Superior Professional Performance
Tags
Blog Posts
Get PMP® Certified
- Blogs
- Expiriance Program / Project Management Blog
Monthly posts about the project management world. Opinions, experiences, best practices, processes, tools, and the most important thing, your feedback* are all part of this blog. Contact us and tell us what topics you would like us to cover.
These posts have been featured on Ezine Articles, Google Knols and other top websites by Expert Author Jorge Dominguez.
Subscribe to Expiriance's Project Management Blog by Email
With the maturity that project management has in this day and age there are few companies with a PMO group and I have not been able to explain the reason why even though I can think of many.
The one reason that always comes to mind first is the lack of understanding out there of what the role of the PMO should be. Organizations all over ask the question: why do I need a PMO? Really, why? Is this just another administrative and bureaucratic function that brings no tangible results? More than a year ago I wrote “An Effective PMO” where I say that “…PMOs have become just another bureaucrat, bottleneck, rigid, ineffective group that serves the wrong purpose.” But, could this be the reason?
The main reason for a PMO is not to manage projects as this is the work of project managers. An effective PMO provides what no other existing team or group can provide the organization:
• Portfolio management support
• Information repository
• Rescues
• Mentoring
• Prioritization management
• Resource management
• Planning and forecasting
• Information management
• Processes and methodology
• Training in program/project management
• Accounting and financial analysis
• Knowledge management
• Assessments
• Program/project management certification
When a PMO is proposed, one of the benefits that is most touted is cost savings. While this may be true, it is also overly overrated at proposal time and if it materializes at all it is at a later time. What is never mentioned is the fact that a PMO is about staying in business, and this is really what effective PMOs provide through the above functions, having a policy of inclusion, knowledge sharing and of breaking silos. Difficult to quantify? Yes, it is very difficult to quantify and to sell but it is an investment that requires discipline and time to implement to reap the benefits.
Groups and even executives within an organization also selfishly see a PMO as a threat to their own existence because it means releasing some of the control they have had. Selfish because they are not looking at the bigger picture: organizations that don’t have a PMO can lose focus and control of projects.
I have seen companies giving in to the pressure of creating a PMO, create the PMO and then have the PMO slowly diluted and dissolved so that they can say “we tried and it didn’t work”. In reality, the PMO was probably not performing the functions mentioned above.
Are you ready for a PMO? Most organizations are. Don’t you think so…? Well, I do.
Previous posts.
Expiriance reserves the right to remove content deemed inappropriate without prior notice.
I also find that in tough times the PMO is one of the first groups to go - which is unfortunate since they can be an effect force in helping PMs manage a project consistently and identify best practices which will help the PMs.
Most of the organizations have realized the importance of PMO and are giving sufficient attention to implement PMO office. However in majority of the cases, PMO fails to perform due to various reasons. Some of them are not having the right team in place, not defining role and responsibility, not able to convince PM about importance of PMO.
PMO should be supported by senior management,else its bound to fail
There is something strange happening with PMO's. In fact support is something natural. Look at a sportteam. The number of people supporting a team is much larger then the team it self. The sport management believe in the support because they go for winning the match!!! why not with projects. After all projects are done for creating business. A CEO has a secretary, and a staf. Why should PM not have a PMO! All in order to achieve the best results.
An other possible explanation is that the generation of managers are coming from a period, there was only project management. No program- and portfoliomanagement, no complex projects. So maybe we heave to wait untill our generation is at the top. Just an idea.
As a PMO implementer and manager for over a dozen years, what I am seeing today in the commercial environment is a whole sale retreat from the concepts you list Jorge, and a retrenchment back to a management style last seen in the sixties.
Let’s look at just a few of the items you listed:
Portfolio management support? The focus of business is on surviving this month or quarter: Forget about where we want to be in a year, let alone five years.
Rescues? Fire the current PM. Hire another (for less money) or just kill the project for now.
Prioritization management? Business has truly gone backwards, here. Managers are retreating into their silos, hoping to ride out the recession. Remember that when stressed, we all tend to go back to what we know best. And what most managers know best is competition, not coordination.
Processes and methodology? Folks, we now live in an age where “getter done” is king. If you don’t “getter done” someone else will be brought in who says they can.
Training? Jorge, I’m surprised you even put this on your list. The bottom has fallen out of the training market. Why train when you can cheaply hire someone with great credentials.
Fundamentally I agree with the sentiments you express. I just don’t see them back in play for quite some time to come.
Personally, I don't see a need for a separate organizational unit to perform any of the functions that you identify for a PMO. Some *might* be better with dedicated support, but the potential for small gains doesn't outweigh the realities of fairly large costs.
My experience is that a PMO is bound to fail unless a highly qualified and experienced project manager is running the PMO. I have been with two companies that have started a PMO just to have it fail miserably. They thought that the only function of a PMO was to provide a methodology and support it. Meanwhile, neither organization used an enterprise project management tool, they reported project progress using either MS Excel or MS Access, they did not manage resources; in other words, the organizations did not know what services were to be provided by the PMO.
This is a shame. I set up a PMO within one organization. At first I heard nothing but complaints from people who resented having to manage projects using an enterprise system. The next hurdle was that people had to use a standard methodology which started with gathering requirements instead of jumping into the project with only a charter. The consensus continued to deteriorate until costs started decreasing, quality started increasing and timelines were more than a number on a scorecard. Then the PMO was recognized as an asset instead of a liability.
I like this post, very very interesting! Regards.
Post a Comment