What is the Burning Need for a PMO?

That’s the question that anyone who is just about to embark on setting up a PMO should be able to answer.

It’s having a clear answer – or even several different answers from different people – that drives what kind of PMO is going to get set up.

One problem we see, over and over, is the same type of PMO being set up even though it’s not they type of PMO required by the business.

The burning need is not uncovered at the outset.

Why does it happen?

Unfortunately a lot of the time it’s the person who’s job it is to set it up. There is an over tendency to set up a PMO in the exact same way the last one they set up was done. If that approach worked, why not just repeat that and set it up in the same way?

If you’re working in PMOs, chances are you’re already aware that no two PMOs are exactly the same. How can they be the same? No two organisations are the same – doing the same projects within the same cultural constraints and politics.

So why are there too many PMO implementations being done in a templated, cookie-cutter style?

Education Helps

There’s no doubt about it – education in PMO set-up does help. There are approaches which we call the textbook-approach.

PRINCE2, for example, is a textbook-approach to delivering a project. People gain education or knowledge from the course, yet they don’t then go on to deliver projects in a textbook-approach. They use experience; gut instinct; common-sense and a behavioural approach alongside their textbook knowledge.

They’ve learnt a best practice approach, yet it’s tempered when it comes to actually delivering projects day in and day out.

So back to PMO. It helps to understand what the best practice approaches are to setting up a PMO. If you’re going to be setting up a PMO, it should be the basic requirement.

You need to understand why that best practice exists – what it is and more importantly, how it can be used in the workplace. That means, how can it be flexed and changed? How can the approaches be used differently depending on the answers to the burning question.

Setting Up a PMO

A textboox-approach to Setting Up a PMO is featured in P3O, considered to be the best practice approache to PMO implementation.

Practitioners interested in developing their knowledge and education can opt for a certified course like this, or there is another option which PMO Learning has developed this year.

There is a two-day course called Setting Up a PMO which focuses on setting up a PMO using a roadmap approach.

A roadmap approach enables a PMO practitioner to develop their own thinking about how they approach setting up the many different types of PMOs that exist.

It’s about understanding and assessing at each point in the road before making a decision and moving to the next point.

Each step along the road is about making sure the real need for the PMO remains front and centre – locked in to ensure that by the end of the journey, it’s a PMO that will be successful.

The most important thing about a roadmap like this – it can be used for any type of PMO set up; in any kind of organisation.