We often get asked about metrics and measures for the PMO. You might already be aware of the Inside PMO Report we have which is focused on this subject. There’s a difference between the metrics and measures that the PMO contributes to – such as project success rates and the ones which focus on how well the PMO services are received by the organisation. There is one other area too that tends to get overlooked, and that’s the metrics and measures of the PMO team itself – is the team meeting the objectives and goals of the organisation. There is a specific goal system that can be used: OKRs (that ..read more

PMO Flashmob has a new home from the beginning of May and we’d love to tell you all about it. We’re launching the House of PMO and you’re all invited to a launch event. If you can’t make the first event on Thursday 6th May, join us for the shorter launch. We will be telling you all about the new membership options; the benefits you’ll receive for being a part of the House of PMO and the plans we have for the future. There are new events lined up; a new website to bring all the useful resources together and a new home for PMO professionals. We hope you can join us? Takes place Tuesday 11th May ..read more

PMO Flashmob has a new home from the beginning of May and we’d love to tell you all about it. We’re launching the House of PMO and you’re all invited to a launch event. If you can’t make the first event on Thursday 6th May, join us for the shorter launch. We will be telling you all about the new membership options; the benefits you’ll receive for being a part of the House of PMO and the plans we have for the future. There are new events lined up; a new website to bring all the useful resources together and a new home for PMO professionals. We hope you can join us? Takes place Tuesday 11th May ..read more

One of the main objectives of a PMO is to support and enable effective decision-making. It’s such a great objective because there’s a lot of scope with how the PMO can do that. From creating reports, giving insights from data, supporting stakeholder engagement activities and the part we can play when people come together to solve problems, make decisions and take action. In this article, we take a closer look at facilitation skills. Within P3O it states that “the P3O is ideally placed to provide an independent facilitation role” and we totally agree with that. Over the last few weeks we have a ..read more

The House of PMO – the new home for PMO Flashmob – opens its doors at the end of April. The new membership scheme will bring multiple benefits to PMO professionals looking for a place to call home. As part of the scheme, a new programme of events will be scheduled and it won’t just be Thursday evenings! We’re looking forward to bringing sessions to you at different times of the day and month. There will be the usual highly interactive virtual events; we’ll be back for in-person meetups and informal chats in the bar. We’ll also be introducing member-only events; byte-sized learning and unique w ..read more

We’ve talked about this a lot at PMO Flashmob – coaching skills. Skills we could be using to better support those we work within the delivery organisation – skills we could be using within the PMO itself to increase performance and maturity. We’ve talked about the differences between mentoring and coaching – we’ve also talked about being skilled to coach others. There is one thing we’ve agreed on over the years, using different coaching skills is one way for the PMO to really help people deliver projects and programmes more successfully – yet equally, we’re perhaps not as qualified to do it as ..read more

If there is one thing we can expect from working in project management it’s conflict. Due to the nature of projects – working to provide a solution to something we’ve probably never done before will mean there are problems to solve; people to bring onside; teams to work together and any number of expectations to be met. Believe it or not, some conflict is good and helps us uncover answers to problems that enable the project to move on and be delivered successfully. Over the next few weeks we are going to cover several different frameworks, approaches and techniques that the modern project prac ..read more

Modern project management has been mainly focused on the different methods and delivery approaches for managing projects and programmes. Waterfall, Lean, SCRUM, Kanban, Agile – the list goes on. Utilising the right approach for the right project is key, yet the biggest success factor for successful projects remains the same – effective leadership and management of people in project environments. Over the next few weeks we are going to cover several different frameworks, approaches and techniques that the modern project practitioner can utilise in their day-to-day work that make a difference to ..read more

It’s always good to find out what the latest insights are from research papers based on PMO themes. In this article we take a look at the paper, The Role Played by PMOs in the Transfer of Knowledge Between Projects from the Department of Engineering and Technology Management, University of Pretoria, South Africa published in 2018. The paper presents a conceptual framework with the promise of further research to come which will look at the empirical results (the realities). The argument is that projects are focused on the short-term goals, and rightly so, however, we can learn lessons and gain ..read more

After three years, the PMO Competency Framework has been launched by PMO Flashmob and the House of PMO. The PMO Competency Framework really is a PMO community project – created by PMO practitioners for PMO practitioners. For many years, PMO practitioners have been the poorer relatives to others in the PPM community who have had for many years now, a competency framework and assessment which enables them to understand their strengths and discover their skills gaps. The PMO Competency Framework is a career tool that not only allows you to assess yourself against existing PMO role profiles, it is ..read more