PMO and the Project Management Maturity Model

Yesterday I was reading about Project Management Maturity Models. While there are many versions of the maturity model, they generally show a progression from unstructured project work > standardizing language and process > managing and measuring processes > sustaining and optimizing the project framework. 

As I read I began to wonder how a Project Management Office contributes to the maturity model and vice versa.  I decided to ask my associate, Sasha Lomas for some clarification on this since she has extensive experience in this area. The biggest question on my mind: what comes first, the PMO or maturity? Sasha guided me toward the following answers.   

One of the main reasons for establishing a PMO is to guide the maturity process.  Once the business has a fair understanding of how they currently manage projects and has a genuine desire to improve project performance, the PMO can be introduced.  There is no prerequisite for a company to have existing standard processes, only the desire to have them is required.  

The PMO becomes the catalyst for standardizing project processes and administration. During the setup phase, the PMO group works closely with management and other business levels to devise the processes and templates.  From there the PMO guides the execution of projects and enhances the system with the goal of optimizing project performance.   

Sasha sums it up best. “PM Maturity starts by standardizing the project management processes and then monitoring, tracking and ensuring compliance to the defined processes. Supporting PMO would be the first step towards achieving PM Maturity since someone needs to ensure that the processes are followed, that people understand what they are and how to apply them in a timely fashion.”   

Establishing a PMO provides a centralized location for project related data. This then leads to informed decision making for upper management. It raises the awareness of project health and monitors the effectiveness of established processes.  Consistently applied processes and controlled change management increase project success rates and directly impact customer satisfaction.    

The establishment of a PMO can accelerate the maturation of project methodologies but the desire to improve your project framework must come first.    

This entry was posted on 24. November 2009 at 18:35 and is filed under PMO Set-up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.