

#Simple sticky notes transparency capabilities how to
But how to do so without compromising team integrity? That's where the PMO comes in, at least in so far as it constitutes an organizational function.

At scale, executives can't manage all of this by themselves, and so they delegate as much oversight and governance as they can. It's about making sure there is alignment with corporate standards so risk is controlled, and that the control is evidenced. It isn't just a matter of running projects at an operational level and making sure they deliver on schedule. In other words there is a need for critical oversight and governance. And as any fule kno, a small, tight network of people improves the chances of transparency and achieving a successful, collaboration-based outcome. They don’t necessarily need a special organizational function for this, because they themselves are few and closely linked. In a small-scale business, executives might be able to manage these risks themselves, perhaps even just in their heads. The risk is not necessarily limited to the employees concerned but rather to the enterprise as a whole. If any of these initiatives were to fail then there might be legal exposure, compliance issues, stock price repercussions, or negative exposure (tip: try saying "fake news") and reputational damage. In other words, if any of them were to go pear-shaped, then the organization would incur at least some degree of risk. None of these are typically independent endeavors. Large organizations typically have lots of of initiatives on the boil, including projects which are starting up and being wound down, as well as ongoing service delivery functions to take care of. The PMO low-downĪnyway, here’s the low-down on what a "Project Management Office" actually does. You know.where there are nice plants, fresh marker pens, and corny motivational posters instead of curling sticky-notes on the walls, and everything is just far too swell for much real work to be going on. Maybe you once walked past some desks or a door which had a “Project Management Office" sign? Perhaps it was when you found yourself on one of those eye-opening floors where the higher-ups are to be found. Perhaps you can even peg this entity - whoever he, she, or it might be - as something to do with administration. Then again, if you’ve had some big-company experience you might at least have heard of a "PMO” being referred to at some stage.

Or if your experience is mainly with start-ups and other small-scale outfits, then the chances are they didn’t have a PMO for you to hear about in the first place. Should you have a technical background, for example, then perhaps you’ve never even heard of a “Project Management Office”. Well, let’s be clear about one thing right now. If someone asked you “what is the role of the Project Management Office in an agile organization”, what would you say to them? "It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things" - Machiavelli, 1446-1507 A question for you.
