Volume One Issue One
White Paper by Bruce A. McGraw, PMP
WHY DO YOU NEED A PMO?
Answers to the questions you’ll field as the agent of change
Introduction
There is little debate as to the importance of good project management to guide the success of technology projects. Consequently, approximately 80% of technology project now employ project management techniques. However, for a particular class of projects — those that are strategic, large, or complex — traditional project management may not be enough. These projects would benefit from a Project Management Office (PMO). A PMO is a central mechanism for governance, improved methods and procedures, and coordination of project managementi. Although in use since 1995, PMOs still have not gained widespread acceptance by executives. The purpose of this paper is to highlight why executives need PMOs to improve the business results of their complex projects.
Types of Projects Suitable for PMOs
Often the motivation to implement a PMO is provided by the failure or near-failure of complex projects and the associated financial losses to the organization. ii Complex projects are represented by the following types: strategic projects, multiple simultaneous projects, and large projects. For projects like these, a PMO is most appropriate and beneficial to the long-term success of an organization.
Strategic projects are those that are closely aligned with organizational strategy and are essential to the operational success of a business strategy. Strategic projects typically are on a fixed schedule, support a critical capability or organizational core competency, and absolutely must succeed. In the case of a strategic project, the PMO serves as the critical link between executive vision and organizational strategy and the work of the organization.
Multiple projects occur when the organization is managing (some may say juggling) numerous essential projects simultaneously. Tracking, assigning and sharing resources, and ensuring consistency and quality across all ongoing projects is more difficult without some central control mechanism. If the organization has inter-dependent projects running in serial, it will need a powerful planner and objective PMO to succeed.
Finally, large programs, which are comprised of many individual but codependent projects, often indicate the need for a PMO. Large programs share many of the issues previously discussed (they are usually strategic and have all of the problems experienced when juggling multiple projects). Additionally, they are often multi-year projects and have extra challenges, such as competing for scarce resources (e.g., capital, people) to achieve individual project and overall program success. For example, the short “time horizons” that individual project managers often have is a leading cause of failure for large IT projects. These managers are often so involved in the day-to-day challenges that they cannot see the “bigger picture” beyond their individual project schedule. In addition, they may lack the experience to understand how long the project will really take. PMO management, by definition, is more experienced and better able to conceptually handle the complexity of large projects. They know how to recognize complexity, map out the structures of large, complex projects, and better control plans and scope on a multi-year project.
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." Johann von Goethe