Project Portfolio Management: A View From The Management Trenches

12.7. DEDICATING RESOURCES TO RUNNING THE PMO

The PMO is the "engine room" for deploying and maintaining PPM across the organization, and in driving continuous improvement. It not only facilitates steering committees and review boards, it also manages the day-to-day governance to ensure the PPM processes are being adhered to. In the past, the tendency was not to recognize this as a discreet organizational function, and thus the various roles and responsibilities were scattered across several business functions. Not surprisingly, this obscured the necessary focus and clarity of purpose and there was little formal governance and control oversight. This only leads to failure. Without a dedicated organization to govern and manage PPM, aggregate and analyze information, and enforce and improve the processes, the initial successes will quickly become fragmented and eventually die out.

Foundational Principle Successful PPM requires a dedicated organization to govern and manage the project portfolio.

The PMO should be recognized as a stand-alone organization and be staffed accordingly. Its remit should be to focus on governance, tools, processes, analysis, and reporting in support of the business leadership. The head of the PMO should, ideally, have a direct reporting line to the senior leadership and not be "hidden" within an existing function. Only in this way will the chances of success be maximized.