The document discusses potential future directions for Project Management Offices (PMOs). It notes that PMOs are facing an identity crisis as the world becomes more complex. PMOs must either professionalize and evolve or risk becoming obsolete. Some potential next steps discussed are PMOs increasing their role in portfolio management, serving as an "information radiator" to stakeholders, embracing concepts like agility and organizational learning, and shifting their focus from process to developing the right mindset. The future is uncertain but PMOs need to adapt to changing environments to remain relevant.
3. • Experienced PPM consultant, trainer, and speaker
• Passionate and intrigued by projects and PMOs
• Senior Consultant at Wellingtone Project Management
• Managing Director at in2PMO
• Programs Director at Project Managers Without Borders
• Secretary at the APM PMO SIG
• Mentor at Project Managers Against Poverty
• Author of ‘Bedtime Stories for Project Managers (and others with
trouble sleeping)’
• IPMA Young Researcher Award 2017 Finalist
• MSc in Strategic Management of Projects (UCL)
• PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, MoP, P3O, IPMA-D, PRINCE2 Agile, MCP, PMD Pro-
2, PMO-CC
7. WHAT MAKES A PMO A PMO?
Instrument of integration
Trusted source of truth
Serve the customer
Enable capability
Learning organization
8. Source: Journal of project management, APM 2014
1970’s
Defence &
Government
Specific
Technical focus
1980-90’s
Project Support
Office
Internal stakeholders
Iron triangles
1990-00’s
Programme Office
Specific
Internal & external
stakeholders
Critical success factors
21st
Century
Portfolio, Benefits
& Strategy
Owner & sponsors
Organisational Context
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PMO
9. THE WORLD HAS BECOME COMPLEX
Coffee in 1996 Coffee in 2018
Source: Truth Facts
15. PMO
Reporting
Tools
Training
Methodolo
gy
FROM INWARD-LOOKING
“I need a status report by Friday”
“You need to complete your
timesheet every week.”
“Sorry, we need a project plan
in MS Project”
“What do you mean, no
Change Request is needed?
You must follow the
methodology!”
“What training courses should
we give them this year?”
16. PMO
Value
Objectiv
es
Support
Engage
ment
TO THE PMO AS THE INFORMATION
RADIATOR
“Are we doing the right projects?”
“Have we achieved the
project’s objectives?”
“How can the PMO
help you?”
“Are the
stakeholders
happy?”
19. Refers to the use of resources that are to hand to resolve unforeseen occurrences
The ‘Bricoleur’ solves unplanned problems (vs ‘Engineer’ by Levi-Strauss)
Leverages potentially undervalued (and tacit) knowledge already present in the organisation
PM BRICOLAGE
Is closely related to improvisation but
different concepts!
It is not an excuse for bad planning!
It does not dismiss the importance of
best practices!
20. The least amount of
structure and process we
can get away with to avoid
total chaos.
Source: Spotify Engineering Culture, Vimeo
MINIMUM VIABLE BUREAUCRACY
26. • Professionalization
• Increased role in Portfolio Management
• Information radiator
• Project Management Bricolage
• Agile & Agility
• Focus on mindset
• Organizational learning
SO, WHAT COULD BE NEXT FOR PMOs?
27. HOW CERTAIN AM I ABOUT THE FUTURE?
I think there is a world market for about five
computers.
Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
No matter what happens, the U.S. Navy is not going to be
caught napping.
Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, 4 December 1941, just before the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor
A severe depression like that of 1920-1921 is outside the range of probability.
The Harvard Economic Society, 16 November 1929
Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.
Lord Kelvin, British mathematician, physicist and president of the British Royal Society, c. 1895
31. Let’s keep in touch.
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/theluckypm
@TheLuckyPM
Marisa.Silva@Wellingtone.co.uk
Notes de l'éditeur
Whoever gets the 5 right, will receive a free copy of my book!
There’s hope for you too!
The other thing you need to know about me: I’m Portuguese.
Yesterday I learned my first Polish word: malina (raspberry) – dobra and tac
Value is your ‘bang for the buck’.
I really want to convince you on how PMOs can helping you unlock business value so instead of 10 slides, I have a 35 slide presentation.
