Eileen Roden, Marisa Silva Literary Review PMO and Value APM PMO Specific Interest Group Conference London, 25 Oct 2016

1. Literary Review
Eileen Roden
Marisa Silva

2. Value (verb)
 To calculate or reckon the monetary value of; give a
specified material or financial value to; assess; appraise
 To consider with respect to worth, excellence,
usefulness, or importance
 To regard or esteem highly

3. Value (noun)
 Relative worth, merit or importance
 Monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade
 The worth of something in terms of the amount of other
things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some
median of exchange
 Equivalent worth or return in money material, services
etc

4. Craig introduces the three
primary missions that help
deliver maximum value to a
newly established PMO and
develop a strong foundation
to build on for more
advanced application of the
PMO concept.

5. The Program Management Office
Use an
opportunity
matrix to
document the
challenges and
opportunities
Current Challenge PMO Opportunity Priority
Inability for management to
have a consolidated view of
project statuses across the
organization software
Provide consolidated central
project reporting; establish project
reporting standards; implement
project management
HIGH
Lack of consistent
methodology for authorizing
projects
Define standards for project
initiation; assist with organizing
and prioritizing potential projects
across business units
MEDIUM
Inability to effectively manage
human resource utilization for
project efforts
Track and resource utilization by
resource at an organizational level
LOW

6. The Program Management Office
Translate the
opportunity
matrix into a
value statement
Opportunity Current Challenges PMO Objectives Time
Frame
Provide
consolidated
central
project
status
reporting
and
associated
reporting
standards
Lack of consistent
reporting with
standardized measures
leads to potentially
troubled projects gaining
management attention
too late to allow for
effective responses
Lack of historical data
makes project estimating
difficult (estimated 30% of
projects exceed project
budget by 10% or more
due to estimating error
Implement earned value
management reporting
for all projects over 1
million USD
Develop and implement
standardized templates
for monthly project
reporting
Establish reports
repository for historical
reporting and tracking
Short
term
Short
term
Medium
term

7. Core text for Axelos’
Portfolio, Programme
and Project Offices
(P3OTM) foundation and
practitioner certification.

8. P3OTM Best Management Practice
“By putting in place an appropriate
P3O model, organizations can
improve the delivery of business
change and optimize investment to a
far greater extent than they could by
implementing disciplines within
individual programmes and projects
on their own.”
P3O can add real value to senior
management decision making and
governance capability if it is:
 An appropriate model for the
organization
 Adequately resourced
 Interfaces with decision making
bodies
 Has services aligned with other
service providers

9. P3OTM Best Management Practice
Value is determined by the benefits delivered by the P3O and
measured by SMART KPIs in three key areas:
1. Programme and project success - eg 20% of all capital projects
completing in Q4 will be within 10% budget and timescale
2. Portfolio balance – eg spend on short term contractors in Q1 will
be less than £25k (by matching delivery to organization capacity)
3. Enhanced contribution – eg 70% of projects completing in Q1 will
have benefits tracked against the benefits realization plan and will
be reported on monthly

10. In July 2013, Project Management Institute
(PMI) commissioned Forrester Consulting to
evaluate strategically aligned PMOs.
Forrester developed the hypothesis that
strategically functioning PMOs that are
closely connected to executive management
play an active part in strategic planning and
support execution through consistent, but
flexible, execution practices. These PMOs
can positively influence business results and
deliver value at every level of planning and
execution and are seen as a critically
important part of achieving differentiation in
the market and sustaining business growth.

11. Strategic PMOs play a vital role in driving business
outcomes
The PMO Mission
 Create a clearly defined strategic vision
 Drive business success through consistent delivery
 Enable the organizational change needed for growth
 Play an active role in brand ownership

12. Strategic PMOs play a vital role in driving business
outcomes
Strategic success starts with
visibility
 PMOs carry a strategic title
 Highest level executives dictated
the need for change
 They report directly to highest
executive levels
The right approach makes all the
difference
 Set a vision while still paying
attention to fundamentals
 Make change management a high
priority
 Create a culture that embraces
organizational excellence
 Use gained transparency to make
strategic moves

13. Strategic PMOs play a vital role in driving business
outcomes
Use standard metrics to make it stick
 Simple is better
 Focus is critical
 The only actionable KPI is an
actionable one
 Measuring PMO value is difficult but
necessary

14. Strategic PMOs play a vital role in driving business
outcomes
How strategic
PMOs measure
value to their
peers

15. Research for PMI’s Pulse of
the Profession™ In-Depth
Report: The Impact of PMOs
on Strategy Implementation
was conducted in July 2013
among 533 PMO leaders who
have final decision-making
authority for their PMO.

