PMO Strategies

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today you will find out how to be more clear and direct in your communication style, this is step 5 in the IMPACT PMO Mindset. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, 002 Instill Focus, 003 Measure Outcomes, 004 Perform Relentlessly, 005 Adapt to Thrive, or 006 Communicate with Purpose - definitely go back and listen to or read those first. Reviewing all the steps mean that you have your oxygen mask securely fastened BEFORE helping others transform their mindset. It Starts with YOU The last and maybe one of the most important pieces of an IMPACT PMO leader’s success is how we think about our role as leaders. The demands and expectations on PMO leaders continue to grow, but the shifts we need to make are not insurmountable. In fact, these new expectations are exactly what we have been waiting for. Haven’t we been asking for a “seat at the table” with the other executives driving organizational strategy delivery? Here’s our chance to not only earn that seat at the table, but be invited in because of our perspective, knowledge, information, and resources that the leadership of the organization need. The keys to mindset shifts start with us, the PMO Leaders. We must look at our role differently and understand the ways we can further the organization from a strategic perspective. Now is our chance and it starts within. We cannot start shifting the mindsets of those around us to this new way of thinking about PMOs and their value until we understand and transition our own thinking about our role. The final step in the IMPACT PMO Leader Mindset includes taking on new roles that prepare you to complete the transition. You will embrace the entrepreneurial approach to solving business problems. As an IMPACT PMO Leader, you become the Strategy Navigator by positioning your PMO as the nexus of information and IMPACT. You will proudly accept your fiduciary responsibility to the organization to achieve the highest possible return on investment. Your advice and guidance will position you as a Trusted Advisor to leadership. You will take the time to build a strong partnership with your PMO sponsor and cultivate strong capabilities in the sponsors on your projects. You will appreciate that it’s crucial to start the PMO correctly by laying a strong foundation of permanence and equality to other business units. You will work hard to bring people with you through the change process instead of spending countless hours fighting change resistance. And finally, you will appreciate being empowered to accelerate your own growth in your career and understand that your options are limitless once you shed the stigma of being powerless take charge of your future. 1. Embrace Entrepreneurial Thinking To achieve this IMPACT nirvana, you must shift the way you think about solving business problems and the way you operate within your teams into more of an entrepreneurial approach. You must look for opportunities to challenge, ask questions, try new ways to do things, and accelerate progress. The typical entrepreneurial leader is constantly asking, “How can we do better, faster, cheaper and get to those results more quickly?” without limiting beliefs about the way things should be done. PMO leaders need to understand that the PMO is not synonymous with a waterfall implementation methodology. The way you choose to implement projects, if your PMO does implement projects, should not be a defining factor in the PMO value proposition or brand. We need to stop limiting our thinking to project delivery and a specific implementation methodology. It’s killing the reputation of the PMO and is incredibly short-sighted when we look at all the possible ways a PMO can deliver IMPACT. The entrepreneurial PMO leader looks for ways to solve business problems differen...

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today you will find out how to be more clear and direct in your communication style, this is step 5 in the IMPACT PMO Mindset. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, 002 Instill Focus, 003 Measure Outcomes, 004 Perform Relentlessly, or 005 Adapt to Thrive, whew - definitely go back and listen to or read those first. Doing so will set the framework for how we landed here, on mindset as the primary step and everything that you need before you can communicate effectively. Language is Key The key to communicating with purpose is ensuring that your communication is clear, direct, and drives actions and decisions. For any communication to be effective, we must start by ensuring we are speaking the same language. When you talk to people about the PMO and the IMPACT you’re trying to make with your PMO, make sure you are speaking the language of your stakeholders and using terms that they understand to avoid barriers to communication. Talk about outcomes, IMPACT, return on investment, and the deliverables they're looking for with their projects. We must want to speak the language of our audience. We cannot throw a lot of PM speak at stakeholders which will only cause their eyes to glaze over.  Instead, speak in terms of the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) for the person we are talking to. They need to hear you talk about the “whys” of your PMO, not the “what’s” that won’t make much sense to them anyway. 1. Speak their language Communicating with purpose means you’ve got to stop talking project management at business leaders and stakeholders. When we start throwing around a lot of PM speak at our stakeholders their eyes glaze over and they feel that you don’t get them, and they don’t get you. Have you ever seen two people that speak different languages try to communicate or solve a problem? It’s extremely challenging and leaves both parties unsure if they are on the same page. When you start talking about the triple constraint, project management process, templates, etc. to the typical non-PM stakeholder, you run the risk that the two of you will not understand each other. You might be losing a critical opportunity to have an effective conversation about your PMO and how it's driving IMPACT because you're getting stuck in by a language barrier and they can't follow along. We need to use language that resonates with them and use terminology that they are familiar with. This means we should stay away from speaking about the mechanics of the processes we are using and instead talk to them about outcomes, IMPACT, and return on investment. The “why” you are doing the PMO in the first place and the “why” they care. Talk about their pain points and get specific on the way they will be able to function and feel when you’ve solved those business problems. We talk to them in their language so that we eliminate communication barriers and stay in sync with our stakeholders. 2. Tie PMO Deliverables to IMPACT Get stakeholders’ attention by connecting everything you are doing with the PMO to the outcomes they are looking to achieve. That means that you want to be able to tie all the services you're providing directly to an IMPACT that each service is having on the organization. We must build the brand and credibility of the PMO by ensuring that people understand the PMO in terms of how it’s delivering the organizational strategy and solving business problems quickly. Instead of saying that you are building metrics and dashboards, talk about the outcome you are creating, better transparency to drive educated and informed decision-making. Instead of saying that you are creating standards and process, talk about how you are creating greater predictability and reliability so that leaders can more effectively plan for IMPACT and business transformation.

