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As understood in the PMP Course online - the top 3 key considerations to building a great project management office. As you read these, consider how much more effective you and your organization will be with a PMO that can plan, prioritize and perform consistently and with confidence across your entire portfolio of projects.
1. Ensure PMO support from your organizational
leadership
Senior leadership
buy-in is essential to the long-term success of any PMO. I have personally
worked in PMOs that were not supported at the top, where executives pushed their
own projects through with hand-picked project teams outside of the PMO. It led
to organization-wide confusion as to who owned the process, funding issues for
the PMO itself, and undermined the authority a project management office relies
upon in order to deliver project successes. It also challenges the PMO’s
responsibility to shepherd the priorities of the holistic organization to
ensure the resources are deployed on the right things. Bad structure and
misalignment lead to PMO failure, every time.
2. Hire the right people
What do you need?
Experience? PMP-certified project managers? Both? Emphasis should be placed on
experience. Take the time to find and hire talent who have demonstrated success in leading projects and achieving business objectives. Proven PM experience with
articulable results achieved will lead to project successes. Going through the PMP Course online to obtain the certification,
while definitely good to have, is not real-world project management. The
certification simply reveals that the candidate has invested to develop their
academic perspective. In my experience, some of the theory conveyed in the PMP
certification is valid, but some simply does not translate well to application
in most organizations. When considering two prospective hires, or weeding
through a stack of resumes, do not fall victim to biasing your selection to
PMP-certified candidates. You will be robbing your PMO team of the practical
experience that will lead to success. I know this is controversial, but I
implore you to go with experience as the number-one priority. You will thank me
later.
3. Put the right leadership in place
Organizational
savvy and perspective matter. Consider those already part of your company. Who
do people trust or turn to for advice? Who consistently gets work done?
Identify these leaders and work to pull them into the ranks of your project
team. Someone from inside will already have connections and informal influence
that will help you navigate change as the project management office goes
through the creation process and the growing pains that follow. In addition to
connections, look for leadership courage that will enable critical cross-team
engagement and the establishment of processes and policies they will stand behind.
The connection angle is good because PMO projects need resources, and project
managers will need access to information like financials and accounting input
for the projects they are managing. As the PMO team structure is established
and resourced with the right talent, it will enable the leader in place to
invest in appropriate oversight. This includes reporting on progress and
providing insights to company executives.
Want to learn
more insights on the same? Enrol in project management courses online today!