• Were they completed on time? On budget?
• Were there many changes (formal or informal)?
• Did the team perform well together? Were there painful gaps in communication?
• Do you create processes and templates at the start of each project?
• Do you have a formal documentation process or is it adhoc? Is there similarity between projects even if not formalized?
• Was there a review of the project after completion? If so, were any lessons learned documented? 

For each of the questions above, look a little deeper at the answers you give; go beyond yes and no.  Ask yourself if there were any specific pain points that could have been avoided.  Don’t worry if you can’t answer all of these questions.  You have already taken a big step just in starting to examine the possibility of implementing a Project Management Office.   With the information you have gathered from the exercise above, you can start to identify your quick wins.  Some examples of quick wins could be:

• Create Templates for your project charter, requirements documents, work breakdown structure, meeting agendas and minutes as well as any other documents that you normally produce for each project. Don’t underestimate the power of the template.   Once you become familiar with the elements of the template, you will find that you begin to organize your thoughts well in advance of filling in the document.  Familiar templates also promote consistent flow of communication within the team because everyone knows what to expect and when.
• If your projects follow a common flow, create checklists to ensure that you don’t miss details along the way. The checklist should include communication, documentation and decision waypoints.   

You will likely find at least 3 quick wins in your current project processes. You can either implement them all at once or in stages.  You are best advised to look at the culture of your work group and use your judgment on this.  Forcing too much at once will likely create resistance to these small steps and any future progress. Once you have had the chance to take a close look at your current project environment you will likely start developing ideas about what you want your PMO to achieve (see last post).   

Coming up in the next blog – Where do you go from here?

PMO and Scope Management:  The PMO provides processes and templates to capture project goals and scope as well as any related assumptions, constraints, dependencies and risks. Using these templates and standards results in a consistent processes setting a project baseline to which scope changes are managed.  The outcome and benefit is a predictable scope management practice that all levels of the organization or project team can count on and informed decisions are based on.  The PMO regularly reviews the scope management process and adjust it as the organization’s project maturity evolves.   

PMO and Time Management:  The use of repeatable processes and reusable tools saves time during all project phases.  Time is most noticeably saved during the initiation and planning phases of a project because you don’t have to reinvent the entire process from scratch.  You establish a familiar thought process that you know works; you don’t have to think about “how”, you can get into productive mode right away.   The PMO also contributes to effective time management through centralized resource management and access to historical data. PMO provides the necessary information and processes to produce better estimates in the planning phase. The PMO can aid in more effective resource selection and distribution through consultation or provision of skilled team members.    

PMO and Cost Management:  Tools, processes and templates provided by the PMO clearly contribute to cost savings. The PMO is in place to streamline the project lifecycle, affect rework as well as to remove redundancy and roadblocks.  The relationship to cost savings should be obvious: Time = Money.  The PMO, as warehouse for historical information contributes to cost management by enabling more accurate cost estimates during the initiation and planning phases.  Tracking tools provided by the PMO make sure that costs are tracked and controlled over the course of the project.   In summary, the PMO helps manage the triple constraint by providing a communication highway. Establishing a predictable flow of communication gives the entire organization a sense of confidence in the project process.  Stakeholders are more comfortable with backing a project when they know what they can expect along the way.  Relationships are easier to maintain when everyone understands their role, responsibilities and reporting structure.   

The PMO delivers consistent management of the triple constraint through the provision of quality data, tools and processes. This nearly guarantees repeatable, successful project delivery.  

As I read I began to wonder how a Project Management Office contributes to the maturity model and vice versa.  I decided to ask my associate, Sasha Lomas for some clarification on this since she has extensive experience in this area. The biggest question on my mind: what comes first, the PMO or maturity? Sasha guided me toward the following answers.   

One of the main reasons for establishing a PMO is to guide the maturity process.  Once the business has a fair understanding of how they currently manage projects and has a genuine desire to improve project performance, the PMO can be introduced.  There is no prerequisite for a company to have existing standard processes, only the desire to have them is required.  

The PMO becomes the catalyst for standardizing project processes and administration. During the setup phase, the PMO group works closely with management and other business levels to devise the processes and templates.  From there the PMO guides the execution of projects and enhances the system with the goal of optimizing project performance.   

Sasha sums it up best. “PM Maturity starts by standardizing the project management processes and then monitoring, tracking and ensuring compliance to the defined processes. Supporting PMO would be the first step towards achieving PM Maturity since someone needs to ensure that the processes are followed, that people understand what they are and how to apply them in a timely fashion.”   

Establishing a PMO provides a centralized location for project related data. This then leads to informed decision making for upper management. It raises the awareness of project health and monitors the effectiveness of established processes.  Consistently applied processes and controlled change management increase project success rates and directly impact customer satisfaction.    

The establishment of a PMO can accelerate the maturation of project methodologies but the desire to improve your project framework must come first.