For an existing organization with a long history and a staff priding themselves on the longevity and consistency of the business, moving to a digital-first business model is a significant shift. The PMO needs to focus the projects on outcomes improving basic blocking and tackling of technology performance as well as transformational efforts in laying the foundation for the new digital business based on the assets built over the company’s history.
A PMO should have a broad set of expertise so as projects arise, team members can quickly provide value. In building a PMO, bring in new people that may not know your business but have experience in managing a variety of projects – from infrastructure work, to IS centralization, to product owner in various industries. They should deeply understand how a particular type of project is managed and bring a fresh set of eyes to the organization and industry. They should go deep in a particular project type so that they have a template based on experience. They can go wide in terms of industry knowledge so that they bring in a fresh perspective. This balance allows a new PMO project manager to jump in on a project with Best Practices learned elsewhere. If specific industry knowledge is needed, PMO can augment its team with internal industry experts more easily than looking for the project management Best Practices on a particular innovation project internally.
One way to develop cohesion across these new project managers is to establish a practice of peer reviews so that they can share this knowledge with each other while they all learn about the business from different perspectives of the organization. When you have a diverse team using flexible tools and methodologies, this continuous feedback is a key ingredient for successful transformation of the organization.
Bring in talented people and assign them to work using their strengths… and bring the PMO together to transform your organization.
Blue Cairn 