Prelude

Project Management office, Program Management Office, PMO and Project office or Project Coordination Office are some of the terms which people use commonly in organisations where the projects play a strategic role.  The purpose of this blog is to understand the key expectation from the above entity and let us refer it as PMO.   In essence, there are only three major areas in which every PMO has to focus on.

Proactive Business Support

PMO’s highest contribution to the individual business comes from this area. By conducting regular detailed reviews of all projects, PMO should help the individual project managers to take the right decisions for their respective project, in an effort to achieve the KPIs of the project and the organisation.     PMO should track the early warning signals coming out of those project reviews and advise the businesses proactively by applying the knowledge and learning of the past.

The reviews should also include the opportunities, which are in the sales-cycle, where PMO can use their experience to identify the potential risks and the applicable contingency plans so that the opportunities are converted progressively into profitable projects.

Motivate Development of Project Managers

PMO’s highest contribution to the people in the organisation,  comes from this area.   PMO can help in the training and development of the current and potential project managers.   PMO can create a roadmap of training programs covering the knowledge areas like, scope, cost, quality, time, risk, integration management and stakeholder management.  PMOs can also identify the local and international events where the project managers will have the opportunity to enhance their professional networking, in addition to increasing their knowledge base.

Finally, PMO can guide and mentor the project managers and potential project managers to get professional certifications which are recognised by the industry. This will not only strengthen the capability of the project managers, but also augment the credibility of the organisation as a whole.

On-going Improvement of Project Processes

PMO’s highest contribution  to the Organisation comes from this area.   Many organisations lack in having proper project processes.  Even if they have some methodology, they are rarely updated to align with the changing needs of the business or upgraded with the ongoing development that are happening in the field of program and project management.    PMO is not only responsible for the creation and maintenance of the project processes, but also equally responsible to take an active part in the implementation of the above project processes within the organisation.  In this way, PMO makes sure that the organisation is staying and deploying relevant project processes, which are expected to give maximum benefits to all the groups in the organisation, like business, sales, delivery and support teams.

Epilogue  

Successful PMOs have a good clarity on their responsibilities and they also ensure that their responsibilities are very well understood by the businesses they support.    IT is this common understanding which makes the difference between the successful  and the less successful PMOs, as the responsibilities are clearly defined, understood and carried out consistently and repeatedly.

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