The New One-Page Project Manager: Communicate and Manage Any Project With A Single Sheet of Paper, 2nd Edition

Chapter 11

The Project Management Office

Two elements of execution, as defined by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan in their book Execution—The Discipline of Getting Things Done (New York: Crown Business, 2002), are

• A discipline of meshing strategy with reality, aligning people with goals, and achieving the results promised
• The way to link the three core processes of any business—the people process, the strategy process, and the operating plan—together to get things done on time

We have found in our teaching, consulting, and personal management experience that a powerful and effective project management office (PMO) using one-page project managers (OPPMs) provides the necessary champion and cohesive catalyst required to mesh strategy with execution, align people to plans, and therefore link people to strategy to action—and it allows it to be done in a “seriously simple” way.

Every project is run from some place. A small project could be run from someone's desk and might be one of several responsibilities of that person. Or a project could be coordinated from a central office devoted exclusively to corporate project communication. Or a very large project could have its own office.

The PMO is the person or group of people who have at least eight high-level, company-wide project responsibilities, all focused on seeing that projects are set up and managed for success.

This chapter is about how the PMO can use the OPPM effectively to address each of these eight project responsibilities. ...