16. • Project-specific PMOs show the highest level of
business value realization
• Just 33% of the PMOs are realizing its full potential
in contributing business value
• Project alignment to strategic objectives: top-rated
PMO function having the greatest potential for
adding real business value
• High-performing PMOs are more than 3x as likely to
realize their potential in contributing value to their
organizations as low-performing PMOs
The Impact of PMOs on Strategy Implementation

17. • “2 out of 5 PMO leaders cite lack of direction and governance as
the reason the value of their PMO is not being fully realized” (p. 9)
• “PMOs assessing performance and reporting out the results
reminds senior management of the value the PMO brings to the
organization” (p. 12)
• “PMOs need to need to speak the language of the C-Suite to show
their value and to ensure alignment with objectives” (p. 14)
Competencies of high-performing PMOs:
The Impact of PMOs on Strategy Implementation

18. The book presents the results
of a multi-year, multi-method
research program aimed at
developing a better
understanding of PMOs: what
they are, how they’re
structured, what they do, their
strengths and weaknesses.
The research included a
survey of 50 PMOs worldwide.

19. The competing values model (applied to PMOs):
The Project Management Office (PMO): A quest for
understanding

20. Studying project management
implementations for the Value of
Project Management project, three
detailed cases are compared with the
additional 62 organizations in the
value project to study how PMOs are
connected to value realization for
organizations investing in project
management. Specifically looking to
understand how PMOs deliver
sustained value to organizations.
View issue TOC
Volume 40, Issue 1
March 2009
Pages 55–72

21. Building value through sustainable project
management offices
 How is a PMO connected
to value realization for
organizations investing in
project management?
 How do organizations
increase or sustain the
value received from
investments in PMOs?

22. Building value through sustainable project
management offices
1. Build a core ideology for the long term
• No one else in the organization is more
passionate or knows more about how to
manage/deliver projects more efficiently or
effectively.
• Flexibility AND a standard methodology are
compatible concepts, as is the ability to be both
a competent leader AND manager, have both a
people AND a task focus, and manage internal
AND external relationships.
• It is better at supporting, managing, and
developing project managers than anyone else
in the organization
What you are
deeply passionate
about?
What drives
your economic
engine?
What you can
be better at
than anyone
else in the
world?
PMO valueHedgehog Concept from Jim Collins, “Good to
Great” (2001) and Built to Last (1994)

23. Building value through sustainable project
management offices
2. Pick the right PMO leadership
• Managing and leading the PMO requires strong transformational and people-oriented leadership skills
and behaviors
• Passionate, focused, and determined about what constituted effective project management.
• Low-key, patient, but confident personality
• Quickly demonstrating the proof and value of what they were advocating with quick, simple wins
3. Staff the PMO carefully
• “Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, get the right people in the right seats THEN
figure out where to drive it”
• Invest time and promote from within

24. Building value through sustainable project
management offices
4. Create a culture of discipline
• Disciplined people + disciplines action, ie accountability + responsibility
4. Confront the brutal facts, but keep the faith
• Regular, consistent, clear status reports presented to project stakeholders

25. Building value through sustainable project
management offices
 “Effective PMOs continue to add value specifically by changing and reinventing themselves - as
long as they stay focused on the principle of improving project management in the organization.”
 “Building a project management competency and an effective PMO function that continues to
deliver value is not a one-time effort, nor an overnight one—it is an ongoing, continuously
evolving investment that needs to be managed by qualified, visionary, effective leaders.”

26. Over to you . . .
 What do you think?
 How does it work in practice?

27. This presentation was delivered
at an APM event
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