is a project management office (PMO) defined as a group or department within a business agency or enterprise that defines and maintains stan-dards for project management within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and intro-duce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documenta-tion, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.

Projects happen no matter what your office infrastructure looks like. Whether you have a PMO or just one or more project managers or even no true defined project managers, projects still happen. And sometimes you aren’t even aware there are projects going on. They’re called tasks, assign-ments, must-do’s, emergencies, new initiatives, or whatever else someone who identified the need is calling it today. In reality, they’re all projects to some degree. Big and small, long or short, cheap or expensive... they are all projects.

The question is, do you need a Project Management Office (PMO) wrapped around the process of running these initiatives, projects, engagements or tasks? Does the organization need a more

info@triskellsoftware.com www.triskellsoftware.com

SPAIN

MadridFRANCE

ParisUSA

MiamiUK

LondonSWITZERLAND

Geneva