The role of a Project Management Office

In this lesson, you are learning about different types of organizational structures. Project managers serve key functions in both Classic and Matrix organizations. Within both of these types of structures, there is sometimes a group devoted specifically to program management with the organization: the Project Management Office. In this reading, we will discuss the purpose and functions of a Project Management Office.

he key purposes of a PMO include: strategic planning and governance, implementing project management best practices, establishing common project culture, resource management, and creating project documentation, archives, and tools.

What is a PMO?

A Project Management Office, or PMO, is a group within an organization that defines, sets, and helps maintain project management standards and processes throughout that organization. It often acts as a coordinated center for all of the organization’s projects, helping them run more smoothly and efficiently.

An organization’s project managers may operate within the PMO itself or within other departments. At Google, for example, there are project managers who work in a PMO focused on operational excellence, but there are numerous project and program managers in other departments throughout the organization, as well.

What are the functions of a PMO?

PMOs offer guidance and support to their organization’s project managers. They share best practices, project statuses, and direction for all of the organization’s projects while often taking on strategic projects themselves. The main functions of a PMO include:

Strategic planning and governance

This is the most important function of a PMO. This involves defining project criteria, selecting projects according to the organization’s business goals, and then providing a business case for those projects to management.

Best practices

PMOs help implement best practices and processes within their organization. They also share lessons learned from previous successful projects. They help ensure consistency among their organization’s projects by providing guidance about processes, tools, and metrics.

Common project culture

PMOs help set common project culture practices by training employees about optimal approaches and best practices. This helps keep project management practices consistent and efficient across the entire organization.

Resource management

PMOs are often responsible for managing and allocating resources—such as people and equipment—across projects throughout the organization based on budget, priorities, schedules, and more. They also help define the roles and responsibilities needed on any given project. PMOs provide training, mentoring, and coaching to all employees, but project managers in particular.

Creation of project documentation, archives, and tools

PMOs invest in and provide templates, tools, and software to help manage projects. They also play an important role in maintaining their organization’s project history. Once a project closes, they archive all of the documents created during the project for future reference and to capture lessons learned.

Key takeaway

To recap, the key purposes of a PMO include: strategic planning and governance, implementing project management best practices, establishing common project culture, resource management, and creating project documentation, archives, and tools. PMOs support their organizations in managing large numbers of projects and help keep all employees working in the same direction towards the organization’s goals.

A program management director has a team of project managers to help execute and

bring products to our users.

I work on the project management team or the PMO team for a group called "Geo."

And in Geo we bring geospatial products to our users.

Things like Google Maps and Google Earth.

And the team that I'm a part of actually works on all of the data and imagery

that powers all of those products.

A Project Management Office is a team of project managers.

We are a group that coordinates all of the different parts of a project together,

including folks who work on our product, engineers, and

many business functions, and we help bring all of those ideas to life.

My role specifically in working in a PMO

is ensuring that we're connecting all of the different parts that are associated

with projects to ensure that they are all connected together.

Sometimes we find out when projects are happening, there's a piece of it here and

a piece of it there, and they may not even know about each other.

One of the most critical things that Project Managers get to do is they get

to have a bird's eye view of everything that's happening in a project.

So that's a lot of my role, and what I'm working on with my team is ensuring that

all of the pieces that need to connect together actually do connect together.

I've had many different roles inside of many different PMOs inside my career.

All the way from taking just a piece of a part of a project when I was really

early in my career,

and then expanded that into taking a full end-to-end project which were smaller.

And then building up my career and then moving it to really large,

complex projects.

And at each stage of these I have loved every piece of it.

So even from the time that I had only a part of a project,

I got to go really deep inside of some of those technologies

and have really deep and

meaningful relationships with the teams that I have been working with.

And that's not always possible when you're working on a really large project that has

hundreds of people.

You won't be able to develop deep relationships across that large group.

On the flip side, when you're working on a large, complex project,

you get to see all of the different gears turning inside of a large ecosystem of

things that are happening.

But that took a long time in my career to build up, but at each phase of it,

I realized I was learning a little bit more.

And I was learning how to work a little bit more broadly and

think a little bit more differently.

