If you have not read Planview's "2008 PMO 2.0 Survey Report" or watched the webcast, do so now.
I've now read the report for the second time - yes, it is that interesting. I also wanted to make some notes. Let me first compliment Planview. This is an excellent work and continues to reinforce their leadership in the PMO space. Terry Doerscher is their Chief Process Architect and driving force behind the PMO 2.0 initiative, and the chief contributor to Planview's thought leadership. No, I am not getting paid, and no I do not have a Planview system. I ran a PMO that had one and liked it very much, but no kickbacks (yet anyway). On to the survey.
The survey was given to over 1000 PMO directors, managers, staff and sponsors. Thirty-three percent of the respondents were directors with PMO staff and Project managers being the next highest groups. Both the target audience and the number of respondents make the information in this survey particularly relevent to those of us running PMOs. The industry breakdown was also healthy with no single industry making up more than 14% of the total (government was at 14%).
The overall message of the survey is that the PMO is growing and changing into something more effective, strategic and has a broader range of influence than ever before. Here are a few quotes from the survey report that really hit home with me.
"PMO performance, process maturity and the presence and impact of operational challenges ... showed little sensitivity to differences in organizational size.."
I love this one because it says that you do not have to be in a big company to have a big impact! The Fortune 100 does not have a monopoly on great PMOs!
"The PMO has historically be considered to be limited to supporting projects, or groups of projects arranged in programs or as project portfolios. ... survey data indicates this commonly accepted definition of PMO scope is now in the minority."
WOW - PMOs are truly evolving into the mainstream of corporate management. Twenty-eight percent of the responders say that thier PMO is involved in "all planned work and resources INCLUDING Operations."
"Over half of the PMOs participating the survey (55%) report to a C-level executive (CIO/CTO included)..."
About time I say! This also speaks to the value of the PMO and how so many companies now recognize this. Look for this number to continue to climb.
"An average of 15 functions were being provided per PMO." Again - wow. Figure 7 on Page 8 lists 37 PMO functions performed by responding PMOs. Thirty-seven, we are proviing more valuable services to the organization than ever before. No more are we the project reporting center.
While not a quote, Figure 20 on page 19 is very powerful. The figure cross references process maturity and operational challenges. It clearly illustrates how even the most basic maturity improvements can make a huge difference. Each rise in maturity reduces the impact and severity of operational challenges. Even going from level 1 (informal or undefined processes) to level 2 (defined processes but not well adopted) shows large benefits.
There are some great pieces of information in the summary as well - even practical recommendations. There is a quasi-definition of the PMO that I think better defines where we are now and how we will continue to evolve. I'll leave you with that:
"... the unique objective of the PMO is to provide a group dedicated to supporting and integrating operational solutions across organizational boundaries."
Showing posts with label Project Management Office Support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Management Office Support. Show all posts
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Monday, March 12, 2007
Week 27 - Change
This week I inherited the responsibility of rolling up all of the IT status reports into IT release level reports – which then in turn go into the Program level report (along with the Business status). Now, I have been doing the program level reports, and not sure how I got the IT ones – probably no one else wanted these – I think that I got them because (as any consultant will know) consultants are the “catch all” when a real employee doesn’t want to do something.
Anyway, the reports were a mess. I am getting 23 separate weekly reports in about 10 different formats. Some in word, some in excel. My job then is to cut and paste these babies into 4 different release level reports. Sound like fun???
Being the lazy, avoid-work-at-all-costs type of person that I am, I tried to find a better/easier way (after shamelessly trying to beg out). Well obviously, this would be a lot easier if everyone used the same format right? Well, why weren’t we doing that in the first place? Here is where it gets interesting – the answer I got when I posed that question to my predecessor was that they had tried to get everyone to use the same format, but they wouldn’t. AH HA – change resistance.
I have to admit a bit of disappointment that the only method attempted was to give the team leaders a template and ask them to use it. The follow up was to ask them several more times. When I asked what else, I was told that my predecessor did not have the authority to get them to change. Hence nothing was done. Another AH HA – responsibility without authority !
Given that I was in the same boat, needing people to change, but not having any authority to change them I had an idea. What was it that people didn’t want to change? Not the process, they were handing in weekly reports on schedule. So it was actually the format of the report – that seems like a small item, so why resist. Then it hit me – because it meant a good bit of upfront work, and these guys have “better things to do.”
So these busy people did not want to change because they were busy, and frankly the format of a report is not that big a deal – unless you are dealing with 23 of them a week. So – in essence, the problem and pain was mine, not theirs. Since I could not force them to make the change, I took a different route. I eliminated the work.
I simply took each of the 23 status reports and copied all the information into 23 new status reports under the new and consistent format. I then mailed these out asking that they start with these as the base. So far, everyone has been either accepting or thankful. I’ve gotten no resistance or complaints.
