How to Ensure Project Success: Implement a Project Management Office Approach (Part 1)

Given the daily distraction of putting out fires, many management teams struggle to implement longer-term operational improvements. The Inglewood team has extensive experience helping organizations execute strategic initiatives through a project management office (PMO) approach: streamlining operations, trimming away waste, and boosting the bottom line.

What Is a Project Management Office (PMO)?

A project management office is a group or department within a business, agency, or enterprise that defines and maintains standards for project management across the organization. The PMO works to standardize project execution and introduce economies of repetition and expertise. It is generally defined as "the source of documentation, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution."

Why Do You Need a PMO?

The Risk of Project Failure

Projects fail for many reasons. A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that inadequate project estimating and planning accounts for 30 percent of project failures, lack of executive sponsorship for 16 percent, and poorly defined goals and objectives for 12 percent. The same survey found that established project management approaches improve success as measured by a project's key performance indicators: quality, scope, schedule, budgets, and benefits. Operating an established PMO ranked among the top three drivers of successful project delivery.

Companies take on projects they believe are critical to their success. When those projects fail, the financial stress can strain a business severely, and in some cases cause it to fail outright.

Organization Size, Project Scope, and Frequency

For most middle-market businesses, the need for major project management expertise is transitional. It is essential during project planning and implementation, but it often becomes an unnecessary ongoing expense once the project is complete. There simply are not enough projects to justify keeping a senior PMO team or leader on staff. After the project wraps up, the new systems, processes, and operational improvements are turned over to day-to-day management and employees. It is the same logic behind interim management: bring in senior expertise when the work demands it, and hand off cleanly when it is done.

The Three Roles a PMO Can Play

Depending on the situation and the needs of the organization, a PMO tends to take on one or more of three roles:

• Supportive. A more collaborative or consultative approach, focused on getting the organization to work together.
• Controlling. Requiring compliance, particularly for operational improvement and change management projects.
• Directive. Taking control, directing, and managing, particularly for projects with critical timelines and budgets.

For more information, see How to Ensure Project Success: Implement a Project Management Office Approach (Part 2).

About Inglewood

Since 1983, Inglewood has delivered practical business acumen to clients facing a wide range of business challenges. Inglewood principals bring wide-ranging experience as interim and full-time CEOs, CFOs, and board chairmen to help clients find effective solutions for their needs and circumstances. The firm specializes in profit improvement, business turnarounds, interim management, M&A due diligence, expert witness work, and project management.