But really ensuring how do you continue to keep the execution and

rigor of a project to ensure that ideas were coming to life.

One of the biggest benefits I see in working in a PMO is that you get to share

a lot of best practices with each other.

One of the downsides, I think for

project management, is typically we don't get to work with each other

because we're working with a lot of client teams and

we're working with other disciplines.

But a huge benefit of working in a PMO

is that you get to connect with other project managers,

where you can share your challenges and

see how somebody else had gotten through it.

Or you can share templates or tools that you may take time to develop on your own,

but somebody else already has handy,

so you can borrow or just steal their tool for your own use.

But the best part is you have a community of people who think the same way about

problems in a very methodical, in a very task-oriented,

in a very action-oriented and goal-oriented way,

which is not typically true if you're working across all other disciplines all

the time.

Test your knowledge: Understanding organizational structure Total points 4

1. Question 1 Which of the following scenarios best describes a Classic structure? 1 / 1 point Imagine you are managing an important project at a company that requires all orders to go through its shipping department. However, your project is on a tight schedule, and the shipping department has a backlog of orders. You decide to meet with your direct manager to ask for approval to place the order through a third-party vendor. Ultimately, your direct manager has to meet with a vice president to get final approval. Imagine you work alongside a small group of project managers. One of your current projects shares team members with another, ongoing project. To make sure you hit your next milestone, you want your team members to work only on your project for the next two weeks. You decide to meet with your team to discuss your proposal. Imagine you work at a small marketing agency, and you have just begun a new project. All of the company’s graphic designers work in the Art department and report to the Art Director. However, two of those graphic designers have been assigned to your project, so they will also report to you while working on the project. Correct In a Classic organization, project managers are part of a top-down hierarchy and should communicate with their direct managers frequently to keep them informed. 2. Question 2 Why is it important for a project manager in a Matrix organization to clearly define roles and responsibilities? Select all that apply. 1 / 1 point Because project managers need to identify their single manager or director Because employees may report to more than one person and have multiple responsibilities across teams Correct In both Classic and Matrix organizations, project managers must clearly define roles and responsibilities in order to work effectively. However, within most Matrix organizations, some project managers may have the same level of authority as the functional managers and operate more directly. Because project managers must get approval from their direct superiors for any decisions they make about day-to-day project activities Because project managers can have the same level of authority as functional managers Correct While it’s always important to define roles and responsibilities clearly, the more complex reporting structure of a Matrix organization makes this task especially crucial. Functional areas tend to cross paths more frequently, and depending on the nature of the work, the responsible manager for each area has the most authority. 3. Question 3 What are some ways that organizational structure can impact the role of a project manager? Select all that apply. 1 / 1 point Their level of authority Correct A project manager’s level of authority and responsibility will vary in different organizational structures. In a Classic structure, a project manager might have less authority and a tighter scope. In a Matrix structure, a project manager will have to cooperate with other leaders in their organization and may have less direct authority over their team members. Their access to resources Correct Organizational structure may affect how the project manager accesses the people, equipment, and budget that they need. A project manager working in a Classic structure may depend on the functional managers in their organization to approve resources. In a Matrix structure, a project manager may need to share project resources and negotiate priorities with other groups. Their approach to getting approvals Correct Since Classic structures have a clear chain of command and Matrix structures do not, the process for getting approvals in these organizational structures differs. A project manager in a Classic structure may have to get approval from the appropriate managers, directors, and department heads in order to complete certain tasks. A project manager in a Matrix organization, on the other hand, may have more autonomy to make decisions for the project as needed. Their possibility of career growth 4. Question 4 What are some key functions of a Project Management Office (PMO)? Select all that apply. 1 / 1 point Managing the organization’s income and expenses Strategic planning and governance Correct PMOs define project criteria, select projects according to the organization’s business goals, and provide a business case for those projects to management. Creating project documentation, archives, and tools Correct PMOs invest in and provide templates, tools, and software to help manage projects and help maintain their organization’s project history. Implementing project management best practices Correct PMOs share lessons learned from previous successful projects and provide guidance about processes, tools, and metrics to ensure consistency.