Project Management Office Success Factors

More than three quarters of large corporations have some form of a project management office in place. How it's defined, exactly what its responsibilities are, how formal it is, and how it's run is going to be different from company to company, but the project management office is a major part of the landscape for most project-oriented activity within major companies.

Given that fact, I'd like to discuss what I consider to be the four key factors for project management office - or PMO - success. I've come up with these four factors after playing varying roles in creating, running, and dismantling PMOs over the years. Through these experiences, I've become opinionated as to what works and why certain PMOs have failed in companies I've worked with and for.

Let's examine these four factors in greater detail here - they are presented in no particular order because I feel that they are all equally important...

Secure executive buy-in for the PMO

PMOs come and go and, unfortunately, often the key to their failure in the first place was the lack of support from within their own organization. When a company's executive leadership doesn't back the PMO, then it likely won't have a chance in the long-term. For the project management office to truly be successful - and long lasting within an organization - it must have the backing of the company's executive management.

Without proper backing, PMO practices and policies will be difficult to enforce and slow to adopt. Some projects will circumvent the PMO process completely and eventually the PMO will become meaningless in the organization and ineffective to the customers it serves.

Appoint a strong PMO leader

If feel very strongly about this one. The PMO director should not just be the most experienced project manager leading the group who is also acting in the role of project manager on current projects. Certainly the PMO director will need to have a presence on high profile projects or on troubled implementations, but for the most part they need to lead the PMO and that should be 99% of their job. I've seen PMO directors who were stretched too thin leaving the project managers in the organization with little to no leadership direction to help handle project roadblocks, resource conflicts, training issues, and process concerns. Eventually, the PM practice in the PMO can start to erode.

Fill the PMO with good PMs

The PMO needs experienced project managers, not just PMP-certified PMs. Leadership and experience must win out when you're trying to establish the PMO and get early projects off the ground. Proven leaders with experience will get your PMO in the right position to be taken seriously throughout the organization. PMI certification, while good, doesn't guarantee experience or success. There needs to be a mix of skill, process understanding, and good, solid leadership.

Implement sound processes and use repeatable templates

For the PMO to be consistently successful, it must have consistent processes and practices in place for its project managers to follow and utilize. A PMO without sound processes in place is relying on luck to experience ongoing project success - and that luck won't last long. Proven and re-usable templates must be available for the project managers so that they can portray consistency to the customers whose projects they are handling. Consistent delivery breeds success and success breeds customer confidence.

Summary

None of these four steps guarantee success. And certainly only focusing on one will leave your PMO sorely lacking. But when all of these factors are acted upon, then you can be confident that you're giving your PMO its best chance for success.

It is critical that a company creates their PMO with the understanding that its mission is to manage all projects and that those projects be consistently handled by that PMO. Consistent project management is perceived by your customers as stability when you're running their projects. And consistent customer satisfaction breeds success, more projects, and greater profitability.

Advantages of Software as a Service

Web based project management software such as Project Drive can also be described as software as a service, or SaaS. Basically, what this means is the software is hosted on the providers servers instead of being downloaded and residing on individual computers.

There are several distinct advantages to using a hosted service, the most important to businesses related to costs. Most software applications are sold on an individual license basis necessitating a separate license, and the associated costs, for each computer on which the software resides.

Then there are the additional costs of having an employee install and maintain the software, including updates which can be frequent in many cases, backing up the data, purchasing hardware, etc.

With SaaS, since it is web based and housed elsewhere, the users pay a small monthly or annual fee based on number of users that is considerably less than purchasing individual licenses. If more users are required, such as may be the case with project management software, they can be added later and be up and running within minutes. The scalability of such software is essentially unlimited.

Another major advantage of web based project management software is that it is accessible anywhere in the world from any computer. All that is needed is access to the Internet.

Communicating with Team Members in Different Time Zones

In today’s shrinking world, many companies are doing business all over the globe. Team members based in different time zones working on the same projects can create problems for those responsible for managing the projects. It can be extremely difficult to share information and communicate with all team members in a timely manner.

However, web based project management software, such as Project Drive, provides the solution. All team members, regardless of their location, receive real-time updates on the project with the automated communication functions included in the software. Not only does it allow team members to send and exchange comments, but will also distribute emails on major actions. The email function allows:

• Selection of fields to trigger notifications and which users will receive them.
• Notifications to be sent to one or multiple users
• Notifications to be sent users when tasks are assigned
• Notification of users of important new information which requires their attention and converts these issues into tasks

Being Ready to Handle Your Projects

With so many variables that can go wrong with a project, it’s important for project managers to identify all areas where money can be saved, what employees are doing, print out documents, and take care of problems that might occur. All will agree that it’s not easy to manage a project no matter what kind of project it is. There is a solution to that, provided by Project Drive. That solution is online project management software, software that is efficient for project managers of all levels. At www.project-drive.net, they are striving to make your project the smoothest running that it can be.

See their featured products and what they’re doing to create solutions for project managers.

For more information about online project management software visit www.project-drive.net

Productive Project Management

Companies have their own way to handle projects whether they are large or small, single or multiple. Many companies utilize web based project management software because there are plenty of things that we need to keep track of. Companies can customize the software to fit their project’s parameters.

Imagine being able to keep up with all aspects of your project from top to bottom, including your employees and what they’re doing. Locate any potential issues or identify and correct any current ones. Project Drive has created the perfect software for web based project management. Save time on your project and watch it run smoothly.

For more information, go to www.project-drive.net.

Managing Your Projects Easily and Effectively

Those who have managed a project know it’s not easy to do. Any little thing can make a project go south and as a manager you know that can prevent you and the project from reaching its goals.

Project Drive created the perfect online project management software that will not only help you document every detail on the project and identify current or projected issues with the project, it will help you keep track of everyone’s progress.

Time tracking is tricky if you’re going at it manually. Something would inevitably be missed or miscalculated. Later, I’ll be discussing the ramifications of not using a high quality project management tool in regards to tracking issues and documenting progress.

Go to www.project-drive.net to see what they can do for you.

Employee Time Tracking Software you can Trust

Imagine software that not only takes a look at what your employees are doing, but also if they’re being honest.

Keeping track of all aspects of your project is important and your employees fall under that rubric. Employee time tracking software is essential in identifying the employees that are excelling and which ones are merely wasting time. This in turn helps you identify how you want to proceed with the next levels of the project. Time tracking is more than just punching your time card. Project Drive has created employee time tracking software that is unique because it tracks more than just the employees’ time, but the time of the project itself. Time is money.

You should ingrain in your mind if you’re a project leader or aspire to be one. In later blogs, I will discuss the importance of time tracking software as it relates to the tracking any current or potential issues that may occur.

For screen shots or to read about more features on the employee time tracking software, check out www.project-drive.net.