The document discusses responsibilities and competencies for an Agile/Lean Project Management Office (PMO). It describes how a PMO can support Agile projects through stable teams, empowering teams, limiting work in progress, and regularly reassessing value delivery. It also discusses portfolio management responsibilities like achieving continuous flow of business value through short cycle times and validated learning over business cases. The document recommends incremental funding approaches and consistency across processes to support Agile/Lean practices.

1. Agile/Lean PMO
Andrew Rusling
Agile Coach
@andrewrusling

2. Competencies to be gained
By the end of this session, I am hopeful that you will be able to:
1. Summarise the responsibilities of a typical PMO that are impacted by
supporting Agile projects.
2. Summarise the Portfolio Management responsibilities that are
impacted by supporting Agile projects.
3. Summarise the incremental funding approach
4. Summarise how Lean Portfolio Management achieves flow of value.
5. List the pros and cons of Stable teams vs Dynamic teams.
6. List some strategies that support Stable teams.
2

3. What is a PMO?

4. Definitions 4
“An organizational body or entity assigned various responsibilities
related to the centralized and coordinated management of those
projects under its domain. The responsibilities of the PMO can range
from providing project management support functions to actually being
responsible for the direct management of a project.”
PMBOK 2003
“A project management office is a formal, centralized layer of control
between senior management and project management”
IS Project Management: Size, practices and the project management
office. 2007

5. 5
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Programme
Alignment to
Business Strategy
People Allocated
to Programmes
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
People Allocated
to Projects
People Allocated
to Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Consistency
across Projects
Project Budget
Management
Consistency
across Teams
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

6. Project Management

7. 7
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Programme
Alignment to
Business Strategy
People Allocated
to Programmes
Portfolio Budget
Management
Covered by Agile Project
Management Training
Consistency
across Programs
People Allocated
to Projects
People Allocated
to Teams
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching
Limited change

8. People Management

9. 9
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Programme
Alignment to
Business Strategy
People Allocated
to Programmes
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
People Allocated
to Projects
People Allocated
to Teams
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
YES, and ?
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

10. 10
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Programme
Alignment to
Business Strategy
Management of
People in the
Portfolio
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
Management of
People in the
Programme
Management of
People in the
Project
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

11. People Management 11
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Management of
People in the
Portfolio
Management of
People in the
Programme
Management of
People in the
Project
Move towards
Stable Teams
Support and
empower teams
Support and
empower teams
Remove escalated
impediments
Remove escalated
impediments
Remove team
impediments
Ensure appropriate
team & expert
allocation to
programmes
Ensure appropriate
team & expert
allocation to
projects
Ensure
appropriate expert
allocation to
teams

12. Support and Empower Teams
Support
• Care about peoples wellbeing, growth and morale
• Remove Impediments
12
Empower teams
• Clear goals aligned to business opportunity & company vision (purpose)
• Let them self organise, use a pull model for work allocation (autonomy)
• Create opportunities for learning and growth (mastery)

13. How should we structure ourselves?
Pool of all people
Business opportunity pipeline

14. Business opportunity pipeline Pool of all people
Initiate projects to match
the work
Release people & tear
down the project
• Prioritised by Business Value
• Ordered by people availability
Project Backlogs
Project Teams

15. Allocate work to one or
more stable teams
• Prioritised by Business Value
• Ordered by team availability
Pool of Experts
i.e. DBA, UX, etc.
Business opportunity pipeline
Stable Teams
Allocate & Release
experts to teams
each sprint
Teams Backlogs

16. Stable teams vs Project teams (Pros, Cons) 16
Project Teams Stable Teams
+ People skills match project need + Keep performing teams
+ Clearer justification for hiring experts +100% allocation of most people
+ people skill up in business area
+ accurate prediction of delivery
- Partial allocation of many people - Dependencies between teams
- High resource management costs - Delays waiting on team availability
- Delays waiting of people availability
- Project initiation costs
- Delays in starting projects

17. Why do we choose Projects over Stable teams 17
Project Teams Stable Teams
Focus on high people utilisation Not looking at throughput
Easier to second needed people, then
get a team to work cross functionally
Teams not as cross functional as
needed
Brings focus to the project goals Teams are poor at focusing, hence
working on many things, delivering
none
It’s the way we have always done it
Once initiated, sponsor doesn’t need to
baby sit it, to get a result
Continual re-evaluation of projects, can
stop some projects
Easier to prioritise within a project

18. Portfolio Management

19. 19
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Programme
Alignment to
Business Strategy
Management of
People in the
Portfolio
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
Management of
People in the
Programme
Management of
People in the
Project
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
YES, and ?
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

20. 20
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Achieve flow of
business value
Management of
People in the
Portfolio
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
Management of
People in the
Programme
Management of
People in the
Project
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

21. Portfolio Management 21
Achieve flow of
business value
Align projects to
business strategic
goals
Short Cycle Time
over
High Utilisation
Split large projects
Validated Learning
over
Business Cases
Tighten Build,
Measure, Learn
cycles
Limit Work In
Progress
Regular re-assess
value delivery

22. Regularly reassess value delivery 22
Period
X months
Period
Planning
Inspect &
Adapt
X weeks
Business
Value
Portfolio
Backlog
Period
Backlog
1. Assess delivery & potential
2. Select projects to Start / Stop
3. Split large projects
4. Allocate Teams and Budget for projects

