Simple Seven Keys to Establishing a Successful PMO
Simple Seven Keys to Establishing a Successful PMO
By Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson
Much has been written about how best to establish a PMO. There are many elements to take into account, and this article seeks only to provide what we believe are a few “pointers” to consider.
For purposes of this article, we’ll assume that we are in a situation in which we (or you) work for an organization with no existing type of PMO. It is important to fully understand the ‘Driver’ for introducing a ‘PMO’ of any type. When we say “of any type”, we mean – what type of PMO are we talking about? What does the “P” stand for in this abbreviation for a Management Office? A PMO can serve to control governance for projects, it may oversee a program of work, or it can operate at an Enterprise level and therefore be more strategic. In one way or another, all PMOs are ‘Governing Bodies’. The questions you need to ask are:
- “Do the key people in my organization agree that a PMO is required, agree on the authority of the PMO (and have I clearly articulated the benefits of introducing one)?”
- “Are our processes mature enough for us to capture the value of a PMO and to make the long term commitment required for success?”
Before embarking on a plan to introduce a PMO, you may have discussions with key stakeholders, perhaps conduct a survey, and/or hire an Organizational Development consultant to conduct an independent assessment. The bottom line is similar to the way a talent agent spots a future star performer or a coach, the next top-rated athlete. In addition to talent and ability, the organization needs to have the drive to introduce the type of PMO that you feel will provide the greatest benefit. If, after reviewing the proposal, you feel that key stakeholder support and/or your capacity to introduce a PMO is not yet in place, it is better to stop and continue to focus on managing programs and projects well. Don’t see the inability to implement a PMO as a failure of any kind – different organizations have different needs. On the contrary; one sign of a good leader is recognizing when an organization is ready or not ready to change in some way. Also remember that although many organizations have some form of strong governance in place, they do not consider or call it a PMO (it is fair to say that the term PMO is, for the most part, confined to IT organizations or departments).
Taking all of this into account, if you’re certain that introducing a PMO into your organization is a worthy objective (and have the right stakeholder backing), the rest of this article may be of interest for you.
If you do an online search on PMO’s and Project Governance, it will return thousands of hits. There is a large amount of extremely useful advice available, both free and from specialists who charge for their time. In writing this article, it is not our intention to repeat information already available; rather, we are providing some insight into what’s worked and not worked for us when initiating and managing PMOs.
- Step 1: Prepare yourself – The road ahead will not be easy. The individual charged with leading the introduction of the PMO will need to be well-rested, and able to focus a large percentage, if not all, of their time on the task of establishing a PMO. Let’s assume you are the person being asked to set up a PMO. Consider taking a vacation; charge your batteries for the task ahead. If you are in the middle of a course of study (such as obtaining a credential or a degree), you might want to finish before starting this task. If you are involved in volunteer activities that consume a lot of your free time, you might want to consider taking a hiatus or excusing yourself from the most time consuming responsibilities (painful as it may be). Can you do all that? – Good; you’re ready to start.
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Step 2: Understanding which type of PMO you need – We mentioned earlier that there are different types of PMO. A Project Management Office usually exists to control governance on projects, and to ensure that projects are being set up with the appropriate criteria. Program Management Offices usually have a particular goal in mind, e.g., to deliver a program of work adhering to governance standards. At an Enterprise level, an Enterprise PMO usually represents a portfolio of work and can, in itself, be provided with reports from divisional Project Management Offices and Program Management Offices. Companies usually start with the foundation-level Project Management Office. Maturity Models are available from several organizations to help you gauge your need.
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Step 3: Take an “It’s a Project in Itself” Approach – Make alliances early and draw up a Communications Plan; have formal and informal conversations with key stakeholders (and know what kind of influence they all have), gather preliminary data and all information you need to completely fill out a project Charter, just as you would for any other project. Ensure you have a robust Business Case and Plan. You must have the mindset that establishing a PMO is a project in itself and your time is required to manage it. Does this include you personally taking on the full time position as PMO Manager? That would depend on whether you are the appointed person for the role. The success criteria for justifying the PMO must be defined and understood by you and your key stakeholders. Don’t forget to communicate that the ‘end’ state for the PMO to be “part of the way we do things” will be a while away – perhaps at least a year and more likely two years to fully embed. Several factors need to be considered, but the bottom line is: what is the priority or importance of the PMO to Management, and how quickly can your organization implement the change? Generally, organizational change transitions can either be quick and painful, or slow and relatively painless. Management buy-in is fundamental to success. Both approaches to the speed of change (fast or slow) have pro’s and con’s; we have seen that taking an aggressive approach and ‘pushing hard’ can reap rewards, but requires a strong commitment to succeed. As the saying goes, there’s a thin line between love and hate; the same can be true about organizational change such as creating a PMO.
