Business Driven PMO Setup: Practical Insights, Techniques and Case Examples for Ensuring Success [Hardcover]

Mark Price Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1604270136 | ISBN-13: 978-1604270136

This unique reference contains the contributed PMO knowledge, practical experience and wisdom of more than 20 distinguished executives and subject matter experts. Business Driven PMO Setup challenges various traditional approaches and strategies for the PMO and shows how to implement a PMO using an extensively proven roadmap adaptable to any type or size organization. It delivers the key tips, tools and techniques that enable a PMO to achieve success.

KEY FEATURES

--Outlines actionable solutions to the problems and execution difficulties that most PMOs face
--Establishes a clear bottom-line business mindset and practical approach that any PMO can adopt, and delivers practical insights supported by real case examples beneficial to PMOs of all shapes and sizes
--Demonstrates using real examples, including OPM3®, how PMOs can be designed to fit the organizations they serve
--Presents an outside-the-box discussion of Lines of Business PMOs which can be of tremendous value to firms
--WAV offers free downloadable practical tips covering 20 PMO knowledge areas and a guide to 150 episodes of The PMO Podcast available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at jrosspub.com

Editorial Reviews

Review

Business Driven PMO Setup is the most practical book available on this often confusing subject. Use it as you set up a new PMO or revitalize an existing one. Each chapter will get you laser-focused on what s really important. In today s competitive environment, that s the ONLY way to get it right. --Dave Garrett, PMO 2.0 Visionary and CEO of gantthead.com

The PMO is the bridge between projects and business. With his five-dimensional approach, Mark Perry defines the roadmap for a PMO that operates in strategic corporate space, as well as in functional departments. A practical guide supported by true expertise and in-depth considerations. --Gunes Sahillioglu, PMO Expert and President of Excellix

About the Author

Mark Price Perry is a subject matter expert in the practical application of project portfolio management (PPM), collaboration platforms, and PMO content assets. Over the past 10 years, he has become a widely recognized expert in PMO setup as Senior Vice President of Operations at BOT International. Mark has been author of BOT International s PMO Tips of the Week column for the past 7 years, sharing experience-based practical insights as a service to thousands of project management professional subscribers. Mr. Perry is a distinguished contributor at gantthead.com, the leading online professional site for the project management community, and the author of the gantthead.com blog, PMO Setup T3 - Tips, Tools, and Techniques. He is also the host of The PMO Podcast, the leading podcast for PMOs of all shapes and sizes, and a sought after speaker. In addition to formal project managers and members of PMOs, Mr. Perry has helped tens of thousands of informal and accidental project managers apply the knowledge and techniques of the PMBOK.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: J. Ross Publishing (June 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604270136
• ISBN-13: 978-1604270136
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a student, practitioner, and advocate in the field of business-driven approaches for the management of projects and the management of project offices (PMOs). For decades project offices have had difficulties getting started and in staying on the right track. Some critics blame the executives for not taking on the right projects, taking on too many projects, allowing business areas to continue with their pet projects, and abdicating to the PMO the management and coordination of the resulting mess.

Other critics blame the PMO and project managers for having an overly inward mindset on theoretical PMO models, rigid and too detailed project management methodologies, and a focus on project documentation as the primary measure of progress as opposed to more contemporary agile views. In my humble opinion, blindly pursuing and adopting academic and theoretical approaches and models as opposed to practical business strategies tempered with good business, technology, and financial judgment is perhaps the greatest single reason for the poor track record of PMOs.

What many of the critics and practitioners too often overlook is the simple fact that when PMOs are driven by the needs of the business for which they exists to serve, they succeed. When PMOs are driven by any other motivations or rationale, they fail. While the concept of being business-driven might seem easy and intuitive to grasp and execute, regrettably for most PMOs it is not.

Most PMO books and advice offered by the so-called experts tend to be a reincantation of standards, bodies of knowledge, and theoretical models. This knowledge and information is important to a degree, but for many organizaitons seeking to set up or refresh a PMO, this limited set of theoretical cookie-cutter PMO models that for decades have failed all too often will continue to fail today and into the future.

In pursuit of business-driven success, more and more organizations and practitioners are breaking away from the traditional mold and approaches of the "formal" project management community that though originally well intended have become myopically focused on certification standards to the point of becoming irrelevant to the business-driven and agile needs of today's project organizations.

As a servant-leader in the field of business-driven PMOs, I am committed to filling an unmet need in the current thinking about project management and PMOs. That is the need to clearly demonstrate how to create and maintain a business-driven PMO and the need to challenge many of the so-called PMO experts by providing examples and constructive critiques of the many errors in thinking and ineffective advice that has been espoused for far too long within the "formal" project management community.

To thrive, not just survive, PMOs of all shapes and sizes must have a relentless focus on the needs of the business and a wide focus on where project management and the PMO can meet those needs and deliver tangible results.