Comments on: New research into PMO effectiveness

By: Keflex rx.

Keflex rx. — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:52:27 +0000

What is keflex used for….

Keflex….

By: Paul Dandurand

Paul Dandurand — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:59:52 +0000

I attended the PMO CBP Summit 2008 and have since spoken with a number of PMO directors. A common thread seems that many PMOs lack power to make decisions and implement. These directors are covering more of the enterprise and have a lot on their plate. The CBP Summit PMO survey result (see link below) noted that resource management was the top priority and was a challenge among different business units (portfolio management came in 3rd). Even with resource management and other best practices, many PMOs seem to feel they are not taken seriously since they haven’t been given needed political and policy power. I hope to see the PMO become a dotted line to the CEO. This structure may be needed to really breakdown silos across the enterprise.

PMO top challenges survey results – http://piematrix.com/blog/blog/2008/08/17/pmo-survey-resource-management-as-top-pain/

By: Brian Tarry

Brian Tarry — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:06:08 +0000

I agree, Randall, and, yes, the point about solving real business need did come out clearly in your book – which I found an invaluable guide when I was setting up the IET Projects Office, and still refer to now as I develop the Office further. Thank you.

As you say, Steve, perhaps not really news to those of us in the know, but there are many – including in my organisation – who are not aware and need to be to help ensure the optimal benefits of a good PMO, and studies like this are useful ‘ammunition’.

By: Steve Rollins

Steve Rollins — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:07:28 +0000

Nice post but not really new news! PMOs have been around since the building of the Pyramids. The Egyptians realized the value in management organization for multiple concurrent projects. Somehow, many organizations are have only recently rediscovered this.

By: Randall L. Englund

Randall L. Englund — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:40:45 +0000

It’s good to see data confirming the value that PMOs offer. When I co-authored the book on “Creating the Project Office: a Manager’s Guide to Leading Organizational Change,” one point we wanted to make extremely clear is that PMOs need to be established and maintained to solve real business needs. It’s easy to just do reporting, and it’s extremely hard to do project portfolio management. Somewhere in between is a set of activities that bring the greatest value.

PMOs need to be living organisms that live and die with the needs that they serve. When all around them can attribute success in executing strategy to PMO contributions, you’ve got a good thing going. Let’s keep sharing the good news.

Thank you.

Randy Englund, http://www.englundpmc.com

By: Brian Tarry

Brian Tarry — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:56:52 +0000

Hi Elizabeth

Many thanks for this – a great post as Dennis says. It is indeed very timely from my point of view as Projects Office Manager at The IET. Your summary reflects the shift I’ve been making in the responsibilities of my PO over the last two years, which this year I am planning to make more visible and to accelerate, and I will be looking at the conclusions and recommendations carefully.

Just on the reporting, I do indeed see this as a key area for development, with which fortunately my FD and CEO concur, and I will be following this through this year.

I’ve also been following the OGC P3O with interest, and it would be interesting to hear what others think of this. Thanks also, Dennis, for the info on the OPM3 – I’ll also take a look at this

Besr regards

Brian

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:14:06 +0000

@Dennis: Thanks for pointing this out, I’ll have a look. The OGC in the UK has also just released a new standard for portfolio offices (P3O) which builds on processes to deliver business value.

@Daria: Catalysed, yes, but people will also be more important than technology in my opinion. You can put technology in place to help, but if the people don’t want to follow the processes or don’t understand them, they won’t use a tool to help.

By: Daria

Daria — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:22:41 +0000

Your know, I actually think that better processes can be catalyzed by technologies. This idea was mentioned in one of Andrew Filev posts: http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/09/08/2008/Can-Adoption-of-Project-Management-2-0-Tools-Guarantee-Success-of-Your-Projects

By: Dennis Stevens

Dennis Stevens — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:22:39 +0000

Great post. PMI has just published a edition of the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3). OPM3 supports a alignment of your project management management practices with your business strategy and continuous process improvement approach to portfolio, program, and project management. At first glance it looks very heavy, but through focusing and understanding, it is a mature way to rapidly implement organizational project management processes that support your business. The standard is available from the Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org).