PMO Best Practices

I recently watched a programme, Coast on the BBC, about the Caledonian Canal in Scotland; so that counts as a water based activity (sort of). Today the Caledonian canal is described as 60 miles of Scottish Highland splendour amid outstanding unspoilt scenery. Slicing through the Great Glen, this majestic canal is considered by many as...
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My colleague Glenn Brule and I were invited to attend a session where a group of relatively high level executives at a major financial institution based in New York City were discussing issues surrounding the development of a business analysis center of excellence (BACOE).  This is actually quite a hot topic these days. To...
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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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Let the participants decide what they want to talk about. So, we discussed the misconception that you should avoid meeting, we got the role of the chairperson out of the way and decided that we should invite all interested participants, the more the merrier! Let’s finish this series with discussing the use or misuse of the...
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Invite as many interested participants as you can. In the previous two posts we talked about the ‘badvices’ (aka bad advice) of meeting only when it is needed and making sure a chairperson is firmly conducting the meeting. It’s time now correct the following misunderstanding: Badvice 3: Keep the number of participants limited. Sure you have heard that...
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Get rid of the chairperson! The previous blog post the ‘badavice’ to meet less was turned around in “Meet where and when you can”.  The advice was not to bog down meeting with procedures and rules. Get rid of them! Start with getting the right person that maintains them, the chairman! The ‘badvice’ (aka bad...
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Do you also get bogged down about meetings? Get irritated by talkative participants? Feel that meetings go on and on? That no decisions are taken? You are not alone. Despite much advice and a lot of practice, we seems to make the same mistakes over and over again. Or is this advice the reason...
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A big ‘yo yo’ from the master mixer TLPM ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ William Shakespeare from Romeo and Juliet Or to put it another way ‘Hi! My name is… (what?) My name is… (who?). My name is… Slim Shady. Hi! My name is… (huh?) My name is…...
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Originally published in 1906, The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce offered cynical definitions of terms of the “political” language of the period. As one of the goals of a PMO is to ensure consistent processes and terminology, this posting attempts to provide similar “helpful” definitions of project management-related terms. 360o Communication Communicating upwards, downwards, diagonally and...
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