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Step 4: Obtain Buy-in for the Long Term – After completing your project Charter, having peer-level reviews, and gaining the necessary support and alliances to make it a success, step back and take a good look at the approach and the desired end result. Depending on the size of your organization, is your launch strategy acceptable? For example, are you proposing a new level of central control or a phased approach of having several ‘federated’ PMO’s that manage their business to a common, accepted level of process? The latter would involve having a few simple, comparable and easily cumulative metrics versus trying to get everyone to follow the required changes for a centralized PMO. Whatever your plan, be sure that the C Level Executives agree to it for the long-term. We suggest that you are conservative in your proposed results and set realistic goals, timelines, savings, productivity improvements, etc. The implementation of a PMO is often a major change effort, so it is best to have realistic expectations and support your assumptions with a calculated degree of confidence. Articles on PMO’s often refer to the establishment of short term and long term goals. This can be a great strategy as long as the focus on the short term results does not obscure the long term results and change. If you take this approach, be certain that you clearly communicate both expected outcomes, results and the timeframe of all milestones along the way. Remember, the long term results are the measure of your real success.
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Step 5: Achieve, Document, and Communicate Early Wins – Look for, achieve and communicate ‘early wins’ as the PMO starts to make changes, even if they’re miniscule. Any positive changes in project execution or unsolicited positive feedback should be documented and sent as a ‘news flash’ to your team, management, and stakeholders. Don’t oversell; you will also have negatives that, in fairness, you’ll also need to communicate (have no doubt; if you don’t, someone else will) so that progress as a whole can be accessed.
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Step 6: Stay positive through the ‘lull’ period – As with most projects and project teams, there may be initial enthusiasm but, as the ‘newness’ wears off and the work really starts to make an impact, there can be a drop in morale and ‘esprit de corps’. If you spot this lull, keep up the positive vibe. Make no mistake; setting up a PMO can be a big challenge to implement. The period most likely to require attention is during the lull period between the times during which you’ve completed, documented, and communicated your early wins or short terms goals, and the commencement of achieving the long term objectives for your PMO. It is then that the changes proposed, approved, and implemented will make a strategic impact on the prior routines, and your customers (including the PM’s in the PMO and those they support) will start to react to the impact of the change agents.
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Step 7: Know When to Declare ‘Success’ – Okay. Hopefully, after all your efforts and successes, the PMO is, for all intents and purposes, working. You have documented processes, common metrics, basic standards, common tools, a central repository, training packages, and are seeing visible improvements, such as greater accuracy of project estimates, there’s more predictability about project schedules and budget outcomes, project phases are being reviewed as part of governance, lessons are being shared and learned, and your manager and stakeholders are pleased with the progress. As they say, it’s an 80/20 rule and you’re 80% there now. Keep in mind that the final 20% of the work to optimize your PMO could take as much effort as the first 80%. This is the time that you need to look at benefits versus value and the effort to achieve that final 20%. Is it worth it to continue driving to the final improvements, or is it time to declare success and let quality reach its ideal level over time? This is not an easy decision: it’s time to scan the environment in which the PMO operates, make a decision and provide recommendations for the next steps. By the way, there’s nothing wrong with taking a 6-month pause, monitoring the results, and then proposing a ‘Phase 2’ of PMO activities. Assuming that you are successful and always focus on your key stakeholders, the backing and momentum to continue building the PMO will happen. Be very aware of any organizational changes that may take place – it is a fact of life in modern organizations is that change is part and parcel of the future. It is important to ensure that quality of service is maintained, and that the driving forces of “how you do things” are being shared across the teams that use and function within the PMO. If the PMO has become its own department and is visibly providing value, you should be set. If it is still ad-hoc and ‘pieced together’ by evangelists, then perhaps the best decision is to keep managing it as a project until you see that the embedment has occurred.
In conclusion, in any type of organization or company, there are many ways to implement a successful PMO. Different organizations have different needs.
- Whichever way you choose, treat the creation of a PMO as a project in itself and manage it accordingly;
- Decide what type of PMO you need (if indeed you choose to call it a PMO);
- Justify it with a proper Business Case and Plan;
- Think about the long-term objective and short-term goals to celebrate along the way;
- Recognise when to decide if the PMO is ‘as good as it gets’ and is part and parcel of the operations;
- Finally, remember that if the implementation of a PMO is not progressing as planned, maybe it is not the right thing for your organization (at least, at that specific point in time).