23. Multiple Projects, Multiple Teams 23
Period
2 months
Inspect &
Adapt
2 weeks
Period
Backlog
Start
Continue
Period
2 months
Inspect &
Adapt
2 weeks
Period
Backlog
Continue
Period
2 months
Inspect &
Adapt
2 weeks
Period
Backlog
Start
Stop, Start different one
Period
2 months
Inspect &
Adapt
2 weeks
Period
Backlog
Finished, Start another

24. Why focus on short Cycle Time?
Little’s Law, for a stable system
• It is hard to delivery items faster.
• It is easier to work on less items.
• Hence reduce WIP to realise value earlier.
• High Utilisation, increases WIP, which reduces Cycle Time and hence
reduces Delivery Rate 
24
Avg. Cycle Time =
Work In Progress (WIP)
Avg. Delivery Rate

25. How do we limit WIP? 25
1. Stop some projects
2. Reduce the projects that Start/Continue
Portfolio
Backlog
Period
Backlog
Our capacity
Period
Planning

26. How do we limit WIP? 26
Portfolio
Backlog
Period
Backlog
Our capacity
Period
Planning

27. Split Large Project
This reduces cycle time, which increases throughput
27
Portfolio
Backlog
Portfolio
Backlog

28. Validated Learning over Business Cases
Business Case Validated Learning
Reasoning
We can predict what will
lead to success
We are working from
assumptions, that must be
verified quickly
Success
Strategy
Plan and manage better Learn faster
Project
Selection
Projects with large
expected returns
Small projects with good
learning opportunities
28

29. Validated Learning Approach
Encourage Validated Learning at all levels
• Project
• Release
• Sprint
• Day to day
29
Aim to test
assumptions
• Plan, Design
and Run
Scientific
Experiments
• Business
Canvas
• Impact Mapping
Delivery early,
Iterate Frequently
• Use narrow
vertical slices
• Experiments, not
marketable
products
Gain market
feedback
• Get out of the
building
• Talk to real users
• A/B Testing
• Monitor usage
metrics

30. Tighten Build, Measure, Learn cycles 30
Period
6 months
Period
6 months
Knowledge of what realises business value
Period
6 months

31. Tighten Build, Measure, Learn cycles 31
Period
3 months
Period
3 months
Period
3 months
Period
3 months
Period
3 months
Period
3 months
Knowledge of what realises business value

32. Budget Management

33. 33
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Achieve flow of
business value
Management of
People in the
Portfolio
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
Management of
People in the
Programme
Management of
People in the
Project
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

34. Incremental Funding 34
Move towards incremental funding.
Projects are Started/Stop (hence funded or not) at Period Planning
Links to:
• Continuous Flow of value
• Validated Learning
• Tighter build, measure, learn loops
• Smaller projects

35. The remainder

36. 36
RESPONSIBILITIES AIM
Project
Management
Programme
Management
Portfolio
Management
Delivery of Project
Goals
Delivery of
Programme Goals
ROI for business
Team Alignment to
Project Goals
Project Alignment
to Programme
Goals
Achieve flow of
business value
Management of
People in the
Portfolio
Portfolio Budget
Management
Consistency
across Programs
Management of
People in the
Programme
Management of
People in the
Project
Consistency
across Projects
Consistency
across Teams
Programme
Budget
Management
Project Budget
Management
Ensure Processes are effective and efficient
Training & Coaching

37. Consistency 37
Consistency is needed across Process, Tools, Metrics
Aim for bare minimum of rules
Teams need freedom to innovate and deliver

38. Process efficiency and effectiveness 38
Apply Lean thinking
• Eliminate Waste
• Build Quality In
• Create Knowledge
• Defer Commitment
• Deliver Fast
• Respect People
• Optimise The Whole
Apply Agile values
• Individuals and Interactions over
Processes and Tools
• Working Software over
Comprehensive Documentation
• Customer Collaboration over
Contract Negotiation
• Responding to Change over
Following the Plan
Continuously improve.
Don’t accept the status quo.

39. Training and Coaching 39
Training on
• Processes, Tools, Reporting, etc.
• Agile, Lean, etc.
Coaching on
• Agile, Lean
• Agile Project Management
• Validate Learning, Lean Start Up, Business Model Canvas
• etc.

40. Declaration of
Interdependence

41. Declaration Agile/Lean PMO Ideas
We increase return on investment by
making continuous flow of value our focus
• Regular re-asses
• Short Cycle Times
• Validated Learning
• Tight Build, Measure, Learn cycles
We deliver reliable results by engaging
customers in frequent interactions and
shared ownership
• Short Cycle Times
• Tight Build, Measure, Learn cycles
• Agile Project Management
We expect uncertainty and manage for it
through iterations, anticipation, and
adaptation
• Short Cycle Times
• Agile Project Management
We unleash creativity and innovation by
recognizing that individuals are the ultimate
source of value, and creating an
environment where they can make a
difference
• Stable Teams
• Support & Empower Teams
• Remove Impediments
• Limit WIP
We boost performance through group
accountability for results and shared
responsibility for team effectiveness
• Consistent reporting
• Regular re-assess
We improve effectiveness and reliability
through situationally specific strategies…

42. Wrap up

43. Reference Information
• The agile PMO by cPrime
• Elements of a Lean PMO
• Scaling Agile through Adaptive Governance by Sanjiv Augustine
• The Roles of the Project Management Office in Scrum by Mike Cohn
• 21st Century Portfolio Management by David Joyce
• The Agile PMO by Alex Adamopoulos (Emergn)
43

44. 44
Thank you