3 PMO ‘Dating’ Techniques - To Secure Enterprise Wide ‘Love’

It would appear that courting executive level ‘love’ for the PMO and the value it brings to the business is harder than just generating a regular portfolio report pack and introducing the latest project methodology to the organisation.

We conducted some research which showed some interesting pointers as to how negative perceptions of PMOs are formed. At one extreme the perception is that the PMO is a data processing, process oriented administrative function that slows things down, makes life harder and doesn’t add much value – which is probably so unfair, but perceptions are ‘everything’ and the only people that can tackle this is the PMO itself.

The first step is to put the textbook and Prince 2 courses to one side, look in the mirror with complete honesty and say, “where is this coming from?” Why have the ‘customers’ of the PMO formed this perception and what can we do about it?

A good starting point is to listen to the PMO’s customers. Our research showed that 93% of execs are looking for clear, concise, and highly visual portfolio and project reporting and 96.9% of execs surveyed said they needed to be actively involved in project and portfolio activities. Yet 78% of PMOs said they struggle to engage execs in the project and portfolio reports they generate; the main challenge is getting them to read them and a perception forms of the PMO spending all their time creating reports that don’t add value. So why is there such a disconnect? 

Dating Technique 1: Understand Who You Are Dating

Generally, PMO customers include the leadership team who sponsor projects and programmes and the key stakeholders both across the organisation and potentially externally. If you analyse the leadership team first, my experience is that typically 8 out of 10 have absolutely no interest in project methodology and very short attention spans! All they are really interested in is a helicopter view that can be digested in 30 seconds and gives them the insights they need to lead effectively and take good decisions. That translated into value based PMO outcomes that can be broken into 2 key areas:

1. “How do I want information provided from the PMO?”
   
2. “What information do I want from the PMO?”

“How do I want information provided from the PMO?”

• “Give me visibility of the projects I am interested in – not everything!”
• “Tell me what I really need to know, in highlights rather than detail.”
• “Keep it high level, concise and visual so I can digest it in 30 seconds.”
• “Let me access information whilst I am on the move on my smart phone, iPad or laptop.”

“What information do I want from the PMO?”

• “What is the status of the programme?”
• “When are the benefits going to be realised?”
• “Which risks and escalations do I really need to worry about?”
• “How much is it costing?”

Dating Technique 2: Keep it Simple

A large percentage of the execs I deal with hanker for simplicity and have a perception that PMO’s over complicate the outputs that come to them, rendering them less valuable and too much hard work to wade through.

Your PMO customers aren’t typically interested in 2-page reports, Kanban boards, RAID logs and 100 line project plans……if they want the detail, they will ask for it! So, make sure the PMO feeds them with what they want not necessarily what you think they need.

Generally, the simpler the user experience and the more aligned with your PMO customer’s needs – the more they will love the PMO and perceive it as a function that adds value.

Translate the detail into meaningful, concise, visual, and digestible insights that they can engage with and stimulates a leadership behavioural outcome that improves the leadership and delivery of the project, programme or portfolio.

Dating Technique 3: Optimise Your Attractiveness

There is a real opportunity to optimise perceived value from PMO and project delivery resources by transitioning their focus from excessive time spent preparing, formatting and reformatting project and portfolio reports each week/ month to far more valuable delivery assurance, continuous improvement activities and work that accelerates delivery which is perceived as being far more valuable and generates more credibility for the PMO                                                     

Research from Narrative Science finds that two-thirds of people spend half of their working lives carrying out manual reporting tasks. To counter this, you need to stop struggling with ineffective PMO tools that sap time and energy from key PMO and project resources and identify solutions that bring reporting into the modern day. By doing so, you’ll make your job easier, save time through smarter reporting processes and improve the perception of your PMO being a value-based function rather than an administrative function.

Adopting this more agile, efficient approach can see weekly and monthly reports completed in just 10 and 20 minutes, respectively. Just imagine how much more productive your PMO and delivery teams could be as a result of this time saving and the potential impact this could have on the perception your execs have for your work.

One of our answers to generating executive level love with the PMO is our portfolio optimisation platform Kivue Perform. Discover how Kivue Perform can help your portfolio and project managers embrace smarter processes that enable visual, personalised insights for executives and key stakeholders. Wave goodbye to ineffective PowerPoint slides and Excel spreadsheets and usher in consistent and concise, fast and formidable reporting with a Free Trial.

You can also discover the key pain-points afflicting both PMOs and execs by downloading one of our relevant research reports here.