Submitted by: Ty Kiisel

Saving the Project Management Office: There’s No Place Like Home.

With three clicks of those ruby slippers and “There’s no place like home,” Dorothy was back in Kansas. I wonder if finding the best project management professionals could be that easy?

I recently heard, in casual conversation with a noted PPM expert, that 50 percent of PMOs fail. By that I mean, many organizations don’t have a clear understanding of the value that the PMO offers an organization and that there appears to be an alarming number of PMO restarts that also fail to identify their value. Some organizations even try to give the PMO a different name, seeking to distance the new organization from the failures of the previous PMO.

As more and more organizations see the benefit of streamlining project based work to increase efficiency and even profitability, implementing project management best practices seems to be a natural fit. That being said, I wonder if we’re looking for that expertise in the wrong places.

One of the lessons Dorothy learned from her adventures in Oz included, “…if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with!”

I think I agree with Dorothy.

I’ve come to appreciate that it’s often the soft skills that make the difference between a very successful project management professional and one who isn’t. Successful work management methodologies combined with cultural fit, market fit, and people fit seem to be the keys for successful project leadership.

The trends seem to indicate that although formal projects will continue to be part of the work people do, the need to manage ad hoc or loosely planned projects is becoming more and more important. The leadership skills needed for this type of PMO might best be found already within the organization. Project management methodologies can be learned, and the right project management tools, along with an investment in education, can help make good leaders good project leaders. Indeed, if cultural fit, market fit, and people fit are an important factor in the success of future PMOs, those qualities already exist within many organizations. (I don’t mean to suggest that those skills can’t be found outside the organization, but that might not be where the search should begin.)

The right project management software may contribute to saving the PMO for many organizations, but more importantly, when you go looking for the PMO of your heart’s desire, maybe you shouldn’t go looking any further than your own back yard.

About this Author: As an accidental project manager and marketing veteran with over 25 years of experience, Ty Kiisel makes the concepts and best practices of web-based project management accessible to both the expert and novice project professional by weaving personal experiences, historical references and other anecdotes into daily discussions around effective leadership approaches that maximize the effectiveness of project teams. Ty is also the host of the popular podcast, TalkingWork.com.

About the Author: Website:

attask.com/topics/web-based-project-management-software

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