PMO Setups: Which is the Right One?

I recently came across an article from William Casey and Wendy Peck that originally appeared in PM Network in 2001. It's a valuable article about PMO setups, and the issues still hold true today.

The premise is that there are three primary functions a PMO can serve (or any combination therein):

- Weather Stations, which merely monitor project activies without directly influencing them, through status reporting, metrics tracking, benefits tracking, and so on.

- Control Towers, which attempt to reduce variability on project effectiveness through training and mentoring, change control mechanisms, risk management, communication standards, lessons learned, and tools and processes that can be adapted appropriately to the project.

- Resource Pools , which maintain a selection of skilled project managers from which the organization can pull from, at least for major projects or programs.

The article offers benefits and warning signs for each, along with the suggestion that PMOs adopt a mix of roles, potentially based on certain project size thresholds. In fact, the authors caution against taking on projects that are too small to warrant the PMO disciplines required.

Read on...

Choosing the Right PMO Setup