VOICES In the Trenches
A Storybook
Ending
Here’s the tale of a project management office (PMO)
that grew up to become a strategic business unit.
By Deniz A. Johnson, PMP
THIS PMO’S STORY STARTS IN THE USUAL WAY:
Several years ago, an institutional investment
firm needed help getting its technology depart-
ment’s many projects on track. It hired a program
manager, albeit with rather ambiguous goals for the
position. And with the guidance of the program
manager, a PMO was quickly created—despite the
organization’s lack of knowledge of what a PMO
was or could do.
At this point in the story, you might guess the
PMO was eventually shut down. But three years
later, this PMO is a key part of the technology
department’s and the organization’s success. What
prevented this from being yet another sad tale?
Setting the Stage
The first step was building a strong foundation for
the PMO—and that came from understanding the
organization’s approach to business. The organiza-
tion was lean and focused on delivery.
An early emphasis was placed on hiring individu-
als with strong industry knowledge, in order to align
with organizational culture and gain buy-in from the
business side of the organization. Once the PMO was
established, the team developed a focus on delivery
rather than any one process or procedure. Com-
munication with business stakeholders addressed
22 PM NETWORK JULY 2014 WWW.PMI.ORG
immediate tactical needs around delivery. Another
foundational key to success for the PMO was that its
team enjoyed the strong public support of the CIO,
who early on saw positive results in how program
management helped IT projects succeed.
While the team was forming, the program
manager also started meeting with the organization’s
business and technology leaders to discuss their goals
for their own areas, as well as potential opportunities
for the company and industry in general. The theme
that emerged from these conversations was that
agility was critical to growth—the company needed
to respond faster to client demands and exploit op-
portunities in the market.
A Change in the Narrative
At the end of year one, the PMO’s story could be
considered a success. It provided transparency
on project delivery and a clearly identified way of
delivering projects. The program manager was
reporting on the success of the PMO in relation
to business drivers—how the PMO enabled faster
response to clients. And overall, there was a general
acceptance and awareness that establishing a PMO
was a good thing. However, the power of the PMO
was not yet fully realized.
Periodic meetings with business leaders and execu-
 “As the PMO matured
further, the team started
taking a stronger stance on
the projects in the portfolio,
becoming an advocate for
projects that supported the
company drivers.”

tives continued. But the discussions in these meetings
started changing. The focus shifted to longer-term
goals and solving larger business problems. Questions
like these cropped up more frequently: “What is the
company goal for the next two years?” “How does this
translate to each individual group?” “What is the busi-
ness problem you are trying to solve?”
Since the different departments were already
used to talking to the program manager, there was
no resistance to further discussions. The program
manager, along with the PMO team, started provid-
ing project recommendations to the organization’s
leadership to help solve the business problems
identified in these conversations.
In some cases, the PMO approached the business
for permission to deliver an initiative. One of those,
for example, was a budgeting tool designed for the
IT team that provided the finance team more insight
into technology spending. Once it was approved by
the finance team, the project team delivered an au-
tomated budgeting tool that integrated the procure-
ment process with purchase and invoice tracking. It
was a win-win for all parties involved. The finance
team completed its annual goal of transparency in
spending. And the PMO garnered great publicity
across the organization and stronger cooperation
between the finance and IT teams.
Writing Its Own Story
By owning the project portfolio, the PMO was in a
position to understand many of the challenges faced by
the organization. And by focusing on forging a partner-
ship with the organization’s business leaders—not just
taking orders from them—the PMO became a strategic
business unit, with value beyond delivering IT projects. Share Your
As the PMO matured further, the team started tak-
Thoughts
No one knows proj-
ing a stronger stance on the projects in the portfolio, ect management
becoming an advocate for projects that supported the better than you, the
company drivers. In this expanded role, the program practitioners “in
the trenches.” So
manager continuously reported on the success of the every month, PM
PMO through terms that were relevant to the organi- Network shares your
ideas, experiences
zation at the time: For example, when the market was
and opinions on
strong, efforts were focused on projects that enabled everything from
faster growth. sustainability to
talent management,
Conversely, when cost-cutting was most important and all project top-
to the organization, the PMO shifted focus to cost- ics in between. If
cutting efforts. In the span of three years, the PMO— you’re interested in
contributing, email
which started off with no executive knowledge and pmnetwork@
little backing—became the entity business units wanted imaginepub.com.
to partner with to define and deliver the right projects
to attain company goals and success. PM
Deniz A. Johnson, MBA, PMP, is the founder of
Pera-Partners LLC, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

JULY 2014 PM NETWORK 23