Val Matthews
Co-Founder
Project Advisory Group
Opening Keynote
Reimagine What’s Possible with PMO
Dale and Val will explore the transformative potential of PMOs in today’s dynamic business environment. In their session, “Reimagine What’s Possible with PMO,” they will delve into innovative strategies and frameworks that enable PMOs to drive significant organisational change and deliver value beyond traditional project management.
Drawing from their groundbreaking Project Chatter podcast and extensive award winning careers in PMO, Dale and Val will share real-world examples and insights, illustrating how PMOs can evolve from administrative functions to strategic enablers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability.
Join this session to discover how reimagining the role of PMOs can unlock new possibilities and propel your organisation towards greater success.
Dale Foong
Kathryn Welsby
Delivery Lead
Senior Leadership Team, PD&I
What Does it Take to Win APM’s PMO of the Year award?
The Project Delivery & Improvement PMO operates within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). We’ll describe our journey over the past five years to enhance project delivery and maturity across the organisation’s project profession. How we’ve managed change, and adapted to remain relevant and achieved a 100% success rate in major project business case approvals and significantly increased P3M3 maturity from level 2 to level 3. We support the delivery of over 300 projects and programmes worth £bllns of public R&D investments. Our efforts have led to improved reporting capabilities, knowledge management, and governance practices, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. We will describe our delivery model and enabling pathways for shared learning, training and continuous improvement across a complex organisation and the importance to train the next generation of project professionals.
Alexander King
Adapting to Change: Microsoft’s Response to Modern PPM Needs
With the ever-changing PPM & PMO landscape, more and more users are requiring the capability to manage tasks and projects. Join us for this session as we delve into how Microsoft has responded to this evolving business requirement and what this could mean for you.
Whether you’re already leveraging Microsoft 365 or just exploring its potential, our session is designed to showcase the latest innovations and tools from Microsoft. We will dive into the new Planner and Project for the web, highlighting how these tools can be effectively utilised across various levels of Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) maturity and for diverse user audiences.
Targeting real-world examples, this session aims to provide valuable insights and practical knowledge, demonstrating how you can make the most of Microsoft 365, Planner, and Project for the web, regardless of your organisations current level of investment or expertise.
Chris Edwards
Head of Product Development
QDC
Monie Manugue
Director Manager – Delivery Management
Moody’s
“We Give P3 a New Name”: A Collaborative Partnership between PMO and Product Management
Here´s a PMO team that is passionate about Product delivery, as they use their myriads of skills to interact with multi-disciplinary teams to make success possible. Beyond the meetings, metrics and methodologies, what keeps this team engaged and motivated? And how do they engage and motivate their stakeholders?
Join us as we have a quick glimpse on how the Risk and Finance PMO came together during the pandemic, and how they´ve since established the working relationship with Product Management to build Insurance Solutions. We will focus on the PMO´s aspirations, the challenges they´ve faced, and the best practices and lessons learned from overcoming these hurdles.
All this, and so much more, in the pursuit of Product Management-PMO Partnership.
One Woman and Her Dog: The Secrets to a PMO Implementation
Sysco GB’s Head of PMO invites you to join her journey as one woman implementing a PMO – hear about Natalie’s inspiring story from maturity assessment to implementation.
In this session, Natalie will share her method for conducting maturity assessments and how she tailored it to fit her organisation, utilising the output to guide her next steps to make the biggest impact.
Learn about her choice of bottom-up approach, prioritising project consistency before advancing to portfolio management and how she illustrated that data can be used to educate and change behaviours at all levels of the organisation.
Discover how , with the help of her dog, Natalie fiercely protected her time, maintaining a healthy rest ethic , something that was crucial in her journey as a one person PMO.
Natalie Rickards
Head of PMO
Sysco GB
Claire Loon
Head of Projects and Strategic Developments
Red Funnel
Steering PMO Success: Flexible Resourcing and Project Prioritisation
In this presentation, the Head of Project and Strategic Development at Red Funnel will share the journey of establishing a PMO within a busy operational ferry business over the past five years. They will explain how project demands are balanced with ongoing operations through a flexible resourcing approach, despite not having dedicated project teams. Attendees will learn how the right people are identified for each project, how responsibility and ownership are assigned, and how accountability is ensured across the business. The presentation will also highlight the tools and techniques used to prioritise and schedule projects, showcasing how the PMO continues to evolve to meet the growing demands of the business.
