In most organizations, there are multiple project management offices or PMOs. That may be as simple as individual PMO functions in different business areas – IT, product development, and so on. But increasingly, it also means PMOs operating at different levels of the organization and with distinct, but related, accountabilities.
Rounding out our blog series on the PMO, we dive into the many different levels of PMOs organizations tend to work on. There may be a strategic PMO that is aligned with the strategy or transformation offices of an organization and is primarily accountable for portfolio delivery. There is also frequently an enterprise PMO or EPMO that ensures consistency of delivery across all departments and consolidates information for the strategic PMO. EPMOs also often provide practical support to projects being delivered in business areas without their own dedicated PMO function. Then of course, there are the various departmental PMOs spread throughout the enterprise.
For an organization to maximize the effectiveness of these PMOs, and to give them a chance to empower themselves to become value-driving, the concept we looked at in the last blog post, all of these PMOs must be capable of operating in an integrated manner – delivering as part of a PMO infrastructure that not only spans the whole organization, but all aspects of the project environment and strategy execution.
This concept requires effective, efficient communication between all of the various PMOs:
- Communication of strategic priorities, portfolio goals, and high-level adjustments to investments from the strategic PMO to execution levels
- Communication of performance information, issues and challenges, and execution focused decisions from departmental PMOs to the strategic PMO
- Communication of dependencies and impacts on those dependencies across all execution areas and work types
- Sharing of best practices, evolving standards and adjustments in approach between the EPMO and all other PMO functions
- Communication of status and progress data from all work methods to the EPMO and from the EPMO to the strategic PMO and stakeholders
This must be a continuous, collaborative process, not just a series of independent and isolated messages, and it must be fueled by the ability to share contextualized information on any and all aspects of project, program and portfolio work to all stakeholders at all times. Achieving that requires the right strategic portfolio management (SPM) software, leveraged in the right way.
ServiceNow’s SPM solution makes that easy. Operating on the shared Now platform, it connects not only all areas of the business, but also all functions, ensuring that not only complete and accurate information is available at all times – from the largest strategic priority to the smallest work update; it provides that information in a context that makes sense for all stakeholders. That in turn reduces the time needed to understand and assess information, shortening the time to decision and improving overall performance. When combined with an effective network of business-driven, and business-driving, PMOs, there is nothing that organizations can’t achieve.
To learn more about how the PMO continues to change, check out our webinar on the top questions facing the evolving PMO.
