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Two different approaches to running a PMO

February 21, 2008 @ A Girl's Guide to Managing Projects from Elizabeth

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For weeks it seems like I’ve not read anything about project management offices, and then all of a sudden two different approaches turn up, like buses. And they are very different.

Firstly, there’s the Project Success Plan, from CA. It reads like you are going to find out all about project management but actually it’s about how to set up a successful project management framework in your organisation using a PMO. You can read their approach here. You have to register, and then they’ll send you a reminder email each week to access the next step. Or you can just fast track through the steps - it does seem like a convoluted way to publish information but maybe they figure people need a week to put each step into action, as if that’s likely.

Then there is the Norman Sanders approach: sneaking a project office in below the corporate radar. The article is in February’s edition of Project Manager Today (pages 18-22). You should be able to download it online when they update their website, as at the moment they only have the January articles available. This is a really thought-provoking piece which focuses on just getting on with it and letting the PMO grow holistically because the right people will find their way on to the group and as they know the value of a structure approach they will slowly enthuse everyone else. I showed this to a colleague of mine who runs a PMO and she wasn’t convinced. It’s controversial approach, I quite liked the idea but I can see that it wouldn’t work in some companies.

All of this just underlines the fact that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to project management - either running projects or embedding good practice in organisations. You have to do your homework and pick and choose what is going to work for you, based on your knowledge of your local situation and the people involved.

I did have a link to a great PMO blog, but now I can’t find it. If anyone writes (or reads) a blog about PMO’s, could you please send me the details? Thanks.

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