Effective PMO Setup: How Serious Are You?

I have been asked recently to set up a PMO (Project Management Office) for a Government Organisation.

Naturally, when someone contacts you and says “I’ve got an opportunity for you in the area of PMO would you be interested?” you get excited, especially when like me, you’re a passionate driver and believe and see the logic in the PMO function.

But before committing I had several questions to ask to understand further details, most of all the motivators behind the decision to create the PMO, and then of course what were the customer’s expectations and what sort of support would I get.

Why do you want to set up a PMO?

If it just happens that your organisation has been audited due to some serious underperformance and the recommendations coming out of the audit are to set up the PMO, that’s fine.

You have to start somewhere and what I would do as the first step is to check the audit report and run my own Maturity in Project Management (MPM) Assessment to clearly understand the situation.

However, before you even start that, before you deep dive into the task of assessing the “as is”, you need to understand the drivers and motivators. And that’s exactly what I’ve done through the series of simple questions:

1. Is this in line with the business strategy?
2. What is the vision?
3. What is the Executive Management appetite for this central function?
4. What will be the PMO functionality and purpose?
5. What is the organisational readiness for the CHANGE that will have to be managed in parallel?
6. What does successful PMO look like and whom does it matter to?

These are just the top-level questions to “measure the desire” of the organisation for the PMO.

However, all of these questions need to be asked at that early stage and for me, these are the vital indicators of what lies ahead and will also help me to decide if I wish to accept or reject a job.

And in this particular instance, I have rejected the job!

What’s Worth Doing is Worth Doing Right!

Since I was a little girl, my father taught me one thing: What’s worth doing is worth doing right!

He’d ask me to vacuum the house while I’d much rather be riding horses in the fields. So I’d do a poor job of it to get it out of the way, except that it backfired: I got told off, I had to do it all over again and this time properly, and if I was unlucky, I’d be given another task to demonstrate that I was learning my lessons.

So how serious are you about the PMO?

When the answers to your questions are vague and you hear things like “we are just looking for some junior to see how it goes,” the alarm bells should start to ring.

The problem you are facing is once you start the process of assessing the situation, generating awareness amongst all the stakeholders, building up the urgency of the task to gain support, you will cause more damage if you don’t succeed than if you haven’t started at all.

Do it right the first time and save!

You need to invest initially:

1. Money
2. Time
3. Resources

This is to ensure that the concept and the set up of your PMO will deliver the desired outcomes ALIGNED to the organisational vision and strategy. One does NOT fit all, each organisation is different and so you need to consider the organisational structure, the environment, the purpose, the type of projects, the maturity levels of project delivery and so on.

One of the biggest topics you will face while building up your PMO is the stakeholder management. After all, your success depends on the stakeholder’s satisfaction, as they are all your customers. And there are many within an organisation and some are more resistant to change than others!

So, would I hire a junior for this huge and responsible task?

Definitely not!

To me, this is a highly responsible job that requires experience and special capabilities. It is a project in its right, and during all of the phases you will have to rely on some clever change management to get all stakeholders on board and generate maximum support. Therefore the key is to look for someone who has qualifications and experiences in those areas.

Invest Only When You Are Serious

A PMO that’s successfully integrated into your business will definitely save you dollars on your bottom line through much higher project success rate down the track.

The benefits in a long run are huge, but for that the PMO function has to be accepted within the organisation and supported at all levels.

So think twice!

Are you serious and are you asking yourself the right questions?

Are you coming up with the positive answers?

If your checklist ticks most of the boxes, you’re most likely ready for the investment and will hopefully look for the right person to drive this challenging, yet when delivered successfully, very rewarding project for your organisation!