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! We are in the 4th step to revolutionizing your PMO leader mindset. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, or 001, The PMO Reset, or 002 talking all about instilling focus,  003 redefining what success looks like, or the previous 004 on how to perform relentlessly - then take a few minutes go back and review those first. Starting at the beginning show you the evolution that landed us here, and help you understand how adapting plays into securing your PMO's future. Survival of the fittest? What’s all this talk about PMO “survival skills” for PMO leaders? It’s time to shed this belief that the best you can hope for as a PMO leader is to simply survive. PMO leaders that are in constant survival mode can’t possibly have the mental space or peace of mind to drive high-IMPACT. If you are continually worrying about whether you will have a job in six months, how can you possibly perform at your best? I think this survival mindset that is being perpetuated in writings and teachings is setting PMO leaders up for failure from the start. We need to be looking for techniques that will help us thrive, grow, develop, and mature our PMOs. This means we need to stop getting ourselves into this position in the first place. IMPACT PMO Leaders avoid survival mode by being flexible, adaptive, and providing services and support that are exactly what their business leaders need when and how they need it. 1. Adapt Your Management Style To thrive, you will need to be able to adjust your management style, based not only on the needs of the individual but the significance of the change you are creating. Yes, we must manage everybody independently, because different people have different needs in terms of personality, reward, and accountability. We also need to manage them according to how familiar they are with the change we are trying to create and the IMPACT that change will have on the organization. For example, if you’re building a PMO for the first time in an organization, it’s never been done before, then people’s understanding of what to expect and how to engage is going to be low. This means that we will need to deeply consider the organizational change management components of doing something that’s never been done before. Meaning, how will we bring people with us through the change process so that they embrace this change fully and engage in driving toward the IMPACT we are all trying to create? You will have a different set of challenges if the PMO has been tried before many times and failed, but those challenges still require a strong focus on bringing people with you through the change process, doing change with them instead of to them. You’re likely to hit a lot of change resistance and a slow ability to absorb the changes that are being created by your PMO. Being able to flex your management style to meet your stakeholders where they are instead of where you want them to be is a key trait of an IMPACT PMO Leader. 2. Build Business Knowledge and Acumen To drive IMPACT, leaders with an IMPACT mindset learn the business knowledge necessary to speak intelligently about the organization they are supporting and build business knowledge in their teams. It’s critical that you and your teams can talk about why this change is important, in terms of business value and have a general sense of the work of the business so that they can see the value of the projects they are creating or services they are providing to that business unit. I do not believe you need to be an expert in the business. Your expertise is PMOs, but I do think it is important to have some business understanding for the organizations that you support. Isn’t it so much easier to have a conversation with someone that “gets” what you do? Be that person for the business if you want to thrive.

