How PMOs Can Enable Business Agility - PMI Kentuckiana Chapter 1st Annual Sympoisium

How PMOs Can Enable Business
and Organizational Agility
Joanna L. Vahlsing, PMP
SVP, Program Management
Centro
@joannavahlsing

@joannavahlsing www.joannavahlsing.com

What about you?

1. Aha moments and key takeaways from evolving a waterfall PMO to one supporting and enabling
business agility
2. New expectations for a PMO and why it's not a one-size fit all model
3. Why a hybrid approach can be beneficial
4. New project management tactics, including #NoEstimates and #NoProject movements
5. How the PMO can be a critical factor and enabler for agile adoption and organizational/enterprise
support
What we’ll cover today:

1. My Story
2. Mindset shifts
3. The role of the project manager
4. Project Planning
5. The role of Functional Management
6. Program and Portfolio Management
7. Budgeting and Capitalization in Agile
Getting into the details:
All content can be found at
www.PMODirectorsSeries.com

My Story
Flash back to 2013…

“What does this mean to all my project
processes?”
“How do I manage budgets for projects?”
“What happens to all my project managers?”
“What’s the difference between an agile organization and a scrum organization?”
“How do I track projects progress?”
“Am I going to get fired?”
“How do I ensure projects meet legislative & compliance requirements?”
“How do the roles change of the project team members?”
“How do I plan an agile project?”
“How do I fund agile projects?”
@joannavahlsing

PMO Mindset Shifts :: Open to see things in new ways
Budget
Project Manager responsible
Building the thing right
Features
Single full-scale deliverable
Performance measured on
delivery to spec
Manage individuals
Command and Control
Project-based Approach Product-based Approach
Investment
Team is responsible
Building the right thing
Goals and outcomes
Prototypes
Performance measured on
impact and outcome
Manage teams
Coach and Facilitate

Project-based vs. Product-based Teams
Project Based Teams:
• Temporary endeavor
• Team members assigned and re-assigned;
constant competition for team member time
• Project goal is likely a feature and/or specific
output
• Because there is not a sense of team ownership,
the responsibility for leading the team falls on
the Project Manager
• Typically more command and control
• Projects finishing ”on-time” is important
because team members need to move to their
next project.
• Because the feature/output was pre-
determined, value is tested in production.
Product Based Teams:
• Team members are assigned to the team for a
long period of time (at least a quarter) and are
dedicated to the team.
• Team is given ownership over a module,
application and/or area.
• Team is giving a goal and/or outcome to achieve,
usually with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Team is all the skill sets needed to deliver on
their goal/outcome.
• Because the solution is not dictated, teams can
iterate to learn what’s valuable to the market.
• Team leadership is usually shared amongst the
Product Owner, Engineering Lead and UX Lead.
• Focus on Discovery and Delivery

Project-based vs. Product-based Teams
Project Based Teams:
• Temporary endeavor
• Team members assigned and re-assigned;
constant competition for team member time
• Project goal is likely a feature and/or specific
output
• Because there is not a sense of team ownership,
the responsibility for leading the team falls on
the Project Manager
• Typically more command and control
• Projects finishing ”on-time” is important
because team members need to move to their
next project.
• Because the feature/output was pre-
determined, value is tested in production.
Product Based Teams:
• Team members are assigned to the team for a
long period of time (at least a quarter) and are
dedicated to the team.
• Team is given ownership over a module,
application and/or area.
• Team is giving a goal and/or outcome to achieve,
usually with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Team is all the skill sets needed to deliver on
their goal/outcome.
• Because the solution is not dictated, teams can
iterate to learn what’s valuable to the market.
• Team leadership is usually shared amongst the
Product Owner, Engineering Lead and UX Lead.
• Focus on Discovery and Delivery.
Does this mean we should never use Project-based
teams?
No, there are pros and cons for each approach.
As a PMO leader/team member, it’s our role to know when to use
which based on what the organization is looking to accomplish.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish if
you do not care you gets the credit
- Harry S. Truman

The Project Manager’s Role
o What is in a name - Scrum Manager,
Delivery Manager, Project Manager
o Servant Leadership vs Command and
Control
o Roles and Responsibilities
o Choosing the right people
o Red flags

Project Planning in an Agile world
NoEstimates - Type 1 – Work is prioritized and released as it’s completed
- Type 2 – Work is delivered in small chunks which the team
completes in a certain timebox
Work Item Estimation – Team reviews stories and assigns estimates which includes testing
and release requirements
Full Up-Front Planning – traditional Release Planning where there are many dependencies.

Source: https://xkcd.com/1014/
Look out for the “process police”

Functional Managers
o Who and what is a Functional manager?
o Product team Functional managers
o Servant leaders
o PMO functional role
o Coaching support

Program and Portfolio Management
o Streamlined investment management
o Understanding the investment mix
o Program leadership and enablement
o Unifying program goals and outcomes
o Portfolio connection and representation
o Alignment to strategic goals
o Death March Projects
o Partnering with Finance and HR

Budget Management
o Shifting mindset
o Annual forecasting
o New approach
o Run rates
o Teams NOT individuals
o Finance management engagement
o Capitalization process updates
Human Resources
o Roles and responsibilities
o Job descriptions
o Recruiting prioritization inputs
o Change management and leadership
Working with Finance and HR

Learning Objective Takeaways
Aha moments and key takeaways from evolving a
waterfall PMO to one supporting and enabling business
agility
• Moving to agile doesn’t mean that a PMO no longer provides value;
however, the PMO will need to not only change how it operates but also
leverage it’s strong organizational power to enable and support the
transition.
New expectations for a PMO and why it's not a one-size
fit all model
• Organizations are looking to the PMO to lead the evolution and become
subject matter experts on various ways to manage work to ensure best
fit for purpose. Continuous learning is key.
Why a hybrid approach can be beneficial • There is no “one right way” to manage all works. Organizations will need
hybrid approaches.
New project management tactics, including
#NoEstimates and #NoProjects movements
• Tactics that can be leveraged based on the planning situation
How the PMO can be a critical factor and enabler for
agile adoption and organizational/enterprise support
• PMOs know the organization likely better than most. That knowledge
can facilitate and enable teams to work in new ways; PMOs can
evangelize and champion these new ways of working.

?’s
“The object isn't to make
art, it's to be in that
wonderful state which
makes art inevitable.”
― Robert Henri

Joanna Vahlsing
SVP, Program Management - Centro
Joanna@joannavahlsing.com
@joannavahlsing
www.joannavahlsing.com
www.PMODirectorsSeries.com

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