Setting Up and Sustaining a PMO/PMCOE: Real Life Experiences

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Setting Up and Sustaining a PMO/PMCOEReal Life
Experiences
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Background

• Company A Small Financial Institution
  Information Technology
• PMO of 5 people
• Serving 225 people
• Revamping Existing Services
• Company B Large Financial Institution -
  Information Technology
• PMCOE of 15 People
• Serving 9 PMOs and 1200 People
• Starting from Scratch

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First StepsWhat Are Your Primary Business Drivers

• Improve overall consistency and quality of
  project delivery to your clients
• Realize a return on investment demonstrated
  through reduced costs, increased revenues and
  higher overall client satisfaction ratings

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Goals

• Enhance project management, project manager and
  process capability
• Create and sustain a supportive, professional
  environment within which to grow your project
  management capability
• Implement methods for evaluating capability and
  maturity

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Areas for Development

• Infrastructure (Processes, Standards and Tools)
• Methods, standards and process improvement
  (project management, project governance, business
  planning, portfolio management)
• Project management organization (including roles,
  responsibilities, processes and procedures,
  administrative support)
• Knowledge management processes and tools

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Areas of Development contd

• People
• Resource Management including competencies,
  recruiting, retention, internal growth and
  development, compensation, career paths
• Certification and professionalism including
  experience, education and training
• Business development and marketing selling the
  vision
• Coaching and mentoring networking and support
• Training
• Consulting including project audit and rescue

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Areas of Development contd

• Measures (Outcomes)
• Benchmarking industry standards, project
  metrics and measurement
• Quality Assurance
• Project tracking and performance management
  (review and assessment, time management system)

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Success Criteria

• Ongoing proof you are working on the right
  projects
• Demonstrable long-term, sustainable improvement
  in project performance
• Reduced turnover
• Better utilization of resources
• Processes are flexible, streamlined and repeatable

9
Conduct an Inventory What is your current state?

• Capability
• Processes
• Tools
• Stakeholders
• Sponsors
• Resistors

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Determine the Issues At Several Levels

• Time to market pressures
• Competitive advantage
• Clients dissatisfied
• Increased capability needed
• Over/under utilization
• Poor project performance
• Low morale
• Project Manager dissatisfaction

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The Business Case

• Strategic and Tactical recognize your project
  support organization must grow and change and
  your project environment changes with maturity
• Address
• Cultural and People Change Issues
• Sustaining Sponsorship
• Resistance Clients and Partners
• Priorities
• Cost (one time and ongoing)

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Services Offered, Relationships and Service Level
Agreements

• PMCOE to PMOs
• PMOs to Project and Line Managers
• Define what you are trying to support (hierarchy
  of needs)
• Individual project management
• Multiple project management
• Departmental resource management
• Organizational resource management
• Corporate project portfolio management
• Developing a Project Management Toolbox, PM
  Network, October, 2001, Lois M. Mentrup

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Recognize the Challenges

• What is a project in your organization?
• Where is the resistance?
• Confusion
• Lack of Business Support
• Turf Wars
• Time to Market
• Is your organization ready for this?
• Have you managed expectations?

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Determine How You Will Deliver

• Programs
• Include products and services
• Development component
• Delivery component

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How will you deal with the primary stakeholders?

• Support the Current State (PMs/PMOs) deal with
  the human capital FIRST
• Identify issues
• Define job profiles
• Clarify project roles and responsibilities
• Provide recruiting support
• Provide coaching and mentoring
• Deliver training
• Support bonusable goals

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Getting There What we did at Company A B

• Support Current Projects
• Project selection, team coaching, performance
  assessment, identify and fill gaps (risk
  assessment and management, RFP process, charter)
• Process improvement is not crisis management
• Improve Processes
• Governance and portfolio management, coaching,
  project management methodology, business
  planning, project review, program management
• Develop and Implement a Professional Development
  Program
• Sponsors, PMs, Project Leads

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Getting There contd

• Provide Tools for planning, tracking and resource
  management
• Estimating and budgeting, resource management,
  ROI, project status reporting
• Other Opportunities
• Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Business
  Analysis, Maintenance Release Management,
  Configuration Release Management

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Critical Success Factors and Key Result Areas

• Know what you are trying to support
• Pick your priorities and do things in the right
  order
• Ensure sustaining sponsorship and management
  support are in place
• Adopt a marketing mentality (sell, sell, sell and
  verify results)
• Ensure you provide support to achieve the
  capability required to sustain the change
• Employ agents of change

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Critical Success Factors and Key Result Areas

• Staff Appropriately
• PMP
• Experience Education
• Process knowledge
• Coaching, mentoring, selling and facilitation
  skills, credibility in the profession, superior
  contacts
• The resources who set up the PMO/PMCOE may not be
  the best people to sustain it

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Questions?
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• Karen MacNeil
• macneil_at_procept.ca, tel [phone]
• Procept Associates Ltd
• 125-1234 Kingston Road
• Toronto, ON M1N 1P3
• www.procept.ca