Saudi Arabia has been dependent on oil but with the reduction in demand and the drop of oil prices it needs to find alternative revenue sources. Saudi Arabia is going through a 15-year plan called Vision 2030, reinventing itself by moving up the value chain. To do this, large and complex projects have been identified and budgets have been established. The Saudi King has carried out an assessment of critical success factors and determined that PMOs at all levels of the government and industry are key to success for these projects.
The concept of PMOs have been established at the Kingdom level reporting to highest authority. This presentation explains why and how the PMOs have been established and how the topology reflects the business demand across the various departments and industries.
This amazing story explains how PMOs were identified as functional critical success factors and how they are one of the main pillars of success for a nation that needs to change.
The presentation moves from the macro to the micro level and details the 10 top challenges PMO Directors and PMO Managers face in the government sector.
Takeaways:
Saudi Arabia success story in using unified PMO approaches across all government entities to achieve Vision2030
Key role and power of decision makers on PMO success
10 top challenges PMO Directors and PMO Managers face in the government environment
In this case study, Kingsley and Dave will explain how RPCuk and Faithful + Gould deployed technology to facilitate the delivery of integrated services, which included Project Controls, Portfolio Management and Costs Integration. This solution has been designed and a POC delivered for a leading UK academic institution.
Through the intelligent amalgam of Project Controls best practice and supporting technology, we maintain proper governance of our data whilst increasing the access and exposure to information critical to the success of our project.
This presentation, demonstrated by RPCuk, will highlight one particular component, the integration of cost data and how we brought together information from multiple systems to manage budgets, expenditure, resources and schedule and delivered visibility of the true cost of the project, from funding and budget through to expenditure, and highlighted the cost of change and impacts on forecasts.
Takeaways:
A high level view of the integrations and touch points to be considered in developing the technology platform
Specific example of an integrated cost sheet and how to drill down to component items, regardless of the data source.
Recognition of the risks related to managing the plethora of data sources and manipulations currently in use in most PMO’s
The benefits of marrying people, processes and products and why it is important
Attracting talent to PMO as a career can be a challenge; creating a clear, yet “agile” path of progression perceived as “exciting” as a role in delivery can seem impossible!
As a fledgling PMO Practitioner searching the internet for “PMO Accreditation” will bring back a plethora of offerings but somehow the “O” of “PMO” gets lost after the first or second result!
With very little relevant, formal PMO training available and more and more pressure on L&D budgets, how, as we build our PMO community of Practice, can we develop a self-sustaining learning cycle which will develop the individual as well as the service?
This session will explore the challenges presented and some solutions in building capability within a PMO Practice where the “bar “is constantly rising, and PMO, even though respected can be considered second choice as a Career.
Takeaways:
Becoming first choice- peeling away the administrative role
Potential Career journeys in PMO
The Capability Jigsaw- how do we make the pieces fit across PM and PMO?
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.
My name is Ken Burrell, and since July 2011 I have been operating as an independent contractor, providing my PMO services to various clients (mostly London market insurance companies) through short-to-medium-term engagements of my company, Pragmatic PMO Limited.
I often get asked about contracting by the client employees I work alongside, and so I have written this article for PMO FlashMob to share some of my experiences with you, in the hope that you will find my observations useful if you’re planning a similar move.
I’m starting from the assumption that you’ve already made the decision to make the move, or you are at least seriously considering it. Everyone has their own reasons for moving into contracting, and you need to be certain that for you the (very real) risks are worth the (hopefully real but in no way guaranteed) rewards.
So, having decided to start the process, what should you actually do? As well as the obvious stuff (like sorting out your CV, doing a skills audit and so on), the steps I suggest below are based on what I actually did, with a few additions based on my experience:
During our time at Project Challenge, we presented to a PMO audience on the topic of "Challenges and Trends in a PMO Career". I presented three challenges related to finding new opportunities and Eileen Roden presented three challenges whilst in post as a PMO professional. For the second part we did the same but this time focused on the trends we're seeing.
The presentation was well received - pitched at the right level for the audience - so it makes sense that we would want to share the presentation with you too.
Here's the presentation, available through Prezi. Below you can access the two video presentations.
Last week we carried out our first PMO Mini-Masterclass. These evenings are about a little PMO learning combined with networking with other PMO professionals. The session took place at QA's offices right on Tower Bridge (see the offer from QA too for PMO Flashmobbers), with amazing views over the Tower of London and St Katherine Docks.
The topic for the first PMO Mini-Masterclass was all about your PMO career. The session was in four areas:
The PMO Marketplace
PMO Job Tools
PMO Training and Development
Networking for Opportunities
You can take a look at the first part (there are four videos in total), the PMO Marketplace here:
Last night’s PMO Flashmob was the Second Birthday Party, that’s a whole two years of PMO Flashmobbing, 24 get-togethers, marauding over so many different pubs and venues all over Central London.
It was good to see so many familiar faces as well as new people. It was good to hear from the ‘old-timers’ about some of their previous PMO Flashmobs, which one they first came to, what it was like walking into a PMO Flashmob for the first time and thankfully being quite surprise at what a friendly bunch of people it is. Thanks to you all for supporting the PMO Flashmob over the last two years and thank you for your generosity of spirit in sharing your PMO lives with others and being such great networkers.
So the second birthday. It couldn't be a party without the cake, and its thanks to a PMO Flashmobber who couldn’t be there for sending such a fab cake. Thanks to Jonathan from Gower for a lovely gesture!
At the last PMO Flashmob in July we spent the evening talking about our careers. One of the questions asked - and one that I frequently get asked - is how to manage a career in PMO. This is primarily for people who have been working in some kind of project support role who are keen to develop their capability - perhaps into a PMO analyst or PMO management role.
In this post I'd like to encourage PMO practitioners at all levels to leave your own comments, offering advice, guidance or just your opinion.
Here's our case study:
