Vanguard Solutions is struggling with a chaotic collection of projects that often run late, cost much more than expected, and disappoint customers. Tyra Frerichs, VP of Development, was just tapped by Vanguard’s CFO to spearhead a PMO that fixes this. Where should she start?
Tyra checked with her favorite AI chatbot, which told her that PMO is an acronym for Project Management Office. The bot said that an effective PMO can coordinate project activity across an organization. It also warned that hastily assembled PMO’s have a high dissatisfaction rate. Good ones increase efficiency, project successes, and bottom-line results.
Duly warned, Tyra did more research. She found that an effective PMO is not cookie cutter. It must be tailored to address the specific challenges that are important to its organization. She discovered six services that a PMO may choose to offer.
- Be a center of excellence
A PMO that is a center of excellence is the organization’s repository for best practices and guidance about projects. In this scenario, the people running projects are usually external to the PMO. They may not be experienced or trained project managers; thus the PMO plays a key role assisting them with their projects.
A center of excellence may promote good processes and language about projects, as well as manage organizational knowledge such as lessons learned. It can provide support and coaching about projects to the rest of the organization and can be a home for specialists who are loaned as resources to external project leaders.
- Set standards
Some organizations need more compliance than the advice that a center of excellence can provide. In this case, a PMO can set and enforce standards for how projects are run. Standards-setting PMO’s are responsible for the organization’s project management system. They may require the use of standardized practices, phases, checkpoints, or tools. Standardization, when done well, increases efficiency. Things don’t have to be invented from scratch for every project. Good practices get embedded into every project. Project managers can move more easily between different projects and get up to speed faster.
More…
To read entire article, click here
How to cite this article: Oltmann, J. (2025). What’s a PMO to do? advisory, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue III, March. Available online at http://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pmwj150-Mar2025-Oltmann-whats-a-PMO-to-do.pdf
About the Author
Jeff Oltmann
Oregon, USA
Jeff Oltmann is a seasoned leader with over 30 years of experience advising clients, managing successful technology programs, and developing new products. His specialties include strategy deployment, operational and project excellence, and project portfolio management. As principal consultant at Synergy Professional Services, Jeff advises leaders and teams in diverse sectors including healthcare, research, bioscience, and technology product development.
Jeff is the founder of the Portfolio and Project Leaders Forum. He is also on the graduate faculty of the Division of Management at Oregon Health and Science University and was previously on executive staff at IBM. He teaches portfolio, program, and project management and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®).
Jeff welcomes your questions and ideas. You can contact him at jeff@spspro.com or read previous articles at www.spspro.com/article-library.
