So You've Set Up a PMO, Now What?

Remember why you wanted to set up a Project Management Office (PMO)? It was probably in order to achieve better communication, oversight, methods compliance, tool consolidation, right? But you started having meetings and maybe they've devolved into round robin report-outs that don't seem to be creating significant value. Maybe it's obvious some people would rather be somewhere else and you can't blame them.

What went wrong and how can it be fixed? I learned a few answers to this over the years, working with different groups, and you may find the following considerations useful.

Project managers generally attend meetings that focus on:

• individual projects

• program management

• executive approvals

• stakeholder engagement

• staff management

• portfolio management

And those problematic PMO meetings can end up being a repetition of some combination of the above. If the PMs all have the same manager, it can easily become the staff meeting. If no other portfolio or program management meetings are happening, where else does that information get shared? And then the reason the PMO was formed gets swamped by other topics.

The solution is to make sure that there are separate meetings for staff updates (even if it's the same attendees) and portfolio management (this actually shouldn't be limited to the same attendees), etc. Next, work with the PMs to brainstorm topics related to why the PMO was established in the first place: tool use, methods debates, sharing lessons learned, aligning reporting styles, project audits, professional development opportunities, etc. Create a backlog of the list you've created, prioritize it, assign work, review progress, and once you’ve accomplished something significant, brag about it. Brag about it!

If you can't get the point where you can brag about the progress the PMO has made in creating efficiencies via standardization and normalization, if it doesn't feel like a brand with an associated level of quality that that meets expectations with repeatable processes, you may find the executives will question why the PMO exists. It could even affect how decision-makers value project management as a discipline.

So don't ignore the issue, get on it, and good luck! And if you need help, please feel free to reach out to Frameadapt.

Further reading: Building a PMO from the ground up: Three stories, one result