Another year rolls around and writing an article like this is a good time to reflect back from the previous year and think about what's coming up as the new year stretches out in front of us. You can take a look at the trends in PMO for 2016 to see if your PMO picked any of them up.
Now let's look to 2017, here is PMO Flashmob's take on the top ten trends for PMO in the coming year:
A clearer distinction needed between the PMO Manager and PMO Lead roles.
Looking to other business frameworks, methods, processes and tools that can help the PMO solve problems.
Moving the Agile conversation on the "Agile PMO" into real, practical activity.
More focus on development and learning for PMO.
Unpicking the value debate - understanding what the real issues are.
Changing the PMO language.
Understanding strategy in your business - including formulation.
Change is our business so we need to understand the principles of change management.
Using the right people for the job.
Making small changes that have a real impact.
Back in 2014 PMO Flashmob threw its hat into the ring and offered to write a chapter about the Programme Office for Gower's upcoming second edition of The Handbook of Programme Management. So alongside Eileen Roden, we set about understanding what the first edition had to say about Programme Offices (published in 2006) and how that might have changed over the years.
In the first edition there was a lot of focus on tools - which of course, as many of us know that is just one tiny part of the picture. Plus we wanted to make sure it was totally focused on programmes - not projects or portfolios - so we had to think about structures, reporting lines, specific functions and services that are a programme level - rather than get dragged into talking about projects or portfolios.
The book was finally published this year and it's a lovely brick of a book that pretty much covers just about everything you would want to know about programme management - a must if you're working predominantly in the programme office field.
If you're interested there is a 20% discount available using this Gower Handbook of Programme Management Flyer
At the PMO CV Workshop in July, PMO Practitioners got together to work on improving their CV.
There are three crucial areas of the CV - the opening profile, the career history and key achievements.
Here’s what they learnt about the three areas:
Create the opening profile of a CV which is guaranteed to tick all the boxes and get yourself noticed for all the right reasons. It will focus on understanding your own Unique Selling Points.
Learn how to write the career history part of your CV – conveying your skills and experiences in the way that hirers want to read. Learn to write about each position in your career – focusing on the facts that prospective employers want to see. You’ll learn about the power of combining responsibilities with key project competencies.
Include hard-hitting key achievements that help you stand out from the competition. Catch attention for specific roles – learn out to mix and match key achievements for maximum impact.
Until we run another PMO CV Workshop in the future, (take a look at the previous PMO Mini-Masterclass if you can't wait) in this article we take a look at the beginning stages of creating a CV - the things you have to think about before you even put pen to paper.
Ever attended a conference and wished you got more out of it afterwards? How about someone giving you the top ten takeaways to help shape your experience and thinking? There was a lot to take in at the PMO Conference this year so in this webinar we cover the top ten talking points from the PMO Conference held in London in June 2016.
Here are the top ten:
Simplicity
Personality
Elephants
Research
Just Enough Maturity
Stakeholders
Value?
High Yellows
Agile
Community
Missed the webinar? You can take a look here:
Take a look at the PMO Mini-Masterclass session on the subject of Benefits Management and the PMO.
In this article we take a look at the top five learning points you can take away from this session - or watch it all!
The Challenges and Reality of Portfolio Management.
The Inside PMO Report:
As organisations look to improve on the returns from strategy development and increase maturity in programme and project management delivery capability, portfolio management has increasingly taken centre stage as a business function to support that.
Portfolio management is seen as the ‘glue’ or ‘bridge’ between strategy and strategy execution (delivered by programmes and projects).
The PMO or Portfolio Office is the place where portfolio management practices become a reality for an organisation.
Status Reports - that was the subject for the last PMO Flashmob in Manchester. The evening was held at the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School so we thought, an educational establishment deserves an evening of learning. So we headed to the classroom for a session on project status reports (we really know how to let our hair down!)
We held the first PMO Flashmob Webinar today.
The presentation was packed with lots of different angles, topic areas, nooks and crannies of PMO. We thought it would make a good webinar because there is a lot there to keep you engaged for an hour.
So here it is:
As we kick-start the New Year in project management, we take a look at what’s in store for the PMO in 2016 – for those working in portfolio, programme and projects offices.
1. PMOs must secure the tools they need to do the basic job
2. PMO teams will recruit data analysts
3. Getting to grips with programme management
4. Methodology makeover
5. Further practices in portfolio management
6. Measures and metrics – showing why PMO is needed
7. Picking off the services that mean the most for the business
8. Making business cases for additional capacity and capability
9. Understanding the true skillset required for where you’re heading
10. Making relationships with other departments
I recently spent a stimulating couple of days at Project Challenge last month. One of the presentations I managed to catch was entitled "Stop Implementing a PPM Tool, and Start Solving the Problem", given by Stephen Brown of Polarisoft, from which I thought you might appreciate me relating the key take-aways.
This presentation highlighted the disappointment felt by many organisations after implementing a project portfolio management (PPM) tool, when they find that the reality of working with the tool doesn't live up to their (often unrealistically optimistic) expectations. This is commonly embodied in thoughts like "We bought the wrong tool" or "We're not mature enough for a tool".
