PMO 101: Getting Started

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PMO 101: Getting Started
George Hunte (April 9, 2009)

For organizations tracking and managing dozens, even hundreds of projects, a responsive, accountable project management office is crucial to success. In the first of a six-part series on enterprise project management best practices, we outline the first steps in creating a PMO.

Today, organizations spend a large amount of their time delivering projects. While success rates have improved to approximately 34 percent, 15 percent of all projects still fail and 51 percent are somehow “challenged,” according to research from the Standish Group. There are many reasons why projects fail — many of which can be attributed to a lack of visibility into long-term project needs. Without proper visibility, organizations are unable to see what is needed six months, three months, or even two months down the road, resulting in poorly constructed project plans that do not capture critical dependencies, including assigning project resources and key milestones.

While developing a software process improvement program can be costly, studies have shown that the resulting benefits of improved time-to-market, productivity and software quality far outweigh the initial investment costs. Establishing a PMO is the first step towards improving:

· Project, program and portfolio management best practices

· Time-to-market acceleration

· Quality of your initiatives in a cost-effective manner

Determining Your Organization’s Needs

The first step to establishing a PMO is to determine your organization’s needs.

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September 2010:

What are the main reasons that projects fall behind schedule?