Customer Reviews

The Complete Project Management Office Handbook (ESI International Project Management Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I rarely ever make book comments; however, because I saw a one star review, I just had to share my two cents.

Let me first start off by saying this is bar-none one of the best project management office books I have ever read. The way the concepts were organized and presented illustrate a solid approach to building a PMO office from scratch to a "center of excellence".

Please note that the book is written for senior project managers, program managers, and PMO directors who need a orchestrated approach to developing a project management office for their organization. It is NOT written for beginner or novice project managers hoping to learn fundamental concepts about project management or project management offices. It is an excellent reference book to keep on your book shelf to help develop and enhance Project Management Office development ideas.

This book has been instrumental in helping me to develop a strategic roadmap to further develop a recently established PMO office in one of the largest software engineering organizations in the world. (look my name up on the Internet )

Key takeaways for me:

1. Well explained PMO maturity model
2. Detailed explanation of each PMO maturity phase and the action items needed to be accomplished in order to move on to higher phases
3. A simplified summary at the end of each chapter for smaller organizations with less resources/capital.
4. Excellent and consistent charts and graphs. Other books are poorly illustrated.

In Summary
I have over 10 years of project management experience in the automotive and software engineering world and this book has proven to be one of the best books on strategic Project Management Office development.

Hill's book is an excellent overview of the Project Management Office(PMO) stages and functions. It is well-organized and well-written, with each chapter following a consistent format and including a related function model for the topic being discussed.

I particularly liked:

o The PMO Competency Continuum that depicts the five stages in the evolution of a full-blown PMO (i.e.,Center of Excellence), and the functions, advantages and disadvantages associated with each stage

o The table depicting the 20 PMO functions, grouped within his five function categories: Practice Management, Infrastructure Management, Resource Integration, Technical Support and Business Alignment

o Good use of charts, diagrams, bullets, examples, etc.

o Recognition of the PMO's business integration function

Suggestion for future editions: Correlate functions and processes to the Project Management Institute (PMI)'s terminology, phasing, etc.

A good desk reference!

Personally, I don't like this book. It reads like a big dictionary... lots of words but nothing tying things together. I found it difficult to find and follow a set of concrete steps to help get a PMO up and running. I understand it is "complete" but it does it at the expense of the "shotgun effect"--throwing a lot of stuff out but not really zeroing in on anything.

I think this book would be great for someone who needed to pick and choose a few specific things and wanted a reference but as a day-to-day book to help with setting up a PMO and figuring out how to get a PMO effort off the ground in a way that ensures success, it misses the mark unfortunately.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of project management office functions and structures the 20 functions in five main categories: practice management, infrastructure management, resource integration, technical support and business alignment.
In addition, it provides advice on focus for the 5 main types of PMOs on the PMO competency continuum: the project office serving an individual project, the basic PMO, the standard PMO, the advanced PMO and the center of excellence with a strategic focus.
It is not meant to be read cover-to-cover but as its name suggests to be used as a reference material when building the services of the PMO. This is a conceptual book which structures the thoughts like the PMBOK does it for example, but lacks concrete examples of implementation.
Nevertheless, it helps a great deal in giving ideas of services to be implemented depending on the goal of your own PMO. Buy this book when you need to define the scope of your PMO, not to find ideas on how to sell the PMO to your organization.
Listen to the PM Podcast by Cornelius Fichtner on this book.

This is a very comprehensive text on what is required for a PMO but not quite what I was hoping to get. I was hoping for a book that gave more specifics about how PMO's work rather than a more broad based treatise on the scope and requirements of a PMO. My search continues...

The Complete Project Management Office Handbook

If you don't like to read a lot, I'll sum it up: Great Benefit / cost ratio!

It addresses in a simple and straight-forward way almost every topic one involved with a PMO would be interested in.

It contains the following 5 Sections.

1) Practice Management
2) Infrastructure Management
3) Resource Integration
4) Technical Support
5) Business Alignment


Following I present a list highlighting the positive points of this book:

1) Project Management Methodology,

2) PM Tools

3) Standards and Metrics (nicely presented a table of "Standards and Metrics Activities across the PMO Continuum" ranging from a Project Office to a Center of Excellence),

4) Project Planning,

5) Recovering,

6) Auditing,

7) Carrer and Team Development,

8) Project Portfolio Management, and

9) Others.


Since it presents the contents of several dedicated books, be prepared to face a big book (around 700 pages). But it is easy to read.

In its second edition this is the most complete reference in PMO I've came across. Make sure you buy the second edition (if you like to buy used books and save money!).

Hope this helps!

I ordered "The Complete Project Management Office Handbook" and received it in better condition than I expected in less time than I expected. Expectations exceeded. Will definitely use again and recommend to others.

It seems that someone wanting to glean the principles of project mgmt is doomed to wade through endless pages of often duplicated material.

excellent reference book and would recommend it for any one wants to know more about PMO

This is a very useful book for project managers and executives. A very complete book on the subject of project management offices.
It presents a complete view of the most important functions of a PMO.
One of the best books about PMO.