What's Ahead For The PMO? Webinar

On the 22nd of April, Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Margo Visitacion, and Director of Solutions Marketing, Linda Roach, hosted a webinar entitled What’s Ahead For The PMO? The webinar reflects on what had previously been anticipated for the PMO in 2019, to what we are now experiencing in 2021, providing practical advice for those working in a PMO.

This webinar has given us a lot to think about – especially after the past year! Linda Roach made a statement which I found to be of particular relevance:

There’s never been a better time for a PMO.

The webinar established that the fundamentals of the PMO remain – organisational excellence, strategic alignment and operational excellence. Despite the turbulence of the past year the foundations of the PMO have stayed the same, however there have been numerous trends which may have changed the context in which we use the PMO.

Reference was made to several studies and reports from Forrester, including COVID-19 Remote Work Just Broke Your Processes: Here’s What To Do About It, PMI Pulse of the Profession 2021, as well as The State of Strategy Execution: Embracing Uncertainty to Adapt at Speed Commissioned by Planview.

Some trends identified by the research found several trends from the past year. Firstly, that despite the ongoing situation, PMOs continued to act as key business enablers, and have continued to mature, experiencing a significant growth in capability and maturity.

However, whilst PMOs have continued to develop and mature, the priorities of the PMO have changed. Where priorities previously revolved around tactical and operational objectives, it appears that the priority is now strongly focused on organisational ability, and leveraging speed to enact change.

The webinar identified some key areas organisations should focus on to improve their enterprise agility – investment in new technology, development of current skills and practices, and the adoption of a design thinking mindset.

Over the past year in particular, we have seen the necessity of incorporating new technology into the way we work – online collaboration tools, video conferencing tools etc. At PMO Learning we have adapted all of our courses to our virtual classroom, using tools such as Zoom, Trello and Miro to enhance our delegate’s learning experience.

Personally, I found the development of current skills and practices a particularly interesting point. COVID-19 Remote Work Just Broke Your Processes: Here’s What To Do About It stated:

Processes that were just inefficient last month don’t work at all today.

This past year has demonstrated that this couldn’t be more true – the PMO has been vital in organisations that have needed to adapt to new processes, and adjust existing ones to function successfully, whether that be by setting up a brand new PMO, switching to an Agile PMO, or by completing specific training in areas such as Benefits Management.

A key issue also raised in the webinar was that of behavioural change – and a recurring problem for those working in a PMO was a lackn of compatability between budgeting practices and funding processes. These are vital areas to the PMO, as they can have massive impact on commitment, and business change.

So, when looking at What’s Ahead of the PMO, it is key that we are focusing on organisation agility and adaptability – something that has undoubtedly been vital over the past year.

You can register to watch the webinar here.

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