This document discusses implementing an Agile Project Management Office (PMO) framework in a public company, the Lithuanian Post. Key points include: - The PMO organization manages 12 projects and 42M Euro portfolio budget across 30+ IT systems. - Projects are delivered using both traditional and Agile methods, with careful Stage Gating by the PMO to map projects to multiple IT products and systems. - IT Product Teams use Agile methods like backlogs and sprints to deliver features across various systems in a "N projects to M products" model. - Public procurement processes have been adapted to support staged delivery in releases, with payments tied to working software in each stage.

1. AGILE PMO
IN A PUBLIC COMPANY
OOPS, WE DID IT
Aleksej Kovaliov

2. www.linkedin.com/in/aleksejkovaliov
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3. Agenda
• Lithuanian Post PMO organization
• N Projects : M Products + Agile
• Agile Public Procurement
• Q&A
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4. PMO ORGANIZATION
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5. Agile PMO Framework
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Systems backlogs
Release plans
Strategy
Business cases
Stage gating
Business planning
selection
Concept Phase
Selection Filter
Planning & Execution of
Approved Projects
Change requests,
Ideas,
Initiatives
TIMELINE
Projects portfolio
Projects plans
Release 1
Release 2
Release 1
Release 2
Release 1
Release 2
PMOIT
Stage Gate 1 Stage Gate 2
IT System 1 IT System 2 IT System 3

6. LP PMO in numbers
• 12 projects
• 1 program (3 projects)
• 42M Eur portfolio budget
• 30+ IT systems
• 7 PMO Project Managers
• 6 IT Product Owners
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7. Organization
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Role Organizational Units Level
PMO Dedicated department (not IT) C-1
Stage Gate 1 Mid-management, Cross-functional C-2
Stage Gate 2 Top management, Cross-functional C, C-1
IT Product Owners IT Department C-4
System Teams IT Department, Subcontractors C-4
Project Teams Cross-functional Various

8. Tools
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Purpose Tool
Change requests IT Service Desk tool
Soon – Document Management System on MS
SharePoint
Stage Gating & Rating MS Excel
Soon – Document Management System on MS
SharePoint
Project Portfolio MS Project Server
Project Plan MS Project Server, MS Project
IT systems Roadmap MS PowerPoint
IT systems Backlogs MS Team Foundation Server

9. Project Example
• Mobile Postman
• Public visibility
• Political sensitivity
• 12 Public Tenders
• 4 IT Systems
– 2 Totally New
– Multiple Integrations
– GDPR
• 1600 users & devices
• 25+ business process changes
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10. N PROJECTS : M PRODUCTS
+ AGILE
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11. IT Products Teams
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• Dedicated IT Product Owner for each category
• Dedicated Backlog per System
• System Team
– IT Product Owner
– Analysts
– Support, Operations
• Proxy POs for modules
• Hidden IT Supply Chain
IT
Fin
Services
eChannels
Data
Analytics
Corporate
Tools
ERP
Logistics
POS & Last
Mile

12. Internal IT Product Management
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IT
Fin
Services
eChannels
Data
Analytics
Corporate
Tools
ERP
Logistics
POS &
Last Mile
PMO
Admin
Business
Line 2
Business
Line 1
• Outer Circle
– Business Development
– Business Operations
– Projects Management
• Inner Circle
– IT Products Development
– “Single Windows”

13. Change Management Flow1
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Change
Request
IT Product
Owner
Release 1
Release 2
IT Product Backlog
Single System?
<= 8h?
Quota
24h/month?
Stage Gate
1
Is it IT?
Suggest workaround
Or
Convince it’s bad idea
Accept small useful
change requests
without committees

14. Change Management Flow2
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Stage Gate 1
Change
Request
• Brief
• Justification
• Impact
Initiator Defense
Approved for
Preliminary
Analysis
Discussing,
Filtering
Assessing
Business
Ambassador
IT Product
Owner1
Preliminary Analysis
• Budget
• Impact
• Calendar
IT Product
Owner2
Preliminary Analysis Team

15. Change Management Flow3
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Stage Gate
1
Preliminary
Analysis:
• Budget
• Impact
• Calendar
Stage Gate
2
Approval
• Rating
• Budget
• Timeline
• Team
Assessing
Justifying
Budgeting
Initiator Defense
Approved for
Preliminary
Analysis
Discussing,
Filtering
Assessing
Approved for
Execution,
Procurement,
Resource
Allocation
PMO Rating

16. PMO Rating1
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RATING POINTS
SIZING
IT DEVELOPMENT (H) PROCESSES (#) BUDGET (EUR) PROCUREMENTS (#)
8-40 41-200 200+ ≤4 5-10 10+ <30k 30-300k 300k+ ≤1 1-3 3+
COMPLEXITY
ITCHANGES
1 IS 1 2 3
1 IS + integration 2 4 6
N IS 3 6 9
PROCESSES
1 department 1 2 3
2 departments 2 4 6
N departments 3 6 9
BUDGET
Int. 1 2 3
Ext. 2 4 6
Int. + Ext. 3 6 9
PROCURE
MENT
Survey 1 2 3
Negotiation 2 4 6
International 3 6 9

17. PMO Rating2
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Rating points Change type Approve Manage Control
4 IT Development Stage Gate 1 IT Product Owner IT Department
5 – 12 Initiative Stage Gate 1 Business Owner PMO
13 – 35 Project
Stage Gate 1
Stage Gate 2
PMO PM PMO
36 Program
Stage Gate 1
Stage Gate 2
Board
PMO PM
PMO +
External audit

