PMO: Why is so difficult to understand its principles and functions?

My first PMO development was back in 2004. During this time, I tried not to explain the full range of work and types. I implemented it smoothly and slowly.

Since the maturity and culture of project management still need a lot of improvement, imagine the knowledge level related to a Project Management Office – PMO. We still have a lot of conceptual misunderstandings concerning it.

The main thought in the mind of corporations who realized the crucial role of having a PMO is orbiting the improvements on project management data, mainly regarding costs, schedule, risks, quality assurance, communication, and many other facets, but, in a broader perspective – organizational one, that structure has the institutional purpose in aligning work with strategic goals, engaging all stakeholders and collaborators into actions that will deliver positive results and add value from investments in projects.

Reading the previous paragraph may, for those who are not aware of the differences between running a project or running a PMO, it’s really, really important here to establish a borderline between both concepts.

The PMBoK? Guide – Seventh Edition designs this line when defining a PMO as” … a management structure that standardizes project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, tools, methodologies, and techniques.”

So, in the real life of projects, the PMO unit is created to help organizations improve their culture in project management, and, at the same time, support project managers, leaders, coordinators, or whatever is the nomenclature used by the company, to adopt a common and unified standard to manage the whole portfolio of projects.

The great mistake often assumed by organizations is to assign a person to perform as a PMO. No one is a PMO. Someone is or will be, for sure, the PMO leader, supervisor, coordinator, manager, and so on.

During my professional years, I have designed, developed, created, and run a great variety of PMO types in four different industry segments. During this incredible experience, with a lot of lessons learned during this path, I can confidently list the main responsibilities of this structure. So, in a very concise and quick list, here they are:

? Build out and run the PMO and maintain the whole portfolio of enterprise projects.

? Chair the Business Systems Steering meeting to get strategic direction from the executive team.

? Support the executive team in deciding which projects are best aligned with the company’s strategic goal (Project Prioritization Schema and Framework).

? Facilitate the prioritization and management of dependencies across the project portfolio.

? Communicate project status to the executive team, project sponsors, and functional stakeholders.

? Define, track, and manage projects.

o Scope – the work that needs to be done.

o Schedule – when the work needs to be done.

o Budget – what the work will cost.

o Risk – track and mitigate project risks.

? Manage stakeholder relationships and expectations.

? Liaise with consultants, vendors, and other external agencies to manage contracts for the provision of goods and services.

? Provide leadership, guidance, training, and support to team members (project managers included).

Finally, but not even close to scratching the surface of this discussion, once established a PMO, it must be assessed regularly for checking its achievements and milestones related to its maturity growth goals. The organizational project management maturity level improvement is one of the main benefits an organization gains from adopting a PMO culture. As everyone knows, it takes time to create a solid culture, but the outcomes are impressive and very well-measured.