Reimagine What’s Possible with PMO / PMO Conference 2024 Keynote

Dale Foong and Val Matthews opened the PMO Conference in Edinburgh in 2024 and kicked off the day with an exploration into the transformative potential of PMOs in today’s dynamic business environment. In their session, “Reimagine What’s Possible with PMO,” they delved 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 shared real-world examples and insights, illustrating how PMOs can evolve from administrative functions to strategic enablers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability.

In this session, two self-confessed PMO disruptors gain a fresh perspective on leveraging PMOs to:

• Align projects with business objectives
• Enhance stakeholder engagement
• Optimise resource utilisation

Recorded Session

Presentation Deck

Insights from the Session

PMO Conference Report Sarah Hazeldine provides her insights from the session:

Entering the Auditorium with the energy of Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway, it was clear from the start that Dale and Val’s session was going to be high-energy and packed with valuable insights to “Take Away.”

They didn’t disappoint, delivering their first nugget of wisdom right on the opening slide.

Quoting Da Vinci’s “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”, they captured the core mission of PMOs: to simplify the work of projects.

However, there’s an irony here. Despite this mantra, the definition of a PMO remains complex due to the various types and functions they encompass. This simplicity will be crucial as PMOs adapt to embrace technology and AI, and as individuals within PMOs, we must drive this change. Dale and Val emphasised that attending the conference was a step in this direction.

PMOs are fundamentally in the business of communication and translation—transforming data into actionable information. Innovation is key, and it doesn’t have to be monumental. It thrives on limited resources and creativity, a trait that AI cannot replicate. This human creativity will be a vital skill for the future.

One of the significant challenges we face is demonstrating the value of PMOs. Is it measured by the number of people involved, the actions taken from reports, or the perception of the PMO? This question remains open but how PMOs are perceived is crucial for the future.

So what about the future of the PMO? The session delved into the impact of AI on existing PMO roles. AI is advancing rapidly, and its integration into our roles is inevitable. Understanding what AI can and cannot do will be essential. The meaning of Artificial Intelligence is something that is human-made (artificial) and the ability to make a judgement (intelligence).  With nothing like AI having been around before, it is coming for our knowledge, and it is coming at a pace.

With this information how do we adapt our roles?  AI Agents will likely provide continuous, autonomous support, making decisions but not replacing human roles. Instead, they will automate specific activities.

AI is here now, robots are already in operation, this is not something for the future but a present reality.  We need to make sure we humans aren’t the barriers to technology and embrace where it can help us.  Dale and Val gave the example that planes can fly themselves without pilots yet passengers still prefer having pilots onboard for reassurance.

Dale and Val gave their view of the PMO roles of tomorrow with governance and integration of AI solutions as a primary role.  We will need people to keep up with the changes, particularly with the AI changing, and it will be our role to educate the project management community and, importantly, provide fact-checkers to ensure that the information provided is correct.

I see these roles as different flavours of what we do today, we already provide governance and education to the project community, we integrate processes and tools and importantly we ensure that the information we provide is correct, going forward there should be less manual intervention.

For the final part of the presentation, Dale and Val spoke about wearable technology.  Most attendees wore a smartwatch and had a mobile phone, and it was fascinating to see a pair of AI-integrated glasses, even if they humorously identified the podium as a kitchen sink, highlighting the ongoing development required in this area.  Imagining how we can use these to interpret reports will be an important step forward.

So, what were my key takeaways from this session:

• AI is here already it is not just a future concept
• PMOs have the ability to adapt and explore what is possible – we were encouraged to be childlike in our curiosity
• The most exciting time is yet to come and we should be eager to be part of this evolution. I’m certainly looking forward to it.

Thanks, Dale and Val, for a great presentation.