Thursday, January 01, 2009

the PMO in 2009

So a question for all of you.

Where do you think the PMO (your PMO in specific) will go in 2009? Will the global economic situation cause a rise in the use of PMOs to gain efficiencies, or will PMOs be seen as administrative overhead and mercilessly cut? Let us know how you are fareing and your thoughts on how best to take advantage of the challenges we face in 2009.

Thanks!

4 comments:

Cornelius Fichtner, PMP said...

Derry,

What an interesting coincidence! I attended the PMO Summit 2008 in Florida last month and one of the PMO trends that I brought home from there was the EMO - the Everything Management Office.

I am generally saying that the PMO will assume additional responsibilities throughout the organization and in the end it will manage "everything" in the company that deals with repeatable processes.

You can find the complete post on my blog here: The EMO - The Latest Trend For PMOs

The biggest issue that I can see with that trend is the fact this EMO shift may lead to an overly bureaucratic approach and we may not take advantage of the skills that our employees bring to the table because they simply follow "a script". Thus, the EMO has to walk the fine line of ensuring that it is guiding and not prescribing the work.

Until Next Time,
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
The Project Management Podcast

Jose said...

I think the future of the PMO depends on the industry, as opposed to the economy.

A brief example:
One of my clients is in the financial services industry, and their business has suffered miserably over the past 8 months. They just disbanded their entire PMO, laying off a director plus a handful of PM's.
On the other hand, a client of mine in the managed healthcare arena is actually staffing in the PMO while giving greater visibility and influence in the firm.

Obviously, this is a limited sample size. However, I believe that many firms view the PMO as a discretionary service. Valuable, for sure. But ultimately discretionary. As such, companies that can afford a PMO will see the benefits and make the investment. However, it will be one of the areas targeted when times get lean.

Respectfully submitted,
Jose Roig
President
Roig Consulting
Please visit the Technology Consulting Blog

Anonymous said...

I am going to have to disagree to some extent with the approach of viewing the PMO as a resource to be affected in lean times.

The PMO is not a resource or allocation of resources; it is both a way of doing business and importantly, also a business in itslf. Whether times are good or bad the true driver of the PMO's survival as an organizational entity is whether the PMO as a business is successful.

My recommendation to those who have a PMO is to look at it as a practice within the firm that you need to develop a clientele for. Executives who receive reports and metrics from the PMO are not stakeholders... they're clients.

The PMO leader needs to be an intrapreneur.

It's a fundamentally different way of thinking and the rewards are also fundamentally different.

Unknown said...

2009 has been dealt with but now if we talk about 2010 then I think depending upon industrial sector it has maintained its state of level and consistently it will.
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