Make your organization shine by becoming a high-impact value-adding strategic PMO. Study and learn 12 tips that will make your journey brighter.

1. HIGH-IMPACT PMO CONSULTING
MAKE YOUR PMO STRATEGIC
JULY 24, 2020 PHILIPPE HUSSER

2. Every industry delivers products, services, and organizational
progress that require some sort of Project Management approach
Tip : study and learn Project Management, but also complex Project Management,
and above all complex Project Management in your organization
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3. Many of these projects are small, fast, and rather successful, yet some
are very large, complex, and put at risks the people and the society
Tip : ceaselessly focus on the major projects (strategic initiatives) and their long-
term impact on a favorable future for people, organizations, and society
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4. Projects are what a strategy needs to close the strategic gaps, i.e. the
large changes required to achieve ambitious strategic objectives
Tip : study and learn a variety of strategy schools (e.g. “goals, ways, means” in the
West, “situation, potential, circumstances” in China…)
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ILLUSTRATION
STRATEGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

5. The diversity of the projects in a large organization offers to a PMO
the opportunity to produce a valuable influence on the full “system”
Tip : study and learn the characteristics of a complex adaptive system
(emergence, scale, nonlinearities…) and how to influence its behavior
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STRATEGY
OPERATIONS

6. A Strategic PMO is to Project Management what a Formula 1Team
is to the Race and the Driver
✓ Architect
▪ Define, implement and continuously improve a coherent Project Management system across the
organization and its key external stakeholders
✓ Integrator
▪ Connect the many moving parts and stakeholders of the organization in the domain of Project
Management*
✓ Facilitator
▪ Animate, assess, develop the Project Management system, change management activities, and
learning and development opportunities
* e.g. business units, functions and regions, Project Management approaches like waterfall, hybrid, agile, lean start-up and others, stakeholders like sponsors, PMs, PMOs, users,
decision makers, customers, suppliers and partners, tools and information systems of all kinds…
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Tip : learn to be a servant leader that has a vision “to make others shine” and “to win
together” with “your skin in the game”

7. It is a long journey, where the future strategic PMO needs to develop
and execute himself a development strategy
Tip : remember that success will not only come your performance but also from
how people perceive you. Be patient. Invest now for later gains.
1. Establish a powerful cause and develop a strategy to become strategic
2. Build a community of diverse project stakeholders volunteering to devote
time and experience to this cause
3. Identify the pain points met by the stakeholders of the organization’s
portfolios, programs and projects
4. Establish and execute an action plan designed to eliminate the pain
points
5. Develop key winning characteristics: connectivity, wholeness, speed,
courage, anticipation…
6. Monitor your journey by assessing your progress, adjust your strategy,
and act accordingly
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ILLUSTRATION

8. 1 - Establish your powerful cause and develop a strategy to become
a strategic PMO
✓ Your initial powerful cause is your strongest intangible asset
▪ Make your cause stronger than other tangible assets you may not get (e.g.
legitimacy, budget, team, support from hierarchy,…)
✓ Your cause must answer a problem, a need or a “job to be done” by your
stakeholders.
▪ The cause must present positive elements for each and everyone, gains for
people, benefits for the organization. It must touch hearts. It must be simple,
clear, and unambiguous.
✓ Examples of great PMO causes:
▪ “No more nasty surprises in projects, only good ones”
▪ “Reduce project fatigue and refocus resources on the vital few projects”
▪ “Bolster the PMO reputation, career paths, and compensation system”
Tip : the impact you want to create over time is your pole star. You do not need to
communicate it before planting seeds that have a chance to grow.
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9. 2 - Build a community with a variety of project stakeholders who
volunteer their time and experience to this cause
Tip : start with a few reliable, credible and influential practitioners from different
domains and levels. Set a rolling 12-month agenda. Find an executive sponsor.
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10. 3 - Identify the key pain points met by the stakeholders of the
organization’s portfolios, programs and projects
Tip : go to the field, listen, get facts, and use the “less is more” rule of thumb to
focus your efforts on a few vital priorities, maybe only one, but big.
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11. 4 - Establish and execute with you community an action plan
designed to eliminate the pain points
✓ Perform strategic portfolio management functions with agility to ensure both strategic alignment and benefits realization despite a
world that is ever more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.
✓ Ensure that strategic, economic, and operational (capability) priorities and capabilities drive the approval of only the most important,
highest-impact initiatives in a world where people are often overwhelmed by too many goals, activities, connections,information
✓ Shift the focus from process to value, ensuring that milestones or deliverables, timelines, and benefits are clearly defined and regularly
tracked through data accessible 24x7 platforms limiting redundancies and offering a single version of truth at any time
✓ Add value by actively seeking out team and business leaders and identifying potential gaps early on so they can be resolved before
they cause problems (seeking for personal contacts and limiting the time they spend on their mobiles and computers).
✓ Prioritizing issues, flagging potential problems as they arise, identifying and coordinating cross-team interdependencies,making sure
that decisions are made in a timely manner
✓ Getting the right information to senior management at the right time with exception-based,forward-looking performance information
✓ Ensuring Portfolio / Program / Project Management excellence, providing best practices, tools and processes development and
support throughout the organization
ILLUSTRATION
Tip : always prefer to focus on fewer activities, yet realize them outstandingly with
visible results for people and for the organization
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12. 5 - Develop key winning characteristics: connectivity, wholeness,
speed, courage, anticipation…
Tip : progress in an agile way with a series of fast actions followed by visible
results. Avoid long and parallel projects that reduce focus and increase frictions
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13. 6 - Monitor your journey by assessing your progress, adjust your
strategy, and act accordingly
Tip : remain low-profile. Instead study and learn continuously, go outside and meet
with peers, search for different practices, new people, new challenges
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14. Key takeaways
✓ A PMO is a masterpiece in your organization.
✓ Often it may not be the case, for good or bad reasons.
✓ However any organization thrives to be successful in executing its strategy,
✓ While projects are the backbone of this strategy.
✓ But most strategic projects struggle to deliver their promise.
✓ Therefore, there is an opportunity for a PMO to offer solutions that will increase the odds of
success of these projects.
✓ With a powerful cause, a community of allies, a commitment to realize the cause, and a willingness
to continuously study and learn, any PMO can become a “strategic PMO” sooner or later
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15. THANK YOU
www.philippehusser.com