The document discusses the purpose, challenges, and critical factors for effective implementation of a Project Management Office (PMO) based on the case of AtekPC.
The main purposes of a PMO are to deliver successful IT projects, build project management maturity, keep stakeholders informed, and serve as the authority on project management practices. However, AtekPC's PMO faced challenges like lack of executive support, unclear role and responsibilities, cultural resistance to change, and lack of departmental support.
Critical factors for effective PMO implementation include having a structure that reports to senior executives, defining responsibilities clearly, combining centralized and decentralized approaches, and gradually shifting company culture to accept new project management processes and the PMO over time
The document discusses the purpose, challenges, and critical factors for effective implementation of a Project Management Office (PMO) based on the case of AtekPC.
The main purposes of a PMO are to deliver successful IT projects, build project management maturity, keep stakeholders informed, and serve as the authority on project management practices. However, AtekPC's PMO faced challenges like lack of executive support, unclear role and responsibilities, cultural resistance to change, and lack of departmental support.
Critical factors for effective PMO implementation include having a structure that reports to senior executives, defining responsibilities clearly, combining centralized and decentralized approaches, and gradually shifting company culture to accept new project management processes and the PMO over time
The document discusses the purpose, challenges, and critical factors for effective implementation of a Project Management Office (PMO) based on the case of AtekPC.
The main purposes of a PMO are to deliver successful IT projects, build project management maturity, keep stakeholders informed, and serve as the authority on project management practices. However, AtekPC's PMO faced challenges like lack of executive support, unclear role and responsibilities, cultural resistance to change, and lack of departmental support.
Critical factors for effective PMO implementation include having a structure that reports to senior executives, defining responsibilities clearly, combining centralized and decentralized approaches, and gradually shifting company culture to accept new project management processes and the PMO over time
Mission: Deliver successful IT projects Build Project Management maturity at the organizational level Keep Management and Project Community informed Serve as the organizations authority on IT Project Management practices Purpose: The purpose was to have consistent project practices as formal documentation and plans for PMO did not exist Responsibilities: At present the responsibilities limited to IT projects. Te duties of PMO were divided into 2 categories: 1) Project Focused (consulting, mentoring, and training) ** Primary means used to prove PMO merit; 2) Enterprise Oriented (portfolio management, PM standards, methods, and tools) 2. What are the main challenges and obstacles in implementing a PMO? I see a lot of headaches for the CIO when implementation a PMO in the enterprise. Regardless of the technical challenges during the implementation, the core of the problems seems to be that the PMO is lacking organization support, from the top to the bottom. There is not enough executive stakeholder support; there is no visibility of the program; there is a conflict of interests within departments; people are reluctant to change the ways they have been doing things. The PMO vision and role is not clearly defined. There is no complete agreement regarding its purpose, its responsibilities, and its authority. It has slowly evolved. Not enough executive stakeholder support. Not all of the senior executives were equally enthused about the PMO concept. Authority was primarily being developed bottom-up through the value of the PMO services. Even this was limited to those functional areas and IT areas actively engaging the PMO. There was no current plan to enforce usage at the enterprise level. Corporate culture limitation. Corporate cultural change had been informal. They never treated PM, PMO, formal processes seriously. Normal Operation Processes and function units have to change their culture, behaviour, and even habits if they work with a PMO. No support from department management. Department managers may see no value in introducing a PMO in their projects. Also there are political conflicts as well, with managers worrying about the PMO getting to much authority.
3. What structural and governance mechanisms are critical to
effective PMO implementation? A successful structure can range from simple project data reporting to a centralized structure that takes the lead on every aspect of project management. A PMO that is organizationally based versus departmentally based is more likely to get executive support. A de-centralized PMO structure could have difficulty performing a strong role when using matrix-managed resources. A centralized structure that does nothing more than report status will add too much overhead to the institution. The more responsibility assigned to project office, the higher it should report in the institution. The most robust structure usually requires reporting directly to the President or CEO of the institution for maximum effectiveness. For staff allocation, a combination of the two approaches will require the company to hire an individual for PMO implementation. Along with that the current managers can be trained for the PMO implementation to make it effective without hiring new staff as the company has limited resources available. 4. How much PM is enough PM? How much PMO support is enough PMO support? AptekPC seems to have an informal pattern of communication, which cant be radically changed within a short time. However a gradual shift can be brought through the use of PMO light by focusing on the strengths of the process and allowing the employees to understand, accept and adapt to the changed procedures. Culture plays perhaps the biggest role in whether the organization is successful in executing projects. Managers, including the head of the organization, need to step up and evaluate the project culture. Until the culture changes, project managers will consistently struggle to be successful.