Gareth Byatt, Gary Hamilton, and Jeff Hodgkinson are experienced PMO, program, and project managers who developed a mutual friendship by realising they shared a common passion to help others and share knowledge about PMO, portfolio, program and project management (collectively termed PM below). In February 2010 they decided to collaborate on a three (3) year goal to write 50 PM subject articles for publication in any/all PM subject websites, newsletters, and professional magazines / journals. So far 29 have been written, published, and translated into Arabic, Czechoslovakian, French, German, Indonesia, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian and published on websites in 25 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, India, Jamaica, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and the USA. Their mission is to help expand good program and project management practices by promoting the PM profession, to be a positive influence to the PM Community, be known as eminent influencers of PM practices, and in earnest hope readers can gain benefit from the advice of their 60+ years of combined experience and expertise and include the expertise of co-authors who write with them on certain articles and subjects. Along with writing articles, each also champions a role in the overall writing program collaboration process:
- Gareth manages all requests for additional guest author collaborations
- Gary manages the article development tracking and readership metrics
- Jeff manages the article distribution and new readership demographics
Each can be contacted for advice, coaching, collaboration, and speaking individually as noted in their bios or as a team at: Contactus@pmoracles.com
Gareth Byatt has 15+ years of experience in project, program and PMO management in IT and construction for Lend Lease. Gareth has worked in several countries and lives in Sydney, Australia. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.
Gareth holds numerous degrees, certifications, and credentials in program and project management as follows: an MBA from one of the world’s leading education establishments, a 1st-class undergraduate management degree, and the PMP®, PgMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-SP® & PRINCE2 professional certifications. Gareth is currently a Director of the PMI Sydney Chapter, he is the APAC Region Director for the PMI’s PMO Community of Practice and he chairs several peer networking groups.
He has presented on PMOs, portfolio and program and project management at international conferences in the UK, Australia, & Asia including PMI APAC in 2010. Email Gareth: Email Gareth: gareth.byatt@gmail.com
Gary Hamilton has 16+ years of project and program management experience in IT, finance, and human resources and volunteers as the VP of Professional Development for the PMI East Tennessee chapter. Gary is a 2009 & 2010 Presidents’ Volunteer Award recipient for his charitable work with local fire services and professional groups. He has won several internal awards for results achieved from projects and programs he managed as well as being named one of the Business Journal’s Top 40 Professionals in 2007. Gary was the first person globally to obtain the five credentials PgMP®, PMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-SP® , CAPM® . In addition to these, Gary holds numerous other degrees and certifications in IT, management, and project management and they include: an advanced MBA degree in finance, Project+, PRINCE2, ITIL-F, MCTS (Sharepoint), MCITP (Project), and Six Sigma GB professional certifications. Email Gary: Gary@PMOracles.com or contact him through LinkedIn.
Jeff Hodgkinson is a 32 year veteran of Intel Corporation, where he continues on a progressive career as a program/project manager. Jeff is an IT@Intel Expert and blogs on Intel’s Community for IT Professionals for Program/Project Management subjects and interests. He is also the Intel IT PMO PMI Credential Mentor supporting colleagues in pursuit of a new credential.
Jeff received the 2010 PMI (Project Management Institute) Distinguished Contribution Award for his support of the Project Management profession from the Project Management Institute. Jeff was also the 2nd place finalist for the 2009 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year AwardTM. He lives in Mesa, Arizona, USA and is a member of Phoenix PMI Chapter. Because of his contributions to helping people achieve their goals, he is the third (3rd) most recommended person on LinkedIn with 565+ recommendations, and is ranked 54th most networked LinkedIn person. He gladly accepts all connection invite requests from PM practitioners at: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhodgkinson.
Jeff holds numerous certifications and credentials in program and project management, which are as follows: CAPM®, CCS, CDT, CPC™, CIPM™, CPPM–Level 10, CDRP, CSM™, CSQE, GPM™, IPMA-B®, ITIL-F, MPM™, PME™, PMOC, PMP®, PgMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-SP®, PMW, and SSGB. Jeff is an expert at program and project management principles and best practices. He enjoys sharing his experiences with audiences around the globe as a keynote speaker at various PM events.
Email Jeff: jghmesa@gmail.com.