PMO Directors Series: Final Thoughts on Organizational Awareness and the Enterprise PMO

When making the shift to product delivery teams, go through your list of stakeholders and determine who needs to be informed of the change, what is the impact is to them and the plan for educating them on the change and for any ancillary processes that may need to be adapted.

You will probably find that Sales and Marketing will need to adapt the ways of working to align with the new mindset and figure out how to work through the perceived lack of predictability (which really wasn’t that predictable to begin with). Work with them to figure out how everyone can work together to get what they need and have a strong go to market approach for your customers and a positive customer experience.

Note: Again, I’m light on tactics here because each company is unique; however, just acknowledging that this shift will impact other team members and by inviting them to be part of the change will lead to more positive benefits and outcomes. 

Having a strong Human Resources partner will also be beneficial to:

• Be an ally in change management efforts and communications, leveraging not only their expertise but also their deep knowledge of the people in the organization.
• Support if job descriptions and/or roles and responsibilities need to change.
• Align and provide support from whatever manager coaching/training/development and individual performance review approaches are in place.
• Support and implement training and other growth and development efforts.

Note: I’ve also been a little vague on non-product delivery teams structure and processes, such as infrastructure, back-end and DevOps teams. Again, each organization is unique, so you’ll need to work with the appropriate folks to outline what’s best for your organization. In some cases, I’ve seen members from these teams embedded in the product delivery teams, or they continue to be standalone teams.

Also, to prevent higher degrees of fear and anxiety amongst team members, err on the side of over-communication and transparency, and don’t be afraid to say, “we don’t know yet, but we’re figuring it out. If you have any ideas, please let us know.”

Enterprise PMO

For those who are leading an Enterprise PMO, e.g. one that manages projects outside of product development projects, remember that not all work has to be managed the same way.

For non-product development work, it may be appropriate to take a more traditional approach of planning up-front and then executing. For example, a major company event where the budget needs to be established, a venue chosen and secured, catering decided, speakers lined up, activities decided, hotel rooms booked, etc.  However, if there are ways to make the process as lean and flexible as possible, try to do so.

When in dialog with those around the company about the PMO, you might find it helpful to articulate this distinction and that your goal is to have a PMO that is capable of managing any type of work effectively. It’s not all one-size or one-way – it’s about using the techniques and leading practices that are the best fit for the work to be managed to achieve success.

Thank you for reading the series. I hope you found it informative and helpful, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments and/or feedback.

Wishing you the best,

Joanna

Previous: Budgeting and Capitalization

Shortcut: All PMO Directors Series Posts