PMO OBjectives - a quick guide

PMO Objectives
Author: PM Majik
Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. www.pmmajik.com

Contents
1.0 Purpose of presentation
2.0 Primary objective of a PMO
3.0 Key principles
4.0 Objectives
5.0 SMART objectives
6.0 Summary
7.0 Project & PMO Resources

1.0 Purpose of this presentation
The purpose of this presentation is to provide:
•Primary objective of a PMO
•Key principles
•Objectives
•SMART Objectives
•Summary & resources

2.0 Primary objective of a PMO
The purpose of any PMO is very simple, it is to provide a framework that will support
all stakeholders and project teams to improve the probability of successful
delivery.
An organisation embarks on a project to achieve an outcome. This involves the
investment of valuable resources (people, money, time). If the PMO does not improve
the probability of successfully project delivery it is not doing it’s job and is not needed.

3.0 Key principles
• Standards: Look to embed common tools and processes based on organisation
standards where they exist.
• Consistency: Look to ensure that each project / workstream is populating reports,
documents, plans to the same level using common standards (this is a must for
comparing relative status of projects).
• Transparency: The PMO must provide transparency of progress and status of all
projects to all stakeholders. This will allow for early warnings of issues allowing
intervention to keep projects on track.
• Pragmatic: only do something if it makes sense and adds value. Challenge where
organisation standards exist that do not make sense. Failure to do this will put you in
the position of being viewed as an overhead that does not add value.
• Fit for Purpose: Avoid over engineering and duplication of tools and processes.
Project Managers are busy delivering. Don’t make their job harder by making
duplicate requests.
• Be Smart: Make sure you coordinate update requests and think about the
information you require. Don’t be seen as a PMO where the left hand does not know
what the right hand is doing with multiple and repeated requests.
• Independence: Remember, while your aim is to build a good working relationship
with the projects so you can help them, you must be careful to not get too close as
this will cloud your judgement when challenging progress, status, etc.

4.0 Key steps
Step 1 – Agree Objectives
• Very simply – you need to agree the objectives of what the PMO will deliver /
achieve. This ensures that there is a clear understanding and avoids the expectation
gap at once the PMO is implemented.
Step 2 – Translate to SMART objectives
• Taking the objectives generated in Step 1, define a set of SMART objectives. This
ensures that they can be measured so that successful implementation can be
demonstrated.
• S = Specific
• M = Measurable
• A = Attainable
• R = Relevant
• T = Timely

4.0 Step 1 – agree objectives (1 of 2)
Before embarking on any project, including designing and implementing PMO, you must know
what is the objective. This means that you must ensure that the following is understood and
agreed by senior management / PMO sponsor:
• Business drivers
• Problems to be solved
• Expected / required benefits
• Known constraints to work within (budget)
• Time frames
There is no right or wrong way to define the objectives. However, there are some principles
that should be followed:
• Ensure senior management / PMO sponsor engagement
• Ensure views are canvassed from stakeholders
• Avoid making assumptions based on the PMO you would like to implement
• Avoid talking in “solutions” so as not to lead conversations
• Consolidate and document inputs
• Review and refine with senior management, stakeholders and PMO sponsor
Capturing and agreeing objectives is like capturing project requirements. You need to ensure
you ask the right questions of the right people. Then review and consolidate the inputs and
document. This can then be presented back to senior management and PMO sponsor to
allow refinement and sign-off.

4.0 Step 1 – agree objectives (2 of 2)
You should be aiming for very clear objectives that are realistic and easily understood.
Then you will have a chance of designing and implementing a PMO to meet these
objectives, resulting in happy senior management and PMO sponsor.
• Visibility of all projects of budget > £5 million
• Standard reporting to be used by all projects
• Reduce mobilisation time of project to xx weeks
• Prioritise and approve projects based on standard metrics
• Improve quality of project delivery
• Improve certainty of project delivery
• Improve the return on investment of projects
There are many others and, in my experience, getting to the position of visibility of all
projects over a certain size using a standard reporting mechanism, is a big win for many
organisations without mature change management.

5.0 Step 2 – translate to SMART objectives (1 of 3)
The good news is, by completing step 1 you should have a clear understanding on what
objectives the PMO must be able to meet to be successful. However, so that you can
demonstrate that the objectives have been met, you do need to ensure that progress
can be measured. This is where you should try to use SMART objectives.
While going through step 1 to capture and agree objectives is a good start, in most
cases you will have what are termed “not so SMART objective”. This does not mean
that the objective is not good, it means that it is not SMART – it can not be measured. If
you can not measure, how will you know if you have been successful in your
endeavours? More importantly how will you demonstrate to your sponsor (boss) that
you have been successful?
Many organisations strive to use SMART objectives as they provide structure and, most
importantly, can be measured. This suits most goal orientated people as they have a
very clear understanding of what needs to be achieved, by when and what will be the
resulting outcome (benefit).

Below is an example SMART objectives worksheet that can be used to take each “Non
SMART” objective and translate it to a SMART objective.
Non SMART Objective
<Enter non-smart objective>
SMART Objective
Specific - what is the specific
activity / goal?
Measurable - what will be the
measure of success
(parameters)?
Attainable - is the objective
realistic and achievable?
Relevant - is the objective
relevant to the overall goal?
Time-Bound - what is the
time frame for objective
SMART Objective
<Enter refined SMART objective based on the objectives captured above>

Below is gives an example of how the template can be used to translate Non SMART to
SMART objective.
Non SMART Objective
Standard reporting to be used by all projects
SMART Objective
Specific - what is the specific
activity / goal? Implement standard reporting
Measurable - what will be the
measure of success
(parameters)?
100% of 20 active projects to use standard reporting
Attainable - is the objective
realistic and achievable? PMO team have 2 resources dedicated to activity of design and roll-
out of standard reporting to all 20 projects
Relevant - is the objective
relevant to the overall goal? Supports the PMO objective of implementing standard reporting
Time-Bound - what is the
time frame for objective Standard reporting to be implement by 31 Mar 2016
SMART Objective
Standard reporting will be implemented for all 20 active projects by 31 March 2016

6.0 Summary
Following these steps should result in you having clear objectives for your PMO.
•Use key principles to guide work
•Define, capture and agree objectives
•Translate to SMART objectives to track progress
If you would like more information, the following resource covers the entire process from
Objectives to Design Principles.
https://www.pmmajik.com/capturing-pmo-vision-mission-allowing-
definition-design-principle/

7.0 PMO resources
If you want more information, visit www.pmmajik.com where you will find lots of project
and PMO resources including the FREE guide, 7 Steps to Set-Up a PMO.
Visit http://www.pmmajik.com/set-pmo/
PM Majik Website
On the PM Majik website you will find over 150 articles that contain practical and
pragmatic tips and insights for designing, mobilising and managing a PMO. New
articles are added weekly. Topic requests are encouraged from the community.

7.0 Project & PMO Resources
Official PM Majik Resources
Click link below for details:
https://www.pmmajik.com/members/
• Step by step guide to setting up a PMO
• Easy to understand action lists
• Examples and checklists
• 220+ easy to follow pages
• Saves time – start implementing your PMO
today
• Saves money – no need to spend time or
employ expensive consultants to design a
PMO
• Quickly gain years of valuable knowledge

PMO OBjectives - a quick guide

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