Dos and Don’ts of building effective Project Management Offices

The common paradox most PMOs face is that instead of being looked upon as enterprises that set standards and lead company vision, they end up being used as a library of rulebooks and procedures. And while companies might be clear about the regulatory role their PMOs may play in terms of defining ‘best practices’, they are seldom clear about the influence and direction that that the office is supposed to exert on projects to ensure continual organizational improvement.

To help sidetrack this inevitable dilemma, we have put together a list of dos and don’ts which we hope you will find useful whether you’re building or growing your own PMO

Do’s

•    Build authority with trust: If you are in charge of building a package of standards for the organization, make sure you pay attention to the way business is being done. Interview subordinates who implement processes to understand their need for process, order and regularity. Don’t go in stomping rules and guidelines arbitrarily.

•    Keep it practical:  start your project building exercises with basic practical stuff like charters, action items and issue lists. Be friendly, helpful and sensitive to emerging project needs. It’s the best way to influence growth and advancement within the organization.

•    Share responsibility: When stakeholders may agree that tools and processes are not responsible for project failure, make sure the project manager does not get all the blame. Instead PMOs must proactively address the causes of failure by holding post-project reviews to learn what went right or wrong. While submitting project assessment reports, take care to include methodology, relevant PMO documents for reference along with examples of well-done work in the past.

•    Grow talent: Organizations that value performance know that learning and development is essential to business growth. It is up to PMOs to seek training providers and communicate the importance of alignment of their programs with business objectives. Providing initiatives and rewards for achievements is the best way to provide a career path for advancement to talented project managers.

Don’ts

•    Don’t lose focus: By failing to see the forest for the trees, organizations often fail to streamline their project portfolios thus banking on short-term low gain endeavors. PMOs must provide an integrated viewpoint to the company about its projects. While delegating projects to project managers, PMOs must remember to discern the urgent from the important.

•    Avoid process overload: While structured repeatable processes are important for project success, PMOs must sensitive to signs of bureaucracy signaling costly overheads experienced by those executing the project. It is essential that processes be streamlined in order to be really effective.

•    Don’t Presume: Program managers who are in charge of implementing policies assume that all projects operate on an equal state of consciousness about processes. To avoid potential conflicts between organizational and project culture, PMOs must help popularize standards by having program managers make presentations and organize workshops that demonstrate value. Processes can also be made accessible for all over the company’s intranet, where a select list of glossaries and examples can help demystify some obscure terms and methodologies.

•    Don’t be afraid of leading: In times of crisis, projects often resist a restructuring of their environments. This is an example of a situation where the PMO needs to take tough, unpopular decisions. PMOs need to be involved in critical decision making because most of the time, the authority simply does not exist at the level of the project manager.

We would like to hear more from project managers out there who have a favorite PMO solution or experience to share.