PMOs have gotten a bad reputation: ambiguous role (what does the P stand for?), process-driven instead of business-oriented, just an overhead, or an admin role that fails to add value, ineffective in achieving results.
However, I believe that the rumours of PMO’s death have been greatly exaggerated. I’m a great believer of the value of PMOs, I just think that they need to take a step back and rethink what value is. The world has changes and PMOs need to change and adapt to it.
In fact, the world has become quite complex and this adds to be the level of uncertainty we face. See, for instance, coffee. No longer is sufficient to just say black coffee or coffee with cream. We are offered a variety of choice and while this is good for the consumer it also adds complexity for us, project managers.
Volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous
Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable
Do all of the above. PMOs are a COMMUNICATING BRIDGE – HELP BRIDGE THE GAP Between Strategy (Portfolio) and Execution (Projects and Programmes)
BUSINESS PARTNERS
HIGH PERFORMING PMOs don’t just support the execution of strategy through delivery of projects and programs, but they actually SHAPE the strategy by playing an active role in strategic planning. They have a seat the grown-ups table
But this doesn’t happen in a day: ADDING VALUE IS A JOURNEY
Earth/Sun in the centre of the universe
Receiver of information
Do not ask what your country can do for you but what can you do for your country: SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Difusor of information
Change the mindset: Commandant, we are surrounded by enemies from all sides! Great, it measn we can attack from any angle!
Fortune Wheel
Some say that this reaction – resistance – is not just because of the bad perception of the PMO but also because the traditional methods do not work as effectively as they could. And this takes us to Agile, which in fact, is not new (it has been around for about 20 years now) but has gained a lot of popularity in recent years
Is embedded in everyday experience and local knowledge
Still, bricolage should not be considered as random, trivial or merely operational experimentation
Effective bricolage requires a specific managerial mindset and project culture
Bricolage is not the same as improvisation: bricolage can be planned! However, the more improvisational an act is, the bigger the chance of bricolage occurring
Bricolage complements best practices by promoting a mindful, creative and improvisational mindset in project managers
.
Contrary to what some may say, Agile does not mean no documentation. Documentation – and governance – are still and much necessary.
One of three scenarios
PMO: Pisses me off
Make no mistake: P= people
Three letters story: a new PMO Manager joins a company and is given three letters, that he should only open and read when ordered to do so. The company is in crisis and he is asked to open the first letter. It reads “blame your predecessor”; “launch a transformational initiative and call it strategic”, “write three letters”
Going beyond risk management; running what-if scenarios; capabilities of imagination and anticipation.
AGILITY is you capacity to quickly respond and adapt to changes: fast and light
Agility is more importante than Agile
Response to VOLATILITY
If egg is broken from outside, life is lost. If broken from inside, means that new life is born.
Mindset over Methodology
the importance of BI project managers and leaders
having
the appropriate mindset and competency to balance discipline
and creativity
In fact, on average, by 2020, more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today and social skills such as persuasion, emotional intelligence and teaching others will be in higher demand across industries than narrow technical skills, such as programming or equipment, according to The Future of Jobs Report, produced by the World Economic Forum. Hence, we need to start preparing now by learning, unlearning and relearning new skills.
But, very important, you need to be prepared to accept different realities, be humble to learn, and curious to try different approaches. If you continue to search for old solutions to new problems, don’t expect much progress. A new toolset require a new mindset.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Tmhit277c
A couple of reasons, in my opinion:
First of all, because history show us that we are bad at thinking forward.
We tend to believe that the future will be an extension of the present, of the world as we know it today, that what we’ll do tomorrow can have a slight change but will never be completely different from what we did today. This leading us, from a management and decision-making perspective, to face a paradox: all our decisions are about the future but the knowledge we rely on to make those decisions is all about the past.
Top Technologies Impacting CxO Agendas: fad, hypo, reality?
Risks and Opportunities!
If you work In the automotive industry – autonomous vehicles
If you work in education – machine learning, smart machines
If you work in construction – 3D printing
If you work in IT - blockchain
Moore’s law
Singularity: artificial intelligence – 2040-2050
QA: if I don’t know the answer, it makes me look good
If I don’t, it makes YOU look good