The Project Book

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Every time I give a speech or run a training session on sponsorship with senior managers I’m consistently asked the same six questions, so I thought I’d end by including some answers to them.

1. Should we set up a Project Management Office (PMO)?

The PMO is a product of the early 2000s. They were designed to ‘enforce’ methods to provide consistency of delivery and to ensure that senior managers were given the right information at the right time to make the decisions necessary to deliver against business strategy.

Except, in most cases, that didn’t happen. Worldwide project delivery rates stagnated, and researchers found no proof whatsoever that this approach added even 1 per cent to outcome delivery. Indeed, KPMG in New Zealand found that only 25 per cent of PMOs were effective in supporting change.

The PMO has become a honeypot of framework diagrams, process flows, templates, email reminders and self-important people demanding a ‘seat at the table’. Yet, with the right person leading it, the PMO can add value to the way an organisation gets its projects delivered. The person needs to be an experienced project manager who understands what it takes to support the business of getting things done by placing emphasis on:

• helping people across the organisation build a new mindset and (real) skill set that fosters agility of delivery and thinking
• building talent profiles to facilitate the swift mobilisation of teams
• creating visual spaces where strategic ...