1. Building a PMO
Contact Information:
Email: pmpro@centurylink.net
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pmpro
Phone: 515 401 9959
James C. Brown

2.  “PMOs are great in good times, but they are
vital during bad times” – CEO, Industrial
Automation
 “Nothing beats a well run PMO which can
provide real-time data for decision making” –
CIO, IT Service Delivery
 “Without a PMO, I just don’t have the necessary
visibility to make decisions on which projects to
fund and which ones to kill” – CFO, Automotive

3. James C. Brown

4.  Report generators

5.  Process creators

6.  Infrastructure builders

7.  Dashboard/Scorecard experts

8.  Metrics generators and gatherers

9.  Just a group of Project/Program Managers

10.  “Process Police”

11. James C. Brown

12.  Average maturity of a PMO is 2 years*
 Newly created
 Change of PMO leadership
 Change of vision/mission/direction
 Cut due to “cost savings” or lack
of impact
* Reported by Dr. Brian Hobbs/Dr. Monique Aubry
Presentation at the PMO Symposium Nov. 2008

13.  PMOs may be viewed as roadblocks to
innovation

14.  Always be able to answer “What have you
done for me lately?”
What have
YOU
done for
ME
lately?

15.  The PMO has to make life easier for
stakeholders

16. Enabling
Works to improve
the maturity &
effectiveness of the
project leaders in
the organization
Executing
Actively engaged
in
implementations,
responsible for
facilitating & doing
project work
The
Ultimate
VisionAuditing
Responsible for
auditing
methodologies and
compliance with
quality or other
standards

17.  Focus on value delivered from a
customer’s/stakeholder’s view, not your view

18.  Support the vision of the leadership team

19.  Show project/program value

20.  Support decision management

21.  Improve forecast capabilities

22.  Provide 24/7 near real-time data

23.  Become agile….Learn to adapt and overcome

24. The Rockwell Automation Story
James C. Brown

25.  Leading industrial automation company
 HQ: Milwaukee, WI, USA
 FY 2007 Sales: ~$5.7 Billion
 ~21,000 employees
 +450 sales and support
locations in +80 countries

26. North America:
300 sales & support locations
14,000+ employees
Latin America:
30 sales & support locations
800+ employees
Europe, Middle East & Africa:
90+ sales & support locations
50+ countries
3,000+ employees
Asia Pacific:
60+ sales & support locations
20+ countries
2,200+ employees

27. Automotive Food and Beverage Life Sciences Oil & GasHome, Health & Beauty

28.  Several PMOs existed
 Each business segment had at least one PMO
except for the business I joined

29.  Measures for PM success was based on:
 # of cumulative training hours provided
 # of people attending training
 # of PMP’s
 Project Managers existed within the
Engineering section
 PMs were appointed
 No specific training was provided
 Did not know who PMI was

30.  The Software business was a part of the
Sales and Marketing organization even
through it was a product creation business
 No common processes
 No understanding of Program or Portfolio
Management
 No standard tools other than MS Office
 Bad reputation for product quality

31.  Performed a business assessment
 The business was extremely disconnected
and did not work well with others

32.  Created a 30/60/90 day plan
 Quick win: 10 PMs certified within 60 days of
joining the group and almost got fired!

33. Portfolio management is the center of the management system
Strategy
Development
Revenue Planning &
Budget Development
Portfolio
Management
Project Execution
Functional Resource
Management
Strategic Priorities & Current Operations
Strategy Priorities
Project Priorities,
Selection, &
Decisions
Project Value &
Progress
Investment &
Performance Targets
Resource Supply
Master Project List,
Performance to
Target
BusinessStructure
ResourceNeed&Supply
Resource Need & Assignment

34.  Formal creation of the Rockwell Software PMO by
pulling PMs into one group
 10 people
 North America based
 Budget was spread across 5 campuses
 Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Vancouver
 Subverted the Rockwell Automation PM approved
training plan with assistance
 Focused training on Program/Project Management and
soft skills (communication, presentation, negotiation,
etc.)
 Re-wrote job descriptions for Project, Program
and Portfolio Managers

35.  Began work on CMMi processes
 As always, the initial processes and templates
were all inclusive
 Introduction of a EPM solution
 MSProject Server
 Training and more training!
 Not only Project Managers
 Engineering
 Product Management
 Functional Managers

36.  CMMi audit to certify Rockwell Software to
Level 2
 Mainly focused on Project Management
 First business in Rockwell Automation to achieve
this level
 Put into place an easily accessible repository
for processes and documentation
 Immediately began work on CMMi Level 3
processes
 Mainly focused on Engineering practices

37.  Focus began on “Change Management”
 Work on the “Common Development Process”
 Added 3 Project Managers in China (13 total)
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38.  Began work on Portfolio Management

39.  New acquisitions and reorganizations
 Added 5 Project Managers and 1 Program Manager
(19 total)
 More expansion in China and Europe
 Rockwell Automation begins its LSS100
program
 Software PMO puts several members through
Six Sigma training
 2 Master Black Belts
 3 Black Belts
 10 Green Belts

40.  Introduced Agile methodologies to Rockwell
Software
 All PMs certified as Scrum Masters and
processes leaned out
 Held multiple Scrum training courses for all
members of Rockwell Software (~1000
people)
 Other parts of Rockwell Automation begin
feeling heat

41.  Held multiple Scrum training courses for
members of other businesses
 Began rolling out EPM solution to other parts
of Rockwell Automation
 More acquisitions
 Hired 3 more Project Managers (22 total)
 Campuses across North America, Europe and Asia.

42.  Drove continuous improvements within the
PMO along with several quality “Tiger Teams”
which were very successful
 In October 2008, approached about building
an Enterprise PMO to support:
 Multiple business PMOs
 369 PMPs globally
 Common infrastructure
 Common processes/metrics

43.  Architected the end to end business
solution which ties MS Project Server, MS
Office SharePoint Server, MS Project
Portfolio Server and SAP together
 Project Management Maturity assessments
are either underway or planned
 Opened the solution for use outside of
“typical” customers
 Sales
 Lean/Six Sigma
 Process Improvement

44.  January 2009, the Enterprise Program
Management Office was formed
 Members were hand-picked
 Specialist in Process, Metrics, Training and
Infrastructure
 Created a PM Council
 Representatives from all PMOs across the
company
 Established support from all VPs/GMs

45. The 2009
International
PMO of the Year

46. "Program and Project Management expertise
is core to our success. It is with these
professions as a core competency that we can
execute in delivering value to our customers.
Whether it be deploying internal IT projects,
new product development, cost saving
projects or integration services, these are
more successful when they are staffed with
experienced Program and Project
Management personnel. We have invested
over the years and we will continue to invest
to ensure that we maintain this expertise
throughout Rockwell Automation."