The importance of a Project Management Office

The Project Management Office or PMO offers more than just a Governance and administrative function. It assists the project manager by providing support, developed standards, education and continuous improvement. As project managers who work in the coal face of day to day project delivery, jumping between sites, vendors, suppliers and customers. Ensuring the project is running smoothly by removing roadblocks and facilitating task completion.

So at times it can be challenge to get all the information in the field back to the home office and receive feedback. The PMO bridges the space between remote Project Managers and the home office by providing communication and collaboration support and linking those in the field with those in the office.

The PMO supports project managers by providing support, mentorship, education, guidance, and governance. Project Managers often have extensive reporting requirements that may keep them tied to a desk when they should be in the field. The PMO can step in to alleviate some of this burden by sharing knowledge and getting requests from the field to the right person in the office.

There is also a reliance on the PMO to provide reporting and documentation support, which enables the project manager to focus on the lower level requirements. To ensure there is cohesion with the PMO, it is best to ensure that at least some time is actually spent within the PMO, to ensure thorough training on all of the tools the company uses, educated on expectations and ready to go from day one.

As the PM starts in the field, the PMO should provide constant check-in and support, and if required the PM can be assigned a local mentor who provides support and guides the project manager past potential pitfalls.

The PMO also has the ability to provide Project Managers with required certified training, more than may be received in a year of employment. The scalable, flexible design of the PMO allows Project Managers to access industry standards and best practices from anywhere in the field or the office. With the backing of the PMO, Project Managers have the resources they need to implement and adhere to the highest quality standards. 

Implementing a PMO has the capacity to bring in both expected and unexpected efficiencies. While more efficient project management can certainly be expected from the additional reporting support, PMOs can also prompt an overwhelming change in the atmosphere of everyday work, spurring a greater sense of connection between the home office and remote workers. The PMO can give field workers a renewed passion for growth that allows the project management teams to tap into existing staff and allocate more bandwidth to mentoring co-workers and building relationships within and increasing the overall capacity of teams.

The PMO has dramatic, positive implications for customers as well, as they experience increased communication on individual projects and better understanding of overall priorities and project status updates. Since the PMO provides reporting support, customers can expect to receive project updates that include their specific metrics, requirements, and measures of success, leading to increased transparency and greater customer satisfaction.