HOUSTON, TX, USA | 5–8 NOVEMBER 2017
#PMOSym
PMO17BR319
A Pragmatic, Holistic Approach to PMO Maturity – Focused on Business Outcomes
Tracy L. Grimes, PMP, Senior Program Management
NTT DATA Services EPMO
Learning Objectives
1) Know how to approach PMO maturity from a fresh, holistic angle—
addressing both tactical and strategic aspects
2) Leave knowing immediate steps you can take to increase maturity in
your PMO
3) Use business outcomes as a driver for PMO maturity
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Pop Quiz (by show of hands)…
• How many PMOs represented here are newer, up and running in the past 1-5 years?
• How many are seasoned, 5 to 10 years?
• Anyone in a PMO that has been around for more than 10 years?
• How many are in a leveraged PMO where governance, controls, project management
training, methodology, etc. resides within the PMO—and most project managers report
directly to delivery teams?
• Ok, so for the rest of us, who is set up where the project managers report directly to the
PMO?
• How about internal facing vs. external facing? How many are internal facing, primarily
supporting teams and projects within your company?
• And how many are external facing, supporting projects for external clients?
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Patented PM3 Methodology – PMO Framework
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Protected by U.S. Patent #8,407,078. Additional Patents Pending.
Approach to PMO Maturity for Our Clients
Value to the Client
Pro
cess M
atu
rity
/Sco
pe o
f S
erv
ice
THE TWIST: Tailored to specific business requirements
• Provide project
management
resources via staff
augmentation
• Project & program
management
delivery and support
• Understand current
state
• Conduct gap
assessment against
best practices
• Provide high-level
recommendations
• Design future state
PMO (organization,
processes & tools)
• Create future state
PMO implementation
plan (scope,
schedule, & cost)
• Build business case
to support funding
• Implement future state
PMO
• Select & implement
foundational PMO tools
or align existing PMO
tools to new processes
• Acclimate staff to PMO
future state
• Create “Road Map to
Maturity”/PMO
transformation road
map
• Implement PMO tools
/IP & methodology
• Provide KPI/metrics
tracking & reporting
• Implement
continuous
improvement
practices and
document business
case benefit
realization
• Deliver as “outcome-
based” services
• Operate as steady-
state PMO
PMO
Managed Services
Project/
Program
Management
Services
PMO
Assessment
PMO Design
& Plan
PMO
Implementation
Key Business Objectives Tied to PMO (Examples)
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KBO: Improve profit margins by 5%
• On-time, on-budget project delivery
• Effective use of project management and technical resources
• Reduce impact of risks through proactive risk management
• Project intake process ensures only the “RIGHT” projects proceed
KBO: Improve product quality by 10% (measured by CSAT)
• Predictable and repeatable project performance
• Project quality health checks on 100% of high-risk projects
• Improved customer satisfaction scores on post-project reviews
PMO Assessment Approach
• Detailed analysis• Validate alignment of
account leadership & PMO with business objectives
• Map each PMO pain point to customer business objective(s)
• Develop specific recommendations & action plans aligned with business objectives
• Define metrics for change impact
• Initial customer & stakeholder review of findings
• Etc.
• Present findings with
PMO lead to account
leadership
• Leader feedback &
direction on
recommendations
• Finalize customer
presentation
• Share results with
customer
• Joint go-forward
decision
NEXT STEPS:
• Kick off action plans
• Assess key account
team members and
PMO team roles, skills
and knowledge of
business objectives
• Interview customers,
understand pain points
and their business
objectives
• Interview account
leadership for concerns
and opportunities
• Review data received
• Document findings
• Etc.
• Understand the
problem statement and
what business
objectives are
impacted
• Review contract SLAs
and map to business
requirements
• Obtain account
leadership input
• Obtain network access
• Conduct kickoff with
PMO lead
• Initial request for data
• Etc.
Deep Dive
& Interviews
Results Analysis &
Action Planning
Communicate
Findings &
Recommendations
PMO Assessment
Kickoff
PMO Assessment Findings – People, Process, Tools
Inputs: Team résumés & interviews, observation in customer meetings, PMO lead feedback, customer feedback
• PMO handles service management functions
• Wrong skillset handling incoming requests
• Project health assessments missing
• Process training needed, both internal & customer
• PMO understaffed
• Lacking customer IT strategy to bounce requests against
• Recurring review meetings & reports need restructuring & automation
• Lack of solution architect collaboration prior to request submission
• Lacking contract compliance knowledge
• Customer process is a “black box”
• No customer PMO to prioritize
• Requests missing requirements
• Too many exceptions & lack of customer involvement
• Customer metrics not consistent with contract
• No dedicated project team resources
InspiringleadersStrong PMO Lead, Highly Respected
Using Standard Methodology & Tools
Culture of Teamwork/ Loyalty
Skilled Project Managers, Hardworking
People
Skills, Roles, Staffing
Communication
Reporting, Review Meetings, Documentation
Process
Intake, RFS Tool, Metrics
Process Improvements Under Way
Customer Interview Findings
“PMO process is a black box”
Top-Priority Recommendations – Strategic
(Based on Joint Go-Forward Plan)
Move non-project work out of the PMO (increase speed to fulfillment)
Implement new organizational structure to provide solutions architect and dedicated project resources (increase efficient use of resources—improved steady state operations & decreased schedule overruns)
Optimize & automate request life cycle, establish exception process (improved speed to fulfillment, increased efficient use of resources—reduced overall resource time by 50%)
Improve training on request process & educate teams (reduced significantly the number of exceptions and rework, improving turnaround time on project charters)
Engage with customer on IT strategy, formalize reviews (decreased ‘churning’ caused when there was no strategy to bounce requests against)
Top-Priority Recommendations – Tactical
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Highlights of improvements immediately implemented:
Incorporated project management best practices earlier in the request process, improving SOW submission times by 36%
Drove requirements gathering for hardware requests earlier in the process, reducing time to build servers by 28%
Aligned project managers with service towers, improving relationships with business owners and streamlining communication
Changed contract type for repeatable work from T&M to fixed price, improving billing accuracy and eliminating lost charges
Communicate the Good News
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Validation time for hardware build requests reduced from 20 days to 12 days in the first two weeks of being implemented
Consolidated SharePoint status and tracking reduced PMO hours for data entry by 50% or by 15 hours per month
Automated weekly SLA reporting reduced PMO hours by 98% or 4 hours per week/16 hours per month
New SharePoint report allows immediate view of where delays exist for reviews/approvals allowing timely intervention, nearly eliminating the need to do extensive research
Consolidated SharePoint list allows everyone on the account team to access current status for any request with flexible search capabilities, reducing data-mining time by 50% for each inquiry
Action Plan – Where Do I Go From Here?
• Ask…
– Does your PMO know the strategic goals of the organization(s) you
support (internal and external)?
– Are the PMO’s goals and mission aligned to enable these?
• Understand…
– Where is your PMO in the approach to maturity?
• Take action…
– Complete a PMO assessment using strategic goals as the key driver
toward maturity
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Contact Information
Tracy L. Grimes, PMP
NTT DATA Services - Enterprise PMO
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