Presented by Carlos Serra, Head of Project Support Office, Church of England Presentation Synopsis: Benefit realisation overlaps across multiple projects and crosses the boundaries between projects and business as usual operations. Because of that, project team are not able to be involved in all phases of a benefits realisation life cycle. In the workshop, attendees will discuss their views and experiences on how a PMO can take a strategic role in the benefits realisation process within an organisation and become a pivotal element of the strategy execution process. At the end, summaries from the groups will be compared to a set of good practices.

1. Strategic PMO:
let's realise
some benefits!
FuturePMO Conference
4th October 2018
Carlos Serra

2. The presenter: Carlos Serra
17+ years’ experience in Project, Program and Portfolio management in Brazil and UK, having worked for Exxon
Mobil, Petrobras, Lloyd’s Register, Gazprom, Colart International Holdings and The Church of England.
Researcher. Author of academic and non-academic articles. Reviewer for the International Journal of Project
Management. Author of Benefits Realisation Management: Strategic Value from Portfolios, Programs, and
Projects.
Guest Lecturer for the Warwick Business School (UK). Conference speaker.
MSc in Program and Project Management (University of Warwick, UK)
Masters in Project Management (UFRJ, Brazil)
BSc in Production Engineering (CEFET-RJ, Brazil)
PMP® - Project Management Professional (PMI)
APMP - The APM Project Management Qualification (APM UK)
Prince2 Foundation & Practitioner (Axelos/APMG)
Managing Projects With Microsoft Office Project (Microsoft)
2Strategic PMO: let's realise some benefits!
Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra®

3. I - Introduction
10 minutes

4. Organisations applying Benefits Realisation Management
The companies above had case studies presented in conferences and/or published online.
Strategic PMO: let's realise some benefits!
Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra, MSc, PMP®
3

5. PMO: One acronym, multiple levels and roles
PMO levels
Portfolio
Programme
Project
PMO roles
Strategic PMO: let's realise some benefits!
Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra®
CoE
Governance
Control &
reporting
Support
Delivery
Processes
Oversight
TrackingAssist/advise
Enable

6. PMO lifecycle vs benefits realisation lifecycle
Strategic PMO: let's realise some benefits!
Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra®
Project PMO lifecycle
Programme PMO lifecycle
Portfolio PMO lifecycle
Benefits realisation lifecycle
All levels of PMO can have an strategic impact by supporting the benefits realisation process

7. Some examples of BRM activities performed
by a PMO function are…
Identifying and
mapping
benefits
Supporting the
production of
business cases
Tracking pre-
delivery ability
to realise
benefits
Running BRM
health checks /
deep dives
Tracking post-
delivery
benefits
realisation
Tracking post-
closure benefits
realisation
Coordinating
post
implementation
reviews
Strategic PMO: let's realise some benefits!
Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra®

8. 2 - Group Activity
Tasks:
Split the attendees into 4 groups
Identify 1 sprint lead per group

9. Identify activities
Time box:
3 minutes
Agree on findings
Time box:
7 minutes
Present findings
Time box:
3 minutes
per group
X 4
Group activity overview - Iterative process
Role of the sprint lead:
• Track the time
• Remove blockers

10. Iteration 1 – Identify Activities (brainstorm)
• Each person writes down activities in post its
• Everybody put their post its on the flip chart
• Similar activities to be put one over the other
Time box:
3 minutes

11. Iteration 2 – Agree on findings
• Group reviews the results
• Group identifies:
• Areas with heavy activity – where PMOs are contributing more to BRM
• Areas non-covered (gaps) – where to increase focus to have a more strategic
impact on BRM
• Any others relevant findings/conclusions
Time box:
7 minutes

12. 3 - Findings and conclusions

13. Iteration 3 – Presentation of results
• Groups present:
• Areas with heavy activity
• Areas not covered by the discussion (gaps)
• Any others relevant findings/conclusions
Time box:
3 minutes
per group
X 4

14. Presenter: Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra, MSc, PMP®
Website (blog): http://www.projectizing.com
Email: carlos.serra@projectizing.com
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/carloseduardomartinsserra
Closure
Thank you!
20Strategic PMO: let's realise some benefits!
Carlos Eduardo Martins Serra, MSc, PMP®