Implementing a PMO: 2 years on

In May of 2015 I started a 6 month contract to implement a PMO within a Financial Services organisation. Given that was 2 years ago - it seems timely to provide an update.

In "Part 1 - Advice from 551 BC" I outlined the need for a PMO, along with providing one approach that I have successfully used across a few different industries. In "Part 2 - In Pursuit of Incompetence" I wrote about the typical learning curve within an organisation, and how that pertains to implementing change (like a PMO).

Two Years On

The PMO is now well established within the organisation. At the end of 2015 we recruited two London project managers and assigned them to assist on some of the challenging on-boarding projects - that the organisation had always struggled to deliver. On-boarding projects has traditionally taken 9-18 months, and were a frustrating experience for the organisation and the client.

The most common cause of friction related to scope. The organisation had a mature product that was widely used across the investment banking industry, and the preference was for clients to take the product "out of the box" with minimal customisation. Clients recognised that the product did 90% of what they wanted (and very often things they had never thought of) but also wanted a degree of customisation especially when the product was replacing an existing system. The end result was that timeframes often slipped as the organisation sought to bolt on extra client-requested functionality.

The introduction of the project managers, along with a standardised process for on-boarding clients, allowed the scope to be more explicitly defined up front, which in turn ensured that the overall work required was better understood, and more accurate timeframes could be developed. Three further project managers were recruited for the New York office, followed by another in London.

Within 6 months it was clear that the project managers were having a significant measurable improvement on the projects they were involved with, and it wasn't just internal stakeholders that were seeing the benefit. Clients began to request the inclusion of project managers, and also expressed their willingness to pay for these services.

The Birth of Professional Services

The demand for implementation resources to assist with on-boarding quickly outstripped supply, so a Professional Services Group (PSG) was established. The PSG brought together all of the project managers, technical specialists and integration resources so that there was a dedicated team to take care of all aspects of client on-boarding.

A formal "Client Delivery Framework" was developed that detailed the best practice associated with client on-boarding. Teams outside of the PSG were trained in how to deliver projects using the Framework, and project management principles were shared via "Lunch and Learn" sessions across the organisation.

A project manager is now included on all on-boarding projects. Large or complex projects involve a senior project manager from the PMO, and smaller projects have someone familiar with the Client Delivery Framework acting in the role of the project manager.

The Professional Services Group now includes 28 people, across New York, London, Budapest, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Next Steps

By many measures the introduction of the Project Management Office would be deemed a success. Clients are enjoying a more streamlined and dependable on-boarding process, standards have been developed and propagated across the organisation, and internal resources have better visibility and alignment allowing them to improve their ability to deliver on-time. The focus now turns to continuing to improve the various processes around client delivery.

I wish you well in your own endevours in implementing a PMO - feel free to leave a comment if you want me to provide some additional detail around some of the artifacts that were developed or lessons learned.