Project Management Office (PMO)

The Project Management Office (PMO) is the department or group that defines and maintains the standards and processes related to project management within an organisation.

Is an Agile PMO Possible?

It often seems that a lean, agile development environment will always be at odds with the structure and constraints of the PMO. However, the agile PMO can bridge the gap between PMBOK process flows and CMM best practices and help organisations to carry out projects more successfully. While it does require a bit of change management, it is not as impossible as it seems and the benefits far outweigh the effort.

There's a Reason IT PMOs Fail

Only a third of IT PMOs will ever work, and the rest of 'em won't. For the mathematically challenged, such as myself, that means that two-thirds of all the IT project management offices (or programme management offices, or whatever you want to call them) will fail. Nothing scientific in these numbers, mind you, and I didn't do an extensive survey, this is just what I've seen myself, and you're going to have to take it (or not) on faith.

Building a Project Management Office

In today's complex business environment new projects are constantly being developed as organisations seek new ways to reduce costs, improve processes, increase productivity, and build their bottom line. Managing these diverse projects along with their people, resources, technology, and communication is a difficult endeavour for which the risk of failure is often far too high. An effective solution, created to establish a more centralised management structure for large groups of projects, is the Project Management Office (PMO).

How to Avoid Being Seen as 'Project Management Overhead'

We are currently facing a challenging economic climate which is forcing many companies to cut costs in order to survive. There are different ways of doing this, and unfortunately, a popular one is slashing employees, projects and even entire departments. Consequently, almost everyone in the business world is now looking for a way to justify their work to upper management and other stakeholders in order to be spared.

Key Steps to Implement a Project Management Office

Launching a Project Management Office (PMO) is just like any other organisational change project and should be approached as such using the key steps outlined in this article. According to Gartner (2008), investments in a PMO as a work management discipline can provide common planning and reporting processes and bring structure and support to evaluating, justifying, defining, planning, tracking and executing projects. It also encourages the resolution of conflicts caused by limited resources and other constraints.

The Successful Project Management Office

The varieties of Project Management Office (PMO) models seem nearly endless. I've joined companies that already had them, helped organise one for a company I was already at, and consulted with smaller organisations who were just trying to get their PM processes off the ground. I believe there is no guarantee for success with any model. It's how the organisation values the PMO and the role of the PM, in general, and how the supporting organisations interact with the PM that plays a significant role in the PMO organisation's success.

The Phased Approach to Project Management Implementation

If you are thinking about using a project management consulting company to assist your organisation with implementing a Project Management Office (PMO), there are a couple of important factors that you should consider when choosing the right firm.

The 3 Different Types of Project Management Offices

There are 3 basic types of Project Management Office (PMO) organisations, varying in the degree of control and influence they have on projects within the organisation. You will need to determine which type you need to establish in order to have an effective project office.

Using a PMO to Achieve Results in Your Agency

Government agencies continually strive to produce better results. Distressingly, recent surveys have found that half of all projects exceed budget, are completed past scheduled deadlines and do not meet original business objectives. One solution to this problem that has been slow to gain popularity in the public sector is the implementation of a Project Management Office (PMO).

Why PMO's Fail?

There is a way of doing things and a way of getting things done and they're not always the same. Most organisations of size have a Project Management Office (PMO) charged with defining processes and best practices (the way of doing things). These organisations typically sell the processes to a CIO to get executive-level support and then use that support as their stick to make sure the processes are followed. These people are often referred to as the PMO Cops by project managers.

 Avoiding the Project Management Obstacle Course

Let's get straight to the point, project management by form filling is not an effective way of managing projects. These days many organisations and individual's whole project management strategy revolves around becoming slaves to a methodology. Don't get me wrong, there are many very good methodologies out there and they all have their part to play but it's not the be-all and end-all of project management.