Key takeaways
- A PMO exists to help an organisation deliver projects better, from a single project coordinator to an enterprise office overseeing hundreds of projects.
- The tipping point is usually when PMs are juggling three or four projects, resourcing starts to hurt, or projects become riskier and more complex.
- Two career paths lead into PMO work: through project support roles, or through delivery into senior PMO leadership.
- PMO people need the same PM knowledge plus programme and portfolio understanding and wider business awareness.
- Every six months ask what the PMO should stop, continue and start doing, because work nobody wants eats hours.
About this episode
“Very basically a PMO normally stands for a project management office. And they're there to basically help organizations get better at delivering the projects that they have.”
If you’ve ever wondered what a PMO is, that quote from this episode of Time Limit is your answer. But take heed, because there’s a lot of complexity to PMOs. That’s why we invited PMO expert and Director of PMO Learning, Lindsay Scott, to join us to fill us in on:
- The benefits of a PMO and why you might need a PMO
- The types of PMOs that exist
- When to set up a PMO
- PMO roles and responsibilities
- The career path to get from PM to PMO
- Typical PMO structures
- Education and certifications for PMO
Resources mentioned in this episode: