Challenges In Maturing The PMO

Challenges In Maturing The PMO

Implementing the Strategy

In the process of creating a PMO and conducting assessment activities and establishing a strategy to achieve the goals that were set by top management was a 6-month project.

There were many obstacles to overcome when implementing this PMO strategy. The most significant ones were listed below.

As was mentioned earlier in any change initiative there will be those who support the initiative as well as those who oppose it. The analysis was done to discover the level of support or opposition from all stakeholders in relation to the PMO's work. The primary action taken to solve the issue was to have one-on-one sessions with those who were doubtful to explain the specifics regarding the PMO strategy, collect their opinions and discuss concerns.

The PMO as with any other service department in an organization is required to satisfy the requirements of its clients for it to be able to endure and grow. The biggest challenge is to develop and implement efficient processes for managing customers. This was achieved by first discovering the customers and then capturing the diverse needs of the customers. A communication plan was established that detailed the exact timing, frequency and manner in which information was provided to diverse customers to ensure their requirements were being met.

The desire of any new department to exhibit an immediate positive impact is quite powerful. It was a matter of identifying areas in which the PMO could achieve easy and quick wins that show an impact that is positive was achieved by evaluating planned actions using an impact / effort matrix. Certain areas classified as easy to implement and with high impact were quickly implemented. One example is the speedy introduction of a planned lesson learned forum in which Project Managers share their project's accomplishments, challenges, and recommendations. These actions are documented during these sessions and then reviewed through the PMO. A growing collection of "top tips" is a further benefit that these workshops produce.

In addition to demonstrating the early positive effects, an important challenge was establishing suitable measures to demonstrate the effectiveness of the overall strategy. Highly complex measurement systems can be difficult to implement. A lot of or complex measures can prove counterproductive. The most effective way to deal with this issue was to implement measures that were focused on most important business goals. Utilizing measures that directly connect with the business's bottom line can help keep management on the right track and active. This is crucial as the process takes time to allow the benefits to be recognized throughout the company.

Enhancing and developing the PMO

Implementing and creating an effective PMO is a challenge. Making or maturing the functions of a PMO could be a greater issue. A few of the issues facing the PMO when it comes to developing and maturing its operations are now outlined.

The PMO's strategy has affected and altered many of the ways that the development organization is run and how it executes Project Management. This includes improved use of techniques and practices for managing projects, as well as an increase in the quality of project Managers competences. When Project Management Maturity increased, demands were changing. One of the challenges of The PMO was to make sure that the plans and actions were able to adapt to the changing requirements. This was achieved by continuously looking at the development environment as well as its current activities in relation to the changing demands of its customers to discover gaps in the system and fix them. The role for PMO was to develop and improve the quality of services offered. For instance, Project Planning Support Services initially designed to support Project Managers were extended and modified to suit use in the Product Management function.

The improvement of several aspects that comprise Project Management within the development company provided the PMO the chance to expand its scope and expand its operations into new areas beyond what was described in its initial strategic plans. For instance, the success on a Project as well as Program Management Systems level was the catalyst that led to expanding the role of the PMO into Project Portfolio Management.

The possibility of addressing new areas did not come only from the successes in improving the areas of concentration, but also from the realization that if the benefits of the PMO's work was not to fully achieved it was necessary for other areas to be considered. For instance, functions and actions that were dependent on as well as from development project managers offered an opportunity that the PMO to tackle. A key aspect of the PMO when expanding its mandate was to follow the same level of rigor that was employed when initially creating and creating the PMO. The new areas of focus needed to be identified that were suitable for any expanded remit. The activities of the PMO were continuously evaluated to determine the best ways of cutting back, expanding, or refocusing certain activities.

As the PMO expanded its focus areas, there was a risk that resources would be distributed too thinly for the activities to be effectively implemented to ensure a positive impact. The expansion of the areas the PMO dealt with often led to new customers to handle. There is also an opportunity that existing customers could be unhappy if they experience lower service levels. This issue was solved with easy capacity management.

In order to assist in capacity management, the activities are classified in four different categories.

• - Closed for activities which were completed and then ended.

• Maintenance, for tasks that are typically complete, however requires effort to be allocated in order to ensure they're still applicable.

• In-Progress, which refers to activities that are ongoing and require more work.

• New Opportunities, for the areas or tasks that are recognized as being ripe for being addressed.

Future activities and opportunities are constantly evaluated in relation to a variety of factors like the impact on business and customer needs in order so there is a proper allocation of PMO resources. managing PMO capacity can be a continuous issue that involves the balance between future and current activities , in addition to the long-term and short-term goals. In order to handle emergency situations that the PMO is frequently involved in There is a need to "create" additional capacity. This is done by establishing prioritization with customers of the PMO in regards to delaying the beginning of new tasks or re-planning the active work. The ability to map resources and activities to the four categories helps in this process of making decisions. The most important thing here is keeping in close contact with the customers and allowing them to be aware of the activities. This allows the PMO to shift the focus of its work and expand in new directions.

One of the greatest issues in developing and maturing the PMO is growing it's size. PMO and improving the team's skills to match the evolving organization's environment. One of the major factors that contribute to the success of the PMO is the caliber of each member within the team, but equally important is the range and the range of skills within the team. In addition to expanding its size, a lot of effort was spent during selection to ensure that the new members' skills complemented and enriched the entire team. Individuals with the same skills as those already working in the PMO weren't enlisted. Being able to have a variety of capabilities within the PMO aids in the development of members of the team by the process of cross-learning. This is crucial to advancing and developing the overall skill set that is the PMO.

Successes

The current results are encouraging and have led to improvement in the business metrics used by the PMO and also achieving other tangible advantages to the company.

Two of the most important business metrics that are used to measure the effectiveness of the PMO to measure the effect of their work are improvements in the variance of development project schedules and decreases in the time it takes to develop projects. Both of these metrics have been improved after the introduction of the PMO's plan. Other tangible outcomes have been achieved CMMI Level 2 at the end of 2002 and level 3 in mid-2004.

The benefits that have been realized are an ongoing culture shift where behaviors are shifting towards the desired culture in a variety of ways. A variety of PMO initiatives help drive this change in culture, for example the development of an official Internal Project Management certification program, regular training sessions for members of the Project Management community, and an official Project Management website.

The key success elements

There have been many motives that have contributed to the successful operation of the PMO to date. The most significant reasons are:

• - staying in touch with customers, understanding their needs and delivering what they want more from the PMO

• - identifying the different kinds of customers, and implementing the appropriate activities to manage customers

• - balancing new and current activities through simple capacity management techniques to ensure that the PMO effectively expands into new areas

• When bringing new members to the PMO ensure that their experience differs from the current team members and are a good fit with the team overall.

• Performance measurements are closely linked to business objectives particularly reduced schedule variance and decrease in cycle time are most important metrics that demonstrate the positive effect of the PMO strategy.