Author Archive

In part 1 of this posting we were discussing the question of if portfolio management can improve the chances of organisational success?  To answer this I began exploring the OGC guide Management of Portfolio™. Having explored the guide, it: Provides a language for the ritual “A Portfolio is the totality of an organisations’ investment (or segment...
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I was with a colleague recently; discussing the question of can portfolio management improve the chances of organisational success? The insight that my colleague gave me was based upon the quotation that I had never heard before by Brian Quinn (“Strategic Planning R.I.P.”). “A good deal of corporate planning …… is like a ritual rain...
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In part 1 of this blog posting we took a look at the challenges and responses to the PMO business case.  In this section we will cover the roadblocks and tactics of the PMO business case. What was coming through in the debates at an IT conference in Europe that I attended this year was...
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I had the opportunity to speak at an IT conference in Europe this year on the topic of the “PMO Business Case”.  Recognising it is always dangerous to assume who the audience is and their experiences I prepared a presentation on the basis of exploring some of the challenges of gaining organisational support of...
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In Part 1 of this posting I ran through a client scenario that I was recently involved in: I was working with a PMO client who had just invested a significant sum in an enterprise PM solution but with which the stakeholders were very disappointed. My first step was to interview the stakeholders (in...
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It is possible that all of us have attended Project Management Exhibitions and have been impressed with the array of very sophisticated technologies, available for our PMO work. The vendors demonstrate the software engineering elegance; it looks so easy to drive these powerful tools, with their array of functions that seem to satisfy all...
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In my previous post I focused on the answers that I had received in one of my training courses which focused on ‘in what instances it it is necessary to work alone or in a group and when is it necessary to build teams.  Here I will focus on the team member “know how”. So,...
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The class had finished for the day, and as I was walking back to the hotel, I passed the yacht marina of Lymington, Hampshire. I walked to a large moored yacht and watched the crew practise their drills.  At the end of the session I asked the master what they were doing. He replied; “I...
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In my previous posting I was examining my own understanding of PMO “Value for money” after being challenged by a delegate on one of my training courses.  I set about drafting a basic PMO services menu that I thought that I could review with my customers to determine whether the dishes were appetising and...
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One of my training classes had ended for the day and the room was emptying.  I sensed that, given the level of debate throughout the day about PMO services, that some of the delegates were wanting to talk further about their organisation’s PMOs. Jane started, “Would you pay for a bad meal and poor service...
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