In some organizations, the project management office turns out more rules, regulations and forms than the IRS. The anal retentive, nit pickers in the Project Management Office want to correct all project work, challenge every assumption and risk but be responsible for nothing. What is often the result is the PMO drives projects underground. Efforts that would normally be called Projects are now renamed and called; task forces, study groups, committees or water cooler meetings in a desperate attempt to avoid the bureaucracy of the Project Management Office.
In other organizations, the project office teaches a lean, scalable methodology that everyone can use. It gathers data is data, resolves resource conflicts and gives top management a high level view of the state and status of all projects. This is a far more valuable project office but also a difficult one to implement, as we need to fight off the "Big Brother" mentality that often surrounds the PMO.
What kind of project office do you have and how does it work
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3 comments:
Our organization now has two PMOs (cringe) one for the enterprise and one for a very large program. They utilize slightly different methodologies, templates, metrics, scoring systems. As a PM that bridges the enterprise and this program, way too much of my time is spent working through project administration rather than leading efforts to deliver solutions to my customers.
Definitely friend!
It is of course dependant on the big wig who decides "what kind" of project office is going to be implemented and by whom. Experience tells me that using a seconded project manager to head up this change is often a good start and not some governance bod who has never implemented a programme or project before.
Also who decides what kind of resources to hire into the programme office to ensure a good balance of proactive support and governance is enabled. Often the project support staff recruited into the office are project administration level and would run a mile as soon as benefits realisation was mentioned!
I am in the process of starting a PMO in an organization that desperately needs some organization. It is important to consider the existing culture when implementing the PMO model. Forcing PM Methodology on an organization that isn't ready is a mistake.
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