The Proactive and Reactive Aspects of the PMO (The Details)

By: Lindsay Scott, PMO Learning

You’ve probably heard many different things the PMO has been compared to, no not those negative comments! I’m talking about things like the PMO being compared to the pit crew at Formula 1 – we’re there to support the project (the car!) to remove blockers and help it be as successful as possible. There are of course lots of other characteristics of the pit crew you can use but I think you get the picture.

Using these kinds of language devices like analogies and metaphors allow us to paint a vivid picture of what the PMO does and how it does it. It’s all part of the way we choose to communicate to different people and if we can do that as simple as possible, even better.

One of the many exercises in the AIPMO IPMO-Expert level course for senior leaders is not necessarily about comparing the PMO to any one thing, it’s more about looking at the different aspects of any given PMO. Specifically, we’re interested in the proactive and reactive aspects of the PMO in this article and take a look at some of the analogies used in the course.

The Six Faces of PMO

In the AIPMO IPMO-Expert course, it focuses on six different ‘faces’ of the PMO. Each one of these faces may be present in a PMO; just a few or even one.

The exercise is about stimulating debate and discussion on the course and to allow PMO leaders to take a step back and really think about the types of PMOs they have operated in the past; what might be required right now in the organization; what the future PMO may need; what changes might be necessary; what gaps they see and so on.

The aspects are:

Firefighter
Reporter
Supporter
Leader
Stargazer
Innovators

Firefighters

See problems in projects and programs before others see them
Get a holistic view if PMOs (within an Enterprise model) work together to discuss common problems across the organization or division
Use unusual tools like systems dynamics modelling or social networks to understand the root cause of the problems
Be proactive in ensuring fires don’t happen but in the event they do, put the fires out by acting as a stop-gap and then determining the root cause if they don’t already know them.

See problems in projects and programmes before others see them
Get a holistic view if PMOs (within an Enterprise model) work together to discuss common problems across the organisation or division
Use unusual tools like systems dynamics modelling or social networks to understand the root cause of the problems
Be proactive in ensuring fires don’t happen but in the event they do, put the fires out by acting as a stop-gap and then determining the root cause if they don’t already know them.

Reporters

Act as communication conduits to the stakeholders including management.
The information on projects and programs needs to be accurate, timely and dealt with in a sensitive way.
Communication plans and governance must be defined and understood by the various stakeholders including the project and program managers.
As projects and programs progress there is a risk of misinformation due to cognitive dissonance in an extrovert project, program managers and also sponsors who have personal (career) interests in the success.

Supporters

PMOs support project, program and portfolios in different ways.
Personal support for team members in terms of encouragement, empathy, coaching, teaching, development are all important in the ultimate success of the endeavour.
A happy project or program team is the link to success, PMOs have a key role to play here.
Sponsors often require support even if they don’t know it in terms of coaching, mentoring and knowing how to act as a sponsor.

Leaders

Experience PMOs will have people who are often better qualified to run a project or programme than the existing project/program managers.
Over 98% of large programs fail and 60% or more of projects. Your organization will not be an exception… expect (some) failure.
PMOs will see issues and try to resolve them which means taking leadership when required.
Be prepared to mentor project/program managers and when necessary take over their responsibilities if they are unable to achieve the goals. This may also be ad-interim just to get the project/program back on course.

Stargazers

Thomas Kuhn’s seminal book ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ explained that paradigm shifts are made by people from outside of the industry or science. These people are not stuck in dogma and limited perspectives.
PMOs are outside of the projects and work across different business and therefore able to see things and make connections that project team members don’t see.
Step-up and see the connections, ideas and opportunities for the organization. Use tools like strategy under uncertainty to create the future for your organization.

Innovators

PMO’s role is traditionally defined as supportive, standardization, custodians etc., all contra to Innovators.
However, PMOs get a unique perspective of projects and programs across the organization including ideas, concepts, strategy, challenges etc.
Some PMOs are organizationally stable and part of the organization.
PMOs are the custodians of tools and techniques and the knowledge and lessons learned.

Action Learning

The exercise on the course is designed to get PMO leaders thinking about the proactive role the PMO can be providing in the organisation; exercises like these are typical of the course and is a great example of action learning.

When you’re working at the senior level in PMO, most certification courses don’t allow the opportunity for learners to talk about the discuss the real-life situations. For senior-level learners, much of their new knowledge is formed by:

A combination of formal knowledge (such as the theoretical parts of the Expert course);
The opportunity to discuss and debate with peers at their level;
The reflection of new theory into current working practices;
And finally back in work, putting new ideas into practice.

The Expert level course covers the first three. For more information on the Expert level AIPMO certification [take a look at the certification overview] To continue reading about different aspects of the course in [The Expert Course Uncovered]