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Back in October it was the annual Agile Business Conference in London and we asked PMO Flashmob regular Brenda Nombro to go along to the conference to find out more about what the PMO community could learn from the conference. Brenda already gave us one insight in Agile PMO – How Much is Enough?
Here’s Brenda's second article on a more behavioural side to the work the PMO does, here she is to tell you more.
Another session I attended was run by Agnieszka Gasgperini who was an enthusiastic and engaging speaker. While there are many ‘what colour of personality are you’ assessments and models out there, the Relationship Awareness Theory takes this a step further into the business context, and more specifically into how we react to stress.
The more I read and talk to people about the PMO in an ‘Agile’ environment, the more I see how we need to redress the balance of our skill set. In some more traditional settings we have become really focussed on our technical skills; on planning, managing dependencies, identifying risks, writing reports – this is great as we are really good at it and experts in our field. But do we need to shift now to our people focussed skills?
Facilitation, bringing the right people together, getting the decision makers and sponsors engaged, managing and resolving conflicts – this is what we do, but can we do it better and show how, when it is done well, that the PMO has a greater role to play?
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We have another PMO Flashmobber who attended Project Challenge the other week - Fran Bodley-Scott - and she shares some of the insights she learnt from Project Challenge.
Survey results might seem a bit dry and unexciting first thing in the morning but last week at Project Challenge I’m glad I made the effort to arrive in time for Michael’s Cooch’s presentation about the results from PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey. I specialise in stakeholder relationship management, so I’m always on the look out for hints about what’s keeping the C-Suite awake at night, and this presentation didn’t disappoint. The reason I want to highlight it is that the insights were a real gem for any PMO seeking to engage more effectively with their CxO’s.
I don’t plan to reproduce PwC’s data here – the link above will lead you to lots of interesting stuff (disclaimer: I have no connection with PwC so this is my independent view). Consider this as a business case for why PMO’s should be plundering this sort of data shamelessly.
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In 2014, my team put PPM theories and models to one side and focused on listening to the challenges of our senior management team at Ofgem. Since then, we have changed to focus on the whole business lifecycle through strategy, projects and operational performance. In this presentation, I will use my own experiences to encourage PMO Managers to take a step back, consider what their organisation really needs and perhaps take a fresh approach to the development of their PMO.
Takeaways:
Think about the PMO in a business context
Consider different ways to approach senior stakeholders
Learn about practical ways to create a portfolio function from scratch
The Video
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