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Project Management Office (PMO)
Project Management Office - Trends in Today's Business
TeamFrame's Software as a Service (SaaS) project and program management solution delivers PMO on-demand, where and when it is needed.
TeamFrame provides an easy to use and easy to administer project-oriented world-class workplace. TeamFrame simplifies connecting practice to process and delivers the support that project teams welcome and need to achieve better project execution. And a shared data repository means all reporting needs can be met at the click of a button.
To assist Clients in establishing thorough and consistent PMO processes and controls, TeamFrame has also developed templates based on the Prince 2 and ITIL methodologies, widely used in Government and Industry. Building, sharing, using and constantly improving your own methodologies is also simplified using TeamFrame. Using TeamFrame as the hub of your PMO rollout.
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7 Trends in PMO
Based on an article by Cornelius Fichtner (PMP)
Host of The Project Management Podcast
Listen to the show at http://pmpodcast.blogspot.com
Setting up PMOs will differ between company types, but the commercial benefits of a well-managed PMO to organisations and to the PMO users will continue to grow. The following trends in PMO development have been identified by senior members of the profession.
Trend 0: Anything goes
As we all know, the cookie cutter approach does not work for PMOs. Therefore, there will never be "the right way" on how to set up a PMO - so anything goes.
However, company size will play a large part in how PMOs are set up. Large companies will be more likely to set it up as a central entity - whether completely, regionally, or divisionally centralised. Medium sized companies are likely to have a centralised PMO structure, but with PMs reporting to line managers outside the PMO. Small companies will focus on communities of practice, where PMs meet to exchange best practices and ideas. They may even get together to write their own PM handbook.
This is "Trend 0" mostly because it's a reality and not a trend. It is what already happens in most places, and we will continue to see this model grow even more.
Trend 1: Companies will require PMO experience and PMO certification
It doesn't take much research to realise this trend is occurring. There are various job-related statistics sites that show how often PMO experience is asked for in job ads. Go to any job search engine and look for the term PMO. It's great to see this demand.
This call for PMO experience will put a lot of pressure on the certification bodies like the PMI, APM, universities, and so on, to define and offer solid PMO certificates. However, until we have industry-wide accepted and dominant certifications, and a good number of PMs certified, we will continue to see the next trend.
Trend 2: Increased PMO consulting and outsourcing
While not suggesting that a company considers off-shoring its PMO, this is nevertheless a strong trend in today's market. There is an ever-increasing market for consultants who will set up your PMO for you. You outsource the set-up of the project to them. The reason for this trend is that finding and hiring the right people internally who have the senior level experience to set up a PMO is usually somewhere between difficult and impossible. Those who have this particular know-how will either be snatched up by consulting companies or form a consulting agency of their own. Thus, companies will set up PMOs as an outsourced consulting project, which includes a core in-house team of PMs with a senior level external consultant at the head. Everyone benefits. The consultant is able to sell services and the company's core team is trained on the job and brought up to the next level.
Trend 3: Improved methodologies and templates for all
This is actually a twofold prediction.
First of all, the increased training and experience of PMO personnel will drive a more knowledgeable approach towards development of methodologies, best practices, and templates. More so, their improved usability will finally remove the stigma that PMOs and their tools and templates are "just red tape".
Second, looking around on the web reveals a handful of free, almost complete, methodologies. As more and more consultancies are entering the PMO field, they make most of their templates freely available and focus on selling their expertise.
Trend 4: PMOs will be replaced by portfolio management systems
This is a very interesting trend. Everyone seems to be talking about "portfolio management systems" or "portfolio and project management systems" these days. In a way this is a little odd, because demands for portfolio management systems were early drivers for PMOs. In those days, people built not only the portfolio management system, but also a complete PMO - or "center of excellence" around project and portfolio management. This was indeed the driver for most of the commercial project management packages on the market today. With the current surge in interest for portfolio management systems, the industry is coming back full circle - back to where the trend first started.
However, this trend will not last long. People will realise that portfolio management is really one of the main functions of a good PMO. Perhaps Trend 4 should really be: PMOs will be replaced by portfolio management systems, which will be replaced by PMOs again.
Trend 5: Every company will have a PMO
In 1966 (40 years ago) only the largest organisations had computers and they where a part of finance, or any other department that required a lot of number crunching. Slowly, more and more departments and smaller and smaller organisations began to use computers until today, almost every company has an IT department that is vital to its business.
The same will happen with PMOs.
PMOs are popping up all over the organisational chart. Some are part of IT, some are an administrative arm of the CEO, CFO or CTO, and some are grassroots movements. As the understanding of their importance and business value grows, PMOs will slowly move from their shadow life into full recognition as their own department or division.
The driver behind this change is management theory. Note - management theory, not project management theory. In the near future, business administration departments in universities will realise the value of PMOs. Once this happens, a drift towards integration of PMOs into business administration is unstoppable. This will lead to the understanding that PMOs and their overall value to the business requires that they are set up as their own department.
Trend 6: The list of trends in PMOs will continue to grow
Many more people are thinking about what the future holds in store for PMOs. They will point the way, they will think outside the box, and they will change PMOs for the better.
This article is based on a podcast by Cornelius Fichtner to members of the Project Management Office Special Interest Group (PMOSIG) in March 2006.
http://www.pmosig.org
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