Key Steps Every Company Should Know When Launching a PMO (Part 3)

In the first two parts of this series I discussed when establishing a PMO within an organization, the team must first  Plan the Transition to bring project management methodologies and practices into the company and then Create a PMO Governance. This time I will discuss the third out of seven steps:

Step 3 – Identify and Develop Project Managers

A company may not have a PMO already established, but will most likely have Project Managers inside the organization each running projects in a slightly different way. These Project Managers can vary on level of experience from one who is well seasoned at project management methodologies to a technical or functional lead who was thrusted into the project management role. Once a company determined that a PMO will be established, it will be important to Identify and Develop Project Managers by:

Defining the Roles within the Project Team

Depending upon the industry of the company and where the PMO will reside within the company, there are many different roles that can be placed on a project team. One example of a Project Team designed for an IT project may look like the organizational chart below:

Assessing the Current Pool of Company Resources

Once the project team roles are defined, the company can focus on assessing the current pool of resources to identify those who can step into the PMO roles. Since there is most likely Project Managers already in the organization, it would be helpful to assess those currently serving in a project management capacity. They may have a unique insight on the current processes and will be able to provide valuable input going forward.

Developing the Project Management Skills of Identified Resources

Now that the company has identified resources to step into the PMO roles by either placing from the current pool or bringing them into the company from external sources, the team can now focus on project management skill development. It may be beneficial to send identified resources to project management classes or have them take online training. Only in the later stages of establishing a PMO will a company be able to send identified resources to specific training to work with a Portfolio and Project Management tool. A bulk of the time spent on establishing the PMO will be spent developing project management skills based on the direction of the PMO.

Next part of this series will focus on Creating Project Methodology.