PMO

Posted on February 25, 2014March 13, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? A PMO is a structure and a function that allows an organisation to channel political and financial capacity into its programme and project management community in a manner similar to how it deals with its operational units.

What it is not? PMOs are not project administration groups, personal assistants taking minutes and booking meeting rooms.

What’s different afterwards? Depending on the needs and interest of the different stakeholder groups in the organisation the PMO offers control of the projects, guidance in the conduct of projects, and decision-support in the selection and management of the project portfolio.

Assurance

Posted on February 25, 2010March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Assurance is the deployment of a set of policies, processes, systems and tools aimed at safeguarding organisations’ investments. It includes both predetermined assurance regimes (stage gates and check points etc.) and ad hoc interventions such as health-checks and surgeries.

What it is not? Assurance is not a retrospective inspection of the causes of failure or an audit of processes and tools applied. After the event it is too late to assess or alter the initiative’s achievement of success; hence assurance has no retrospective aspects.

What’s different afterwards? Senior management and the sponsor community have a high degree of confidence that the portfolio of investments in change are at a supportable level of cost and risk for the reward they represent. The less viable initiatives are placed under closer scrutiny or closed before ‘sunk costs’ have become unendurable. Corporate husbandry of resource (both financial and human) has improved.

Benefits realisation

Posted on February 25, 2010March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Recovering value from investments made in projects and programmes arises from realising benefits: a process that though simple in concept proves to be difficult and complex in practice. By using an evidence-based, active, forward-looking and benefits-led approach, spending on projects is transformed into investing in change.

What it is not? It’s not a process for justifying a preferred option, and it is not a silver bullet expensively purchased in terms of additional bureaucracy.

What’s different afterwards? Benefits management is an integral part of the organisation’s governance of projects and programmes, linking strategic planning with performance management.

Structuring projects

Posted on February 25, 2010March 2, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Structuring a project is a way to engage business and technical people in constructive discussions of a project’s terms of reference, based on challenge and clarity around the key factors that drive subsequent management actions and project behaviours.

What it is not? A technical ‘tick box’ exercise to document high-level requirements.

What’s different afterwards? Stakeholders and project teams have a concise and clear reference document that sets out the basis for decision-making and actions throughout the duration of the project.

Sustaining and management of change

Posted on February 25, 2010October 8, 2015 by PAshton

What is it? Sustaining change is a collection of techniques that are customised in a disciplined way to organise and orchestrate the energy that comes from individuals changing and adapting to new situations and using that as a way of channelling and energising the organisational changes that are necessary to make the new ways the business-as-usual ways.

What it is not? Sustaining change is not brought about by a standard procedure. It is about winning hearts as well as minds.

What’s different afterwards? Planned change becomes the norm. Resistance is recognised as part of the change process that supplies the energy required to transition to the new state – and realising benefits is seen as the purpose of change initiatives.