18. PROJ.PLANS & BACKLOGS1
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PMO Project Example: New tariffs and discounts
Economics Study
POS
Go To Market
WBS
New Processes
eChannels
ERP Accounting
ERP Product Catalog

19. PROJ.PLANS & BACKLOGS2
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PMO Project Example: New tariffs and discounts
GANTTCHART
Economics Study
POS
Go To Market
New Processes
eChannels
ERP Accounting
ERP Product Catalog

20. PROJ.PLANS & BACKLOGS3
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PMO Project Example: New tariffs and discounts
POS & Last Mile
Economics Study
POS
Go To
Market
Release 1
Release 2
PMOIT
eChannels: Self ServiceERP
To-Be Processes & Guides
eChannels
ERP Accounting
ERP Product Catalog
Release 3
Release 1
Release 2
Release 3
Release 1
Release 2

21. BACKLOGS1
• Unified Agile Backlogs format for all systems
• Predefined Calendar Iterations. 2 weeks to 1 month
• PMO Plans updated based on Calendar Iterations
• Iterations filled in according to Team Dev Capacity
• Kanban / Scrum Tasks Boards used based on Team’s
choice
• Grooming every 2-3 weeks
• Transparency. Backlog URLs shared across
stakeholders
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22. BACKLOGS2
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Epic
• Feature groups for different Business Owners
• Different sub-systems. E.g. Reporting, DWH, Cubes, Mining
Feature
• Small and Medium Change Orders (with ref#)
• Sequential Stages or Processes of PMO Projects (with project prefix)
Item
• Scenario, User Story, part of some Feature
• Generic work items. E.g. dev environment setup, optimizations
Bug
• Incidents reported to IT Service Desk (with ref#)
• Self discovered defects of “Done” items
Backlog hierarchy supported by MS TFS

23. TEAM CAPACITY
Great Secret of Reliable Commitments:
Team Size x Personal Perf Rate x Duration
– Planned Time Off
– 20% for Meetings
– 10-30% for Support Buffer
=
Effort Available for Development
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24. Summary
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Organization
• N Projects : M IT Products
• PMO Project Teams
• IT Product Teams
Project Delivery:
• Outer: Traditional
• Inner: Agile
• Careful Stage Gating
• Mapping by PMO
IT
Fin
Services
eChannels
Data
Analytics
Corporate
Tools
ERP
Logistics
POS &
Last Mile
PMO
Admin
Business
Line 2
Business
Line 1

25. AGILE
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
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26. Agilization of Public Sector @ LT
• Before 2014: Agile-Under-Cover
– https://www.slideshare.net/akovaliov/a-
kovaliovproduktodarbusarasoplanavimasvalstybiniamprojektui120603015110phpapp01
• 2014: Agile is recommended for Government IT Projects
– http://valstybe.agile.lt/valstybes-informaciniu-sistemu-gyvavimo-ciklo-metodika/
• 2017: Agile templates based on LT Post experience
– http://valstybe.agile.lt/pirkimo-sutarties-pavyzdys/
• 2018: Further educating via
– IT Association
– Newly created Government CIO Office
– Public Procurement Authority
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http://www.agile.lt/

27. Procurement Object Definition
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Procurement Object Pricing Payment terms
Solution implementation
and deployment.
Solution defined in business
processes and usage
scenarios
Fixed price for main
scope
Payments after each release
Development and consulting
hours buffer
Total price of X hours Payments on demand, based on
work orders.
Buffer may be consumed both
after the final release or in
parallel
Support Total price for X
months
Monthly payments
Starts after 1st release to
production

28. Staged Delivery Plan
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Stage Duration Payments Working SW
Kick off 1-2 weeks % of fixed price -
Exploration / Detailed
analysis
Up to 1 month - -
Release 1 2 - 3 months % of fixed price Trial usage with business users
Release 2 2 - 3 months % of fixed price
[+ work orders]
Trial usage with business users
GO LIVE
Release 3 2 - 3 months % of fixed price
[+ work orders]
[+ monthly support]
Trial usage with business users
Production usage
... ... ... ...
Release X 1 - 2 months % of fixed price
[+ work orders]
[+ monthly support]
Production usage
Closure 1 – 2 weeks % of fixed price
[+ monthly support]
Production usage

29. LESSONS LEARNED
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30. BENEFITS
• LIMITED WIP – BETTER LIFE
– Filtered inquires due to Stage gating
– Clear trade offs for urgent changes
– Delivery on commitments more and more often
• PAPERLESS TRANSPARENCY
– Visualized and prioritized
– Shared links vs status reports
• FITS TO IT REALITY
– X : Y : Z complexity
– Development and Support
– All sizes of development orders
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31. IMPLICATIONS
• BREAKING THE COMFORT ZONES
– More discipline for the Business Units
– Learning to say and accept NO as an answer
– Learning to be transparent
– Temporary higher personnel turnover
• FEELING LOST SOMETIMES
– Temporary performance downgrades, misunderstanding,
mistakes
– Inventing the wheel
– Zombie projects – the ones started under old rules
• MULTIPLE TOOLS
– No single tool for whole PMO stack yet
– Manual sync generates mistakes from time to time
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Thank you!