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! We are on to the 3rd step in changing your mindset as a PMO leader. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, or 002 talking all about instilling focus, or even 003 redefining what success looks like - then definitely go back and listen to or read those first. Starting at the beginning will be the stepping stones to how we got here, and help you understand why we must work on mindset first. Today in episode 004, we are diving into step 3, performing relentlessly. This step in the process is crucial for building credibility with your PMO and leadership confidence in you as a PMO leader. IMPACT PMO Leaders understand that it’s not enough to stay busy, it’s not enough to show progress, we’ve got to Get. It. Done. consistently and reliably and have a relentless perseverance of IMPACT. Your goal is to drive a delivery focused mindset with your team, show that you understand that the work you are doing is for a greater purpose, ensure that you are keeping your commitments, minimize friction and barriers to IMPACT outcomes, and right-size your governance framework to drive the ideal state of IMPACT delivery. Let’s dig into the steps you can take to Perform Relentlessly. 1. Drive a Delivery-Focused Mindset When we create process or tools or get busy managing projects, we must make sure that we keep our eye on the prize. Your job as an IMPACT PMO Leader is to ensure that everyone on the team sees the forest, not just the trees. We don’t allow our teams to get caught up in checking boxes or mindlessly following steps in a process. We don’t allow our teams to simply go through the motions of delivering capabilities or services for the organization. We ensure that everyone on the team is tirelessly driving toward creation of IMPACT. This means that we need to allow our teams some flexibility and space to find creative ways to solve problems, use only the tools in the toolbox that are enabling project delivery and throughput, and ensure that we think about delivering IMPACT through every service we create or interaction we have with stakeholders. 2. Talk IMPACT to Everyone Performing relentlessly means that you are talking about the IMPACT you are making with everyone. When we are talking to people about the work we are doing, think about the language you use. Make sure you connect people to the outcomes you are creating instead of the steps you are taking to get there. Sometimes we will speak one language to our business stakeholders and then get right back to talking tools, process, and methodology when we go back to our team. Instead, make sure that are you are connecting the work that you are doing as a team directly to the IMPACT that work has on the overall organizational strategy. You will see performance increase if people are able to tie the work they are doing to the big picture of the organization. People want to see how they are part of the puzzle and how what they are doing matters. Show them just how much it matters. 3. Keep Commitments If you want to build credibility, then you must do what you say you are going to do. Every time. That means being thoughtful and purposeful about the commitments you make and create a relentless pursuit of IMPACT on those most important priorities. People are counting on you. They are judging you. They are trying to figure out if they can rely on you to deliver. Show them that they can. You want to set expectations and then deliver on exactly what you said you were going to deliver. To do this, you must spend time defining and planning out the capabilities you will deliver with your PMO and ensuring that you are planning for the inevitable changes and roadblocks that will hamper your progress. Be good at planning before you do. Remember when we talked about saying “yes” to everyone and then not being able t...

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today we are going to dive right into changing your mindset as a PMO leader. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, or even 002, Instill Focus, definitely go back and listen to or read those first. Doing so will set the framework for how we landed here, on mindset first and the important first step to shifting mindset. The second step in this super important mindset work is to Measure Outcomes. We are going to redefine what success looks like in your PMO. Thinking Differently About Value It’s time to redefine success for our PMO and projects. IMPACT PMO Leaders understand that measuring progress is not sufficient. We’ve got to know that we have achieved the intended outcomes in a way that is driving high-IMPACT. Today, so many PMO leaders define their success by the success of their projects, but that’s only part of the success story for a PMO and we may not even be telling that part quite right. There’s a difference between the success of your projects and the IMPACT the PMO is making overall, depending on the capabilities and services the PMO delivers. There’s also a huge disparity in how many PMO leaders are defining success even with our projects. Often, success is being defined by how much work is happening, how much money is being spent, or how much overall progress is being made. We confuse progress with outcomes and assume that just because we are busy, just because we are making progress, we are successful. That’s not the case. Progress does not equal IMPACT. We need to look at redefining success in terms of the IMPACT we are making with our PMO and the IMPACT we achieve with our projects. We also need to develop metrics unique to the PMO that track PMO progress and IMPACT, separate from project delivery. 1. Understand that EVM is not enough Ironically, Earned Value Management (EVM) doesn't measure value. EVM measures schedule performance and cost performance, but it doesn't really tell you anything about value and it certainly doesn't tell you anything about IMPACT. It doesn't measure actual outcomes and whether those were achieved. Therein lies the challenge. EVM alone cannot tell your business leaders if they are going to achieve high-IMPACT business outcomes for the work that was done, only if that work will be done according to what you expect/planned from a cost and schedule perspective. Here’s a simple example. Let’s say your project was to implement a new system. The reason (your project “Why”) the system is being implemented is to create a new revenue source for the organization. Your project team diligently delivers all the defined scope, according to the originally determined timeline, and even does all the work under budget. Once the system is live, everyone expects this big bang on that new revenue, but it doesn’t come. No one uses the system. It turns out that along the way, some key questions were missed that could have shifted that direction. Was the right due diligence done up front to determine if the market really needed this system? Did the project include the proper marketing and communications planning to introduce that new system to the market? When scope decisions were made, did the team go back to the business case to determine if these changes would affect the intended outcomes? The questions are countless, but the outcome is the same. The project did not realize the intended IMPACT. In the eyes of the business stakeholders, this project is a failure, even if your project team did “everything right” according to EVM. We have to close this gap between your perception of success and theirs. EVM is a great resource for measuring project performance and one that I encourage you to study and apply when and how it makes sense to do so, but that’s not all we need to be measuring.

