Project Management Office (PMO)…why have one

Attributes associated with building the case for a PMO include:

·         Implementation of a project management methodology (if in doubt use PMBOK ^©)

·         Leading organization changes in promoting project management culture (no more “flying by the seats of your pants”)

·         Institutionalizing organizational processes (COBIT ^© can at least get you started)

·         Improving overall performance (measure, calibrate, pick two things to perform, repeat as necessary)

“Through 2004, IT organizations that establish enterprise stands for project management include a project office with suitable governance, will experience half the major project overruns, delays, and cancellations of those that fail to do so.”  Source:  “The Project Office: Teams, processes, Tools,” August 2000, Gartner Research.  Although dated, not much has changed. 

Consistency is the key.  It takes time to realize a real Return on Investment (ROI) from a PMO.  Just getting one up and running is simply another project, but also entails matching the right organizational structure to meet the evolving needs of the PMO.  By organization I mean that a PMO is composed of two distinct talented groups.  One that adheres to project management methods and spends the majority of their time listening, gaining consensus on requirements, cajoling, nagging, mediating, writing and talking.  The other group is the tool group.  Whatever tool you pick, it is best not to try and force one person to be a tool wizard and a professional project manager.  They end up not doing a good job at either!

PMO Functions:

·         Mentoring / coaching / training

·         Process development and standards

ü  Project development lifecycle

ü  Project management methods

ü  Documentation standards

ü  Project selection (i.e., portfolio)

ü  Risk assessment

ü  Change management

ü  Scheduling

ü  Time reporting

·         PM methodology assessment improvement

·         Organizational and staff certification (OPM3, PMP)

·         Project coordination and administration

·         Resource management

·         Integration and release management

·         Portfolio management

·         Program management

Project Administration:

·         Schedule maintenance

·         Status report distribution

·         Project document distribution

·         Project workbook maintenance

·         Project repository administration/maintenance

·         Software tool

Technorati

Project Failure Avoidance

Senior executives frequently bet their companies on Mergers & Acquisitions, major product releases, strategic IT projects, organizational restructurings, fast-paced downsizings, outsourcing, or aggressive quality initiatives. These bets rarely play out as anticipated. With estimated failure rates ranging from 72 to 91%, companies’ collective inability to execute on major projects costs hundreds of billions of dollars a year  Business and project leaders can substantially improve their organization’s ability to execute projects and initiatives by paying to attention to these common attributes of a failed project.

• Deadlines and resources
•  Sponsors
• Priorities
• Communication
• Team work 

The results show that failures can be both predicted and prevented.  Most projects fail for reasons that are widely perceived and understood, if they were just discussed more openly along the way. The best predictor of the future of a project is the quality of just a handful of early warning signs that must occur along the way. The five crucial attributes of a pending failure are address the problems of:

1. Fantasy Deadlines – when a project is set up to fail by setting deadlines or resource limits with no consideration for reality.
2. AWOL Sponsors – when sponsors don’t provide leadership, political clout, time, or energy to the project.
3. The whim of changing priorities - when powerful people skirt or manipulate the priority-setting process.
4. Ostrich and the sand - when team leaders and members don’t admit when there are problems with the project, but instead wait for someone else to speak up first.
5. Lone wolves – when team members are unwilling or incapable of supporting the project.

Anytime an organization launches an initiative that entails high levels of interdependence among levels and functions, there will be difficulties. But these five problems indicators are more common than most senior leaders realize. 90% of project managers routinely encounter one or more of these five concerns and nearly 20% of projects are plagued by all five. And yet these problems are not a death sentence for projects.

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