My lesson learned here is that by doing the initial change and creating a situation that is no more difficult for the person, we can speed change. Most of the time the hard part of changing is just that the change itself, after that we develop new routines that are usually less work than the original ones – that’s one reason for change – less work.
I learned a long time ago (the hard way) that there is only one thing any of us has the power to change – ourselves. By reframing my view (changing from the view of my predecessor) I changed and made it easier for others to do so. I think that whenever we find ourselves involved in helping someone else change, the first question should be “what can I do differently to make it easier for them to change?”
Often the answer will be that we have to do a little work that “is not our job” or falls outside of the box, but if PMOs are to be centers of change, shouldn’t we lead the way by changing ourselves rather than expecting it of others?
Anyway, the reports were a mess. I am getting 23 separate weekly reports in about 10 different formats. Some in word, some in excel. My job then is to cut and paste these babies into 4 different release level reports. Sound like fun???
Being the lazy, avoid-work-at-all-costs type of person that I am, I tried to find a better/easier way (after shamelessly trying to beg out). Well obviously, this would be a lot easier if everyone used the same format right? Well, why weren’t we doing that in the first place? Here is where it gets interesting – the answer I got when I posed that question to my predecessor was that they had tried to get everyone to use the same format, but they wouldn’t. AH HA – change resistance.
I have to admit a bit of disappointment that the only method attempted was to give the team leaders a template and ask them to use it. The follow up was to ask them several more times. When I asked what else, I was told that my predecessor did not have the authority to get them to change. Hence nothing was done. Another AH HA – responsibility without authority !
Given that I was in the same boat, needing people to change, but not having any authority to change them I had an idea. What was it that people didn’t want to change? Not the process, they were handing in weekly reports on schedule. So it was actually the format of the report – that seems like a small item, so why resist. Then it hit me – because it meant a good bit of upfront work, and these guys have “better things to do.”
So these busy people did not want to change because they were busy, and frankly the format of a report is not that big a deal – unless you are dealing with 23 of them a week. So – in essence, the problem and pain was mine, not theirs. Since I could not force them to make the change, I took a different route. I eliminated the work.
I simply took each of the 23 status reports and copied all the information into 23 new status reports under the new and consistent format. I then mailed these out asking that they start with these as the base. So far, everyone has been either accepting or thankful. I’ve gotten no resistance or complaints.
My lesson learned here is that by doing the initial change and creating a situation that is no more difficult for the person, we can speed change. Most of the time the hard part of changing is just that the change itself, after that we develop new routines that are usually less work than the original ones – that’s one reason for change – less work.
I learned a long time ago (the hard way) that there is only one thing any of us has the power to change – ourselves. By reframing my view (changing from the view of my predecessor) I changed and made it easier for others to do so. I think that whenever we find ourselves involved in helping someone else change, the first question should be “what can I do differently to make it easier for them to change?”
Often the answer will be that we have to do a little work that “is not our job” or falls outside of the box, but if PMOs are to be centers of change, shouldn’t we lead the way by changing ourselves rather than expecting it of others?
Saturday, December 02, 2006
PMO Support Function (short)
Support PMO services are often referred to as administrative functions, and may be considered “menial” or “trivial”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A PMO provides support services to assist with the management of a project. The key differentiator between support and project management is that support is not a managerial role. A supporting team member will often update the schedule, run meetings, follow up on open issues and other similar tasks, but they will not have the responsibility or authority to make project level decisions. Supporting on a project is often a good role for junior PMs, showing them the processes and placing them with a more seasoned PM for mentoring.
Support is the hard part of project management and it is what often meets the most resistance. Team members do not want to take minutes, track issues and action items, produce reports and so on. As with all clouds, this one has a sliver lining and becomes one of the keys gaining project management acceptance.
If you – the PMO – perform the support function, your stakeholders can realize the value of project management without incurring the cost. This will open a lot of doors and minds. Providing exceptional project support then is one of the first steps in building a great PMO.
A PMO provides support services to assist with the management of a project. The key differentiator between support and project management is that support is not a managerial role. A supporting team member will often update the schedule, run meetings, follow up on open issues and other similar tasks, but they will not have the responsibility or authority to make project level decisions. Supporting on a project is often a good role for junior PMs, showing them the processes and placing them with a more seasoned PM for mentoring.
Support is the hard part of project management and it is what often meets the most resistance. Team members do not want to take minutes, track issues and action items, produce reports and so on. As with all clouds, this one has a sliver lining and becomes one of the keys gaining project management acceptance.
If you – the PMO – perform the support function, your stakeholders can realize the value of project management without incurring the cost. This will open a lot of doors and minds. Providing exceptional project support then is one of the first steps in building a great PMO.
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