Putting the P in PMO

Putting the P in PMO Jim Harris December 26, 2001

Project Portfolio Management Project Management Program Management Office Process Improvement Advice, Anecdotes and Case Studies

Recently, I was asked what my profession is. I replied that I am a program manager. "Oh, you develop software!" "No, I am a program manager that...," I started, but then paused and said, "I am a project manager." The individual understood and went on to ask what type of projects. I felt I was in a time warp.

So, what is the P in PM, and for that matter, PMO? What is really being managed: project, program or portfolio? Has the PM function and its growth been typecast to yesteryear and rendered immobile? This article will explore the murky environment and a possible new direction for the PMO of the 21^st century.

Evolution of the Project Office

The genesis of the PM profession started with individual projects, but project management has come a long way since the early 1980s.

In a Gartner Group strategic analysis report on Project Office (August, 2000), Matt Light states that "more than 40 percent of client organizations have implemented some form of project office to 'professionalize' project management for applications development, infrastructure change and large-scale systems migrations (e.g., year 2000)." He continues: "Their goal is a base level improvement in project completion against schedule and budget estimates, while delivering the expected functionality with satisfactory quality.