|
Zen and the Art of the PMO
A PMO, which research firm Gartner Inc. dubs "the IT control tower," is usually a group of a few individuals. They should have top-notch project management skills, a deep understanding of the culture of the business side and enough political savvy to usher difficult decisions through the corporate hierarchy, such as killing projects, stopping scope creep and limiting resources. This PMO often reports to the CIO and provides project updates and proposals to an IT governance board or executive committee.
PMOs can also exist outside the IT department. Typically, they handle non-IT-related projects such as a marketing campaign for a certain product or a what-if scenario regarding a potential acquisition. This article focuses on IT-related PMOs within the IT department that manages IT projects.
An IT PMO's mission should have three objectives: to oversee multiple projects and project teams that may not talk to one another; to track projects; and to anticipate the impact and risk associated with those projects. So a PMO provides a picture of all the IT projects under way across the company via reporting that is standardized among business units. When problems and opportunities arise, a PMO analyzes the situation and makes recommendations. Most PMOs also engage in project portfolio management, which includes prioritization and perhaps budgeting. Thus, the purview of the PMO can begin at the earliest stage of a project's lifecycle.
"'PMO' can become a buzzword, so don't even call it a PMO," says CIO Mike Jackson of Rockwell Automation, a $5-billion global manufacturing automation supplier based in Milwaukee. "Instead, concentrate on results. We want four things from our PMO: project controls, competency for project managers, and metrics and processes for things like budget and schedule accuracy. If you start with resources to make this happen, you kind of back into what type of PMO is right for you."
The end game is a good starting point, followed by the resources to deliver the right results. "The CIO needs to agree with the PMO lead on how to measure progress toward these goals," says Matt Hotle, vice president and analyst at Gartner. "If progress can't be measured, the PMO is almost bound to fail. And these measures are how a CIO gets funding, because improving these measures should result in an improved organization."
Next, a CIO needs to choose a PMO structure. Midmarket companies use a range of models. The most basic and common offers administrative tracking and serves as a repository for standard project methodologies, tools and knowledge. This model creates a project office that functions as a kind of traffic cop, an administrator that monitors project schedules and other part-time supportive tasks but lacks real project oversight.
A PMO Toolkit |
With much to manage and so many people involved in projects, a project management office (PMO) typically uses software tools for project scheduling and tracking, resource profiling and allocation, and time reporting.
Vendors cited in Gartner's "Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management" last year include the following:
Large Vendors/Products
Compuware
IBM Rational Portfolio Manager
Lawson Software
Mercury IT Governance Center
Microsoft Project EPM
Niku (acquired by CA last year)
Oracle Projects
Planview
Primavera
SAP xRPM
|
Smaller Vendors
Artemis International
Atlantic Global
Augeo Software
Automation Centre
Business Engine
eProject
Genius Inside
Instantis
ITM Software
Pacific Edge Software
Planisware
PowerSteering Software
ProSight
Sciforma
Tenrox
UMT
|
|
From there, PMOs can have increasing levels of oversight, authority and resources. A more authoritative type of PMO features permanent staff members who document best practices and actively monitor project performance. This kind of PMO conducts a postmortem on projects, using results to improve methods and train project managers.
The most aggressive model is a PMO that directly manages major projects. It might have a cadre of project managers that it sends out as hired guns on projects throughout the company. According to Gartner, this model empowers the PMO to assess and alter a project's scope, funding, timetable and other factors. Large companies often use this model, whereas midmarket CIOs are more likely to have a basic or lightly staffed PMO.
So how much emphasis should you put on a PMO or on the decision about whether you need one? It depends on the number of IT projects under way and the impact they have on the company, not to mention the risk they impose. In theory, the higher the number and greater the impact, the more important a PMO becomes, since it should help to ensure a higher project success rate.
"For an organization of, say, 100 IT employees -- which would translate to about 10 project managers -- it's hard to see how an individual would have enough work to keep him or her busy as a 'PMO,'" says Gartner's Hotle. "Typically, when an IT organization approaches 200 people, there's enough work to keep at least one full-time PMO person busy. Some smaller organizations create what they call a PMO, though it's really a project management competency center where all project managers report."
Unfortunately, the decision to create a PMO (or improve an existing one) often comes on the heels of an IT project that didn't run smoothly.
|