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today we are going to dive right into changing your mindset as a PMO leader. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, definitely go back and listen to or read those first. Doing so will set the framework for how we landed here, on mindset first. The first step in shifting our mindset is to find focus. In this episode/post we are going to learn specific techniques to help you distill what is important and get laser focused to create the IMPACT you desire for your organization. Finding Focus If you are like me, you like to have about 50 things going on at once. After all, there’s always a little downtime on this project or that one, and that’s just enough time to squeeze in some work on this one over here…and that one over there…yeah, that’s the story of my life. BUT, here’s what I’ve always found to be true…when I slow down and focus on just one thing at a time, I can get more done in the long run. If you are being completely honest with yourself, you probably know this is true for you, as well.  As much as we want to think we are multitaskers, what we are really doing is a lot of task switching and creating a lot of rework and lost productivity time in the process. So, here’s the techniques I learned to employ when I was a PMO leader inside organizations and this is secret #1 I share with my students and clients today. 1. Solve Business Problems When starting a PMO, most of what you read or learn in courses suggests that you start by building a charter and creating your vision and mission. Or, even worse, they tell you to figure out your PMO model or type. Then, it’s off to building and creating process, methodology, and templates. Sadly, this is missing the most important step and assumes that you already know what’s best for the organization. But in much of the literature and courses, there’s no defined process to ask that most important, yet very simple question. Successful PMO leaders understand that they don’t have all the answers. We have no business creating anything until we’ve determined what business problem we are solving. The most important step when starting or refreshing your PMO is ensuring you have answered the question, “Why is the PMO here and what business problem must be solved?” First things first. We must assess the organization for IMPACT opportunities to understand your PMO purpose. Before you create the list of services you will provide or start building templates and process, you need a mission, a greater purpose that you are fulfilling through the PMO construct. Your mission is not to manage projects. Your mission is not to create templates and tools. Your mission is to get to outcomes that positively IMPACT the organization you serve by driving overall greater throughput and higher return on investment (ROI). To do that, you need to be very clear on the business pain points, challenges, or new opportunities that your PMO will help solve. Get crystal clear on that before you do anything else. Even if you think you know what’s best for them, you are probably wrong. Don’t guess. You must not assume you know what’s best for the organization. Whether you’ve been there 1 month or 20 years, you still aren’t inside the heads of the business leaders that are creating the opportunity for the PMO. Ask them. Talk to them a lot! They will eventually tell you what you need to know, but you must be listening for it because sometimes it’s not obvious or on the surface. Sometimes, the real reasons the PMO has been started isn’t even for the reasons they’ve been telling everyone. So, we have got to be listening intently for the truth. That means you must stop telling, talking, selling, and convincing and just listen, observe, and pay attention to the subtleties.

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today we are going to explore the real reason that we create PMOs and how you might want to think a little bit differently about your PMO and your role as a PMO leader in helping to drive organizational strategy delivery. If you have not listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode, I highly recommend you go back and listen to that episode or read that post first. It sets the stage a little bit for what we're going to talk about in this here and going forward. It gives you a little bit of a perspective on my background and why I'm so passionate about helping you as a PMO leader achieve the highest possible return on investment for all of your efforts when it comes to building, running, accelerating, or even rescuing your PMO. Where are we today with PMOs? That is a big question to understand before we talk about where we want to take PMOs. Recently I was keynoting a conference and also speaking on a panel about PMOs and hosting a PMO workshop. I was sharing the stage with some of my favorite PMO thought leaders on this panel, you will definitely hear more from in upcoming posts and episodes. During the panel, we were asked some very interesting questions about where PMOs are today and where they're headed. Are we headed for more PMOs? Is the PMO concept dying? Do people really understand what the PMO does? And as we were having these great questions asked, I was really interested in hearing the perspectives of some of my colleagues that were there that literally have decades and decades of experience in the project management space and in PMOs. I mean we are easily over a hundred years of PMO and project management experience among the people that were on the panel. What was most interesting was thinking about how all of us come from very different perspectives and backgrounds. While our experiences have been different, we all had some really positive things to say about where we believe PMOs are going with the huge caveat that we must make a shift in the way we think about the PMO and the role that the PMO must play in helping to deliver on the strategy for your organization. Okay. Now let's pause on that for one second. I'm not saying that PMO needs to be strategic, but I do believe that the PMO has a critical role in helping the organization to deliver on strategic objectives. It could be that your PMO has a very functional or tactical place in the organization and you're just knocking stuff out and getting projects done and that's great. Alternatively, you could have a seat at the strategy table helping to define the strategy for the organization and anything in between. What your PMO does from a service perspective is very much dependent on the needs of the organization. That's why I truly believe that no two PMOs look exactly alike because your PMO should be focused on how you can make an IMPACT and deliver on what the business leaders actually need and are asking for. As we start digging into some of the data and statistics, some of it will sound a little depressing. Don't worry, I will talk to you about what we can do about what the data is telling us. I can clearly see the gap that I know a lot of PMOs have between what the business leaders want (A.K.A. your sponsor and stakeholders), and what they're asking for you to help them do (A.K.A. where many PMOs are focusing their energy). Okay, so let's dig into some of this data and then let's talk about what we should be doing about it. Now, for some of you, what I share with you is going to be really familiar. Some of the things we talk about, you're going to say, oh, I resonate with that remark. Others of you are going to say, you know what? I think I'm okay. I am not having this problem and if that's you I am thrilled. Definitely stick around because I want to feel your virtual head nodding as we go th...

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Well, hey there! Welcome to the PMO strategies Podcast. I am your host, Laura Barnard, and I am honored and grateful that you are allowing me to spend a little bit of your day with you. My mission is to help PMO leaders, and those wanting to leverage the power of project management, make a big IMPACT in this introductory episode, I'm going to give you a little background about me and my philosophy on PMOs. I'm going to talk to you about why this podcast is so important to me, and how I'm going to help you unleash your professional potential so that you can make a huge IMPACT with your PMO. Now, for those of you that are not PMO leaders, but work in a PMO, manage projects or programs, or just interested in learning, if a PMO can help you deliver on your organization strategy. Don't worry. I've got plenty for you too. You see many of the techniques that I will share with you over the coming episodes will apply to you too because it's all about figuring out the best way to leverage what we know and what we need to know to get it done. So, who am I? Very early in my career, I fell in love with big transformational change. I happened to be a part of developing the very first program to require graduate students to do their thesis and dissertations electronically published on the internet, back in the beginnings of the internet. There, I saw just how incredible big changes like that could be to helping people share their message and literally change the world. Fast forward to 1999 where I had my first chance to build a PMO. I was asked to help the organization oversee and manage the portfolio of e-commerce projects that we're all moving forward at a frenetic pace with new technologies, new mindsets and new ways of delivering value, it was at the height of the dotcom craziness, and it was a wild ride, but I loved every second of it! That was at the beginning of what we now call the internet. It was not as easy to find what you needed if you were building your first PMO Google was not yet mainstream. And even if it had been there wasn't much online you can find that would help you figure out how to build a run a PMO. You couldn't simply type, how to build a PMO into Google and get almost 8 million results like you can today. You couldn't simply go to Amazon and order a bunch of books on building and running a PMO. Back then, you could maybe find a course or a book at the library or even in the bookstores. But you were mostly on your own. I had to figure out the best way to build the right capabilities and services to help our organization deliver on our customer’s initiatives. You see, all of these companies were getting their first ever chance to get their products and services out to the world. How exciting was that?? I made some mistakes. I learned a lot of lessons and I started seeing some magic happen when we figured it out. Now fast forward to today, where there are so many options and so much information out there telling you all the things you should or shouldn't do with your PMO, and it can be quite overwhelming. Just as overwhelming as it can be when you don't have enough information, having been in your shoes in the role of PMI leader inside organizations, and now having spent about two and a half decades, helping people make a big IMPACT driving transformational change. I get what you're dealing with the challenges you face and want nothing more than to help you be successful. By sharing what I've learned what I know works and what will help you reduce the stress, the headaches, the frustration, the confusion, and overwhelm that can come when you are trying to set up,  run, or even rescue a PMO. Over the coming episodes, you will see my belief system unfold. You will also learn a lot of real, practical, immediately applicable techniques that will help you make a big IMP...