PMO-An Organization Delivering Operational Business Values

PMO is a business entity that can play different roles in an organization. It is called a project management office when it equips organizations to consistently do things in the right way. It can also work on running projects in proper order when it is called a program management office. It is called a portfolio management office when ensuring organizations are doing the right things. Here, a program means a set of projects, and a portfolio implies a set of programs. ​ PMO operations have the following focuses: 

• Do things right. Project execution needs to be efficient. PMO standardizes the execution processes and incorporates the best practices. The project execution routines include continuous documentation, reviews, reports, and process improvements. 
• Run in the proper order. Program management orchestrates projects to gain optimized efficiency. 
• Do the right thing. Portfolio management aligns every project with the organization's strategy and drives results. PMO defines and calibrates projects to support strategy.

PMO practices should be centered around solving business problems which can include:

• Defining, advocating, enforcing, and governing project standards. The standards recommend project management methodologies, tools, document templates, workflow processes, and a knowledge base to train the organization.
• Implementing change management
• Balancing project timeline, features, and resources
• Building a PMO team with mentoring and coaching
• Explaining the corporate strategy
• Calibrating projects and portfolios per business objectives

Statistics show that 41% of organizations said that their biggest challenge is demonstrating the added value of the PMO [1]. To avoid pitfalls and demonstrate values, PMOs should focus on value creation and avoid:

• Introducing too many overheads. 50% of respondents in a survey said that their biggest challenge is that PMO processes are seen as overhead. [1]
• Avoid running like a bureaucratic engine busy with templates, tools, and processes. 
• Gather too much information without clear benefits

The PMO practice focuses on business problems, value creation, process creation,  and people engagement. A mature PMO also creates an agile, efficient, and collaborative working culture and drives tangible results. ​​

Reference 

1. Project Management Office Oversight and the Need for PMO (YouTube) 
2. Project Management Statistics 2022 - Everything You Need to Know​, May 22, 2022
3. PMO Project Management Engagement Model ​​(Related Reading)
4. Bailey Reiners, 71 Impactful Company Core Values Examples, May 31, 2022
5. https://business-driven-pmo.com 
   

Questions to Ask When Starting a PMO Office

• What are the business problems and most essential pain points that PMO can help? 
• (To Business Leaders) What are the top three goals to reach for the year? 
  
• Did I fully understand who are my stakeholder and understand each one of them including their needs, their pinpoints, their prioity and their concerns? 
• What should be PMO's initial laser focus? 
• What is the result or value that PMO can provide? 
• Is the PMO plan boiling the ocean by introducing too much overhead or losing focus? 
• Did we set the right expectations with PMO business stakeholders? Did I overcommit? 
• Which effort can show results quickly? 
• Can I show rather than tell the result to my stakeholders? 

Editor's Note: PMO is generally set up for businesses. However, we also found that PMO concepts and best practices apply to everyone's life management. For example, we can use portfolio management skills to find the right things to do and use project management skills to stay productive and lead our efforts to desirable results. You can search for the Personal PMO keyword to share the related tips and discussion.