Participants of this course will gain relevant knowledge and skills to establish, operate, and improve a project management office (PMO) – including identifying signs of an underperforming PMO and fixing it before it is too late. In addition, participants will learn to work with PMO staff and with project managers toward maximizing the value projects produce for the organization.

This 3-day course covers the reasoning for establishing a PMO, techniques to establish one and properly positioning it in the organization, advantages of running a successful PMO and guidelines to improve a PMO that is needed for recovery. Participants will explore various types and categories of PMO and each type’s respective functions, advantages and limitations.

The course provides participants with means to evaluate the performance of existing PMOs and equips participants with the ability to explore why PMOs may be underperforming, in order to apply a focused approach for action and turnaround.

This hands-on workshop engages participants at a ratio of 2:1, where 2/3 of the time is dedicated to discussions, conversations, activities, reviews and exercises, and 1/3 to lecture.

Hands-on exercises include:

• Assess the current state of your PMO
• Define project success criteria
• Learn to articulate the prioritization of projects within the organization
• Identify competing demands and prioritization criteria within your project
• Write a PMO Charter
• Identify and apply relevant project health measurements
• Develop a PMO Assessment
• Create a PMO Turnaround Plan

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Through project simulation, group exercises, and discussion, participants completing this workshop will be able to:

• Recognize the value and advantages a PMO can bring for an organization
• List actions and conditions required to establish and implement a PMO
• Explore ways to maximize the beneficial a PMO introduces and delivers over time
• Identify trends in PMO value production and reasons for these trends
• Apply models and ways for PMOs to articulate success criteria and produce value for stakeholders
• Realize the importance of periodic evaluations of projects, processes, and competency to provide an objective view of expectations and performance
• Investigate different views of the role of the PMO and how to define an applicable role based on the organizational actual needs
• Prioritize projects and competing demands based on changing conditions
• Employ techniques to revitalize and improve the performance of an existing PMOs that fall short of delivering the intended value

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Project Managers — both new to project management and experienced project managers who want to interact effectively with PMOs, project team members, account managers, members of the PMO and anyone wishing to be more competitive in today’s job market

PREREQUISITE

There is no prerequisite for this course. It functions as a stand-alone course.

MATERIALS

Participants will receive a course workbook containing; presentation slides, and exercises as well as a copy of the book Managing Stakeholder Expectations for Project Success (J. Ross, 2013), by Ori Schibi

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN