Why PPM and PMOs fail—KeyedIn Projects

Why PPM and PMOs fail
There is a wide gap between what the PMO (Project Management Office) is doing and what the business expects it to be doing. This misalignment has serious consequences for both the PMO and the business.

If you are concerned about setting up your PMO, then maybe you should be—the failure rate is very high with approximately half of all PMOs closing down within three years or considered implementation failures.

Fortunately, it’s not all bad news. A select few PMOs are maturing to add great value to their businesses. What do these best in class PMOs do to separate themselves from the rest? With the right knowledge and an effective game plan you can make a huge difference to your PMO strategy—both strategically and tactically through the use of Project Portfolio Management (PPM).

Author: KeyedIn Projects
Review Status: N/A

Project risk management in a program or portfolio

What happens when the standard risk matrix is interpreted differently by various project managers working across a program or portfolio of projects? asks Guy Wilmington.

Contributing factors in optimal project portfolio selection—Doug Wheeler

Contributing factors in optimal project portfolio selection
The selection of projects and programs of work is a key function of both public and private sector organisations. Ideally, projects and programs that are selected to be undertaken are consistent with strategic objectives for the organisation; will provide value for money and return on investment; will be adequately resourced and prioritised; will not compete with general operations for resources and not restrict the ability of operations to provide income to the organisation; will match the capacity and capability of the organisation to deliver; and will produce outputs that are willingly accepted by end users and customers.

A modified Delphi approach has been applied in this study to investigate best practice and to determine the factors that contribute to optimal selection of projects, and the associated strategic level decision making.

There are various standards and practices that some may recognise as representing best practice in this area. Many of these have similar characteristics and this study has found no single best practice. Each of the participants in the study related to practices that are appropriate to the organisation, the size and nature of the candidate projects, the regulatory environment, its stakeholders, and the experience and capability of its personnel.The study identified the factors that contribute to the optimal selection of projects as: culture, process, knowledge of the business, knowledge of the work, education, experience, governance, risk awareness, selection of players, preconceptions, and time pressures. All these factors were found to be significant; to be appropriate to public sector organisations, private sector organisations and government owned corporations; and to have a strong linkage to research on strategic decision making. These factors can be consolidated into two underlying factors of
organisation culture and leadership.

The significance of the conclusions from this research is that organisations that do not give due consideration to the underlying drivers of organisation culture and leadership, will continue to make sub-optimal decisions on the billions of dollars they invest in projects each year.

Author: Doug Wheeler
Review status: Presented at the AIPM 2014 National Conference

Project portfolio management versus project ERP

What is project portfolio management software? How does it deliver value to a project-driven enterprise in a way that is different from EPM or ERP? Rob Stummer wades through an alphabet soup of three letter acronyms to figure out what project managers really want.

How to build a good project KPI framework

Key performance indicators, or KPIs, at the project manager’s disposition can play an important role in driving the behaviours and actions undertaken on a project. PM Oracles offers 7 considerations for building a KPI framework.

Benefits management key to portfolio success

Realising and managing benefits at the portfolio level will help organisations identify the levers for success and allow them to run projects that capture opportunities.

Most project stakeholders don’t understand risk

Few stakeholders really appreciate the difference between a risk threshold, the aggregate effect of the total risk exposure created by the project, and the organisation’s risk tolerance. Lynda Bourne says this needs to change with education.

Resources, capacity and the portfolio manager

Organisations must optimise their resources to mitigate project delivery delays and overruns, quality issues, and, in the long term, negative bottom line impact. Adele Bernard on capacity planning and resource management for a portfolio of projects.