CofEe Club 36 – The evolution of the PMO
The 36th Centre of Excellence meeting was held at Aviva’s headquarters in St Helen’s, Undershaft and had as its theme The evolution of the PMO.
The value a PMO brings to an organisation tends to be viewed differently depending on its function and positional perspective. This CofEe club discussed how the current level of demand for change impacts the ‘ideal’ PMO for any organisation and how a PMO may evolve to provide greater value, while considering different perspectives.
Speakers were:
- Sam Hockenhull, Programme Co-ordinator, Aviva UK Life: History of Aviva
- Andy Loader, Head of PMO, Royal Mail Operations: Developments in the evolution of our PMO
- Costas Chryssou of CITI spoke on the role of Innovation in the PMO
Workshops themes were
Organisational expectations of a PMO
Sometimes management seems to expect the PMO to act as a ‘slave’ to their desire for information and, through corporate risk management, security. However, the project delivery community seems to expect the PMO’s function to be the provision of a range of services to them. Some PMOs seem to be pulled in different directions and have an unclear view of whose expectations they should be fulfilling and why. During this workshop we aimed for clarity on how commonly, and what causes, expectations to diverge.
Workshop – The value of a bit of navel gazing
PMOs as a ‘value-adding’ function
Most people like to believe that their job is ‘value-adding’ but, in truth, a lot of effort is expended in maintaining a current position and avoiding risks and threats to that position. While this is valuable, it is not ‘value-adding’. We have observed PMOs that add value, and those that do not. In this workshop we explored what drives the PMO’s behaviours, and identified any common themes.
Workshop – Thoughtfulness in management
PMO: ally or adversary?
In some organisations the PMO is viewed as a welcome asset for the project delivery community; in others it is seen as a management-information gathering imposition. In the former situation members of the PMO are welcomed as allies whilst in the latter they can be viewed as adversaries. In this workshop we established dominant models and achieved some agreement about why you believe this model emerges.
Workshop – To see ourselves as other see us Robbie Burns 1786 (part one)
The future of PMOs
PMOs can clearly provide a widely varying range of services and functions to organisations. Some are dictated by the demands of senior management; some from the ambitions of the PMO manager/owner and, doubtless, other factors come into play. This clearly presents difficulties in establishing and clarifying the PMO in the first instance but, beyond that first instance, where does their future lie and how well planned is it? What we sought to establish from this workshop is a triangulation of views about which, if any, common topics or themes seem to be looming on the PMOs future agenda.
Workshop – To see ourselves as other see us Robbie Burns 1786 (part two)
PAshton
Latest posts by PAshton (see all)
- Bulletin – September 2015 - September 16, 2015
- Nick Dobson - September 15, 2015
- CITI introductory video - September 15, 2015