New EPMO Practice Director Support from Steve!

It is with sadness that I report that Cheryl Strait, our EPMO Director, has moved on to a new organization in Chicago last month. We all will miss her dearly.

In the meantime, I will be able to blog away with you on my EPMO experiences at Customs and Border Protection and other federal and commercial efforts that I have supported in the past. I hope to share some thoughts on what works and what doesn't! I also manage the Process Refinement and Optimization (PRO) Solution at Robbins-Gioia, with special concentrated areas on enterprise engagements with Oracle and SAP ERP for an Enterprise Architecture play especially on the business architechture side.


Steve

Blog 9 - How to Structure A PMO

A struggle many project managers have in designing a PMO is deciding how to structure the PMO to meet organizational requirements, yet not be too burdensome to the individual project managers. Three common structures that can be considered when designing a PMO include: Virtual or PMO Lite, Coach / Mentor and Active Manager. The concept of the Virtual model, or what many people refer to as a PMO lite, is a repository based approach focused on providing processes and templates via a collaboration site that enable a project manager to have ready access to tools that jump start a project. For a virtual model to provide executives with value it must also be equipped with a dashboard used to publish project status. Like most PMO dashboards it must provide visibility into project schedules, costs and risks while also providing a compilation of project portfolios.

The Coach / Mentor model goes one step further by staffing the PMO with individuals capable of providing project managers with educational support. By this I mean the individuals within the PMO must be experienced project managers who also know how to mentor other project managers. Being a qualified mentor is a skill unto itself and should not be taken lightly. Like a Virtual model, the Coach/Mentor PMO must also have a collaboration site housed with processes, templates and a project status dashboard.

The Active Manager PMO is staffed with analysts who are the project managers for the organization’s projects and who provide real time visibility into project schedules, costs and risks. The success factor for any one of the models is to focus efforts on right-sizing the PMO activities and structuring the project management practices and methodologies so that they provide true value to the organization while not bogging project managers down with time-intensive documentation. It is the role of every project manager to be mindful of continual process improvement by sharing what works and what doesn’t work, enabling everyone to benefit from each other’s experiences.




The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, Robbins-Gioia.

Independent Program Oversight (IPO)

I read an article written by a colleague of mine, Emory Miller, entitled “Could Independent Program Oversight be a new model for improving the success of IT programs?” (FCW.com, Published June 11, 2007 http://www.fcw.com/article102922-06-11-07-Print ) In the article Emory states “We fail because we don’t make good decisions.” His answer to failure is to begin “with the roles we play”. He applies oversight roles to a program management office (PMO) structured to provide informed decisions by utilizing multidisciplinary reviews, independent assessments and validation of project costs, schedules and earned value reporting to “speed up the time-to-decision cycle.” If we consider the purpose of a PMO, then the functions of Independent Program Oversight (IPO) as described by Emory are a logical and innovative use of a proven PMO structure. An IPO could provide needed visibility into an initiative as complex as an ERP system implementation. Consider having the ability to utilize an experienced neutral party to monitor progress and risk of the work being performed by another third party. Wouldn’t it be valuable to know, without bias, how a project is actually performing and then have the ability to utilize that information to make timely decisions that improve the outcome of the project? I am intrigued by the concept of an IPO, what do you thing?



The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, Robbins-Gioia.

EPMO vs PMO

One of the many things I get asked is what is the difference between an EPMO and a PMO? An EPMO or Enterprise Program Management Office aligns strategically with the organization and provides holistic management over multiple Program Management Offices. In this capacity, an EPMO should have the ability to collect, analyze, and display program data in a manner that enables executives to see at a glace how their programs are running. A PMO is aligned with the organization with the purpose of providing management over multiple projects. Like the EPMO, the PMO should have the ability to collect, analyze, and display data but this data is project data and thus should be at a more specific and granular level. A PMO provides insight in the schedule, budget, and risks of each project. I think of the EPMO as being the overarching umbrella that governs multiple PMOs which in turn provide oversight over numerous projects.



The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, Robbins-Gioia.