People. Process. Progress.

What Should a Good PMO Actually Do?

A Project Management Office can create standards, dashboards, governance, meetings, and status reports.

But those aren’t outcomes. They’re tools.

I recently presented Developing PMO Standards: Building Visibility, Predictability, and Confidence to the PMI Southwest Virginia chapter. The presentation looked at PMO standards through the lens of People, Process, Progress, with three outcomes in mind: Visibility, Predictability, and Confidence.

That’s also the focus of the latest episode of People, Process, Progress.

Visibility: Can We See the Work?

One concept I’ve carried from emergency management into portfolio management is the Common Operating Picture.

Different people don’t need every piece of information, but they need enough shared awareness to make coordinated decisions.

For a portfolio, that means understanding what’s active, what’s coming, what’s at risk, where dependencies exist, and where projects are competing for resources.

The dashboard isn’t the outcome. Shared awareness is.

Predictability: Do We Know What Happens Next?

Predictability doesn’t mean everything goes according to plan.

One framework I discuss in the episode is PACE: Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. Another is Colonel John Boyd’s OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

They reinforce two related ideas:

Planning gives us options. Execution requires adaptation.

Or, as I put it in the presentation: expect stormy project skies.

Confidence: Do We Trust Our Ability to Execute?

Good governance should establish necessary boundaries without controlling every decision.

Think of a highway guardrail. It doesn’t drive the car. It establishes a boundary beyond which the consequences become unacceptable.

That’s how I think about project governance:

Governance should be a safety rail, not red tape.

The same applies to people. Project managers can have different personalities, strengths, and styles while still providing stakeholders with a consistent experience.

Three Questions for Your PMO

Instead of starting with another maturity assessment, try three questions:

Can we see the body of work?
Do we know what happens next?
Do we trust our ability to execute?

Visibility. Predictability. Confidence.

Pay attention to where people hesitate.

Then don’t ask, “What process should we add?”

Ask, “What outcome are we missing?”

That’s where improvement starts.

People. Process. Progress.
Leadership • Project Management • Execution

Godspeed y’all,

Kevin