Power Up PPM With Microsoft AI
Microsoft leads the market in terms of infusing AI into business applications, as well as offering tools to build custom AI functions. There are real benefits to all PPM stakeholders, and this presentation will give you a round-up view of how your team can gain mind-blowing productivity gains and insights with AI.
But there are of course risks and limitations, and we will explore those to provide some real-word recommendations as to how you can make best use of Microsoft AI today.
Gero Renker
Director
Program Framework
Steve Jenner
Author, Trainer, Practitioner
Portfolio Solutions Ltd.
Keynote
I Come to Praise PMOs, Not to Bury Them
Fourteen years ago, Steve Jenner and Craig Kilford wrote Management of Portfolios for the OGC/Axelos. Now they are back with a new, enhanced, and up-to-date guide: Managing Portfolios. Steve will explain why, he’ll outline the key characteristics of effective portfolio management, and the role a PfMO can play in embedding these characteristics as business as usual. Steve will illustrate his case with stories and examples from successful organizations from around the world.
Cheryl Cook
Principal Management Consultant
AtkinsRéalis
Why Net Zero and the PMO
Building on our presentation in 2023 on ‘How PMOs can contribute to Net Zero Outcomes’ we at AtkinsRéalis are excited to outline the work we have done since then entitled ‘Why Net Zero and the PMO’.
We envisage Net Zero becoming an integral part of performance reporting and by developing metrics that are tailorable to different delivery environments we aim help the profession to push the boundaries of traditional PMOs. We don’t want to stop at just Carbon and we want this to reach more than Infrastructure programmes – Net Zero should be considered across all delivery and AtkinsRéalis are moving this opportunity forward through PMO optimisation.
Our session with you will cover;
- Why is the PMO best placed to influence Net Zero?
- Changing perspectives of traditional PMO reporting
- Why is Net Zero more than just Carbon
- How is your PMO embracing Net Zero outcome reporting?
- What opportunities lie ahead for the PMO profession for Net Zero reporting?
- With industry collaboration where are AtkinsRéalis taking Net Zero PMO Metrics
- Seeding the model and adapting to fit
Adam Morris
Senior Consultant
AtkinsRéalis
Sarah Darracott-Hawkins
Head of Portfolio & Planning
National Fire Chiefs Council
Growth of the Centre of Excellence
In this session we focus on the growth of a PMO Centre of Excellence with the National Fire Chiefs Council. We’ll start with an overview of the NFCC, comparing its past and present landscapes. By conducting thorough health checks and quality assurance reviews, several key areas were identified and actioned for improvement. A crucial element to boost delivery capability across the organisation led to the creation of various training workshops and masterclasses to boost project management skills. The session details some of the key areas including risk management. Additionally, the session discusses the development of a PPP Network in collaboration with Fire and Rescue Services and highlights how the PMO CoE model can expand its reach with best practice approaches.
Optimizing Strategic Delivery Through Portfolio Capacity Planning
Optimizing portfolio flow requires the continual realignment of skills to emerging business priorities. Availability of teams and people should easily inform roadmap sequence, project/epic delivery coordination, and adaptive portfolio planning.
This session will review easy to adopt capacity planning practices that help:
• Delivery predictability and business agility
• Match business opportunities with available teams and people
• Streamline hybrid agile/waterfall delivery
• Optimize delivery within capacity, financial, and governance guardrails.
• Identify skills gaps early enough to add capacity or reschedule work
Lloyd Norman
Vice President Strategic Solutions
ProSymmetry
Val Matthews
Co-Founder
Project Advisory Group
Closing Keynote
PMO Unplugged – A Live Podcast Experience
Get ready to wrap up the PMO Conference with a dynamic, live podcast session featuring Dale and Val, the charismatic hosts of the widely popular Project Chatter podcast! This session promises to be a mix of insightful conversation, engaging discussions, and audience interaction as we explore the future of PMOs in a rapidly changing world.
In this special format, we’ll welcome industry experts and PMO leaders to join us on stage, sharing their real-world experiences and lessons learned. Expect lively debates, expert tips, and a few laughs along the way. And it’s not just a passive experience – the audience will play an active role! You’ll have the chance to ask questions live, participate in quick polls, and even help guide the conversation with real-time input.
This interactive keynote will have something for everyone. It’s the perfect way to conclude the day with practical takeaways and the energy of a live podcast show.