SVIM E-JOURNAL OF APPLIED MANAGEMENT VOL-II, ISSUE- I, APRIL 2014, ISSN NO-2321-2535

The Program Management Office. Establishing,

Managing and Growing the value of a PMO.
Author: Craig J Letavec, PMP.
Publisher: J. Ross Publishing, 2006. Pages: 388. ISBN
1-932159-59-2
Dr. Manasranjan Dashmishra
Associate Professor, Shri Vaishnav Institute of Management, Indore, India
email: dashmishra@gmail.com, Mob: +91-9407180789
Mr. Ritesh Jadwani
Associate Manager: Program Control, CSC India Pvt. Ltd., Indore, India,
email: rjadwani@gmail.com, Mob: +91-9425064819

“The Program Management Office. Management Institute’s “A Guide to the

Establishing, Managing and Growing the Project Management Body of Knowledge”
value of a PMO”, by Craig J Letavec, PMP defines a project as “a temporary endeavor
provides practical guidance for implementing undertaken to create a unique product, services
a PMO as well as insights for those who or result”. A program is a grouping of multiple
already work in a functioning PMO. Many projects that enables consolidated management
organizations often struggle in establishing and reporting. Within a program, multiple
and managing a PMO, an inability to create a projects may exist and be executed
compelling business case for the PMO, simultaneously. Many organizations have
struggling with the issues of designing, identified the need for a central center of
structuring and implementing the PMO and an organizational project knowledge, with
inability to demonstrate the value of PMO. expertise on project management practices,
This book addresses these challenges.. A PMO techniques and standards. They may be called
has the potential to provide significant benefits Program Management Office, Project Office
and the PMO journey is well worth or another term. These may play several
undertaking. This book is structured such that important roles like – consulting organization,
first 5 chapters discuss about issues related to knowledge organization, and standards
the establishment of PMO within an organization. In this book, the term PMO is
organization and the last 3 chapters discuss the used for an organization responsible for
role of the PMO as a consulting, knowledge executing many functions. An effective PMO
and standards organization. requires long-term commitments of human
resources, money and time. There are many
Craig Letavec is a student of Project
possible structures of PMO. In some
Management. He has led information
organizations PMO may be staffed by expert
technology projects in a diverse range of
project managers who directly report to a
companies including P&G, HP and Siemens.
PMO manager. In some organizations PMO
He has served as an active speaker and author
may serve the role of a consultancy while in
on a range of topics. Throughout his career, he
some organizations, PMO may server in an
has studied the role of Project management in
oversight function
organizations and related areas. Mr. Letavec
holds a Bachelor of Science from the The author’s well constructed analysis of basic
University of Dayton and a Master of Science structural Models of the PMO provides an
in Project Management from George insight into PMO structures. A PMO may be
Washington University. He is also a Project either internally facing or externally facing.
Management Professional (PMP®) from the The internally facing PMO serves one or more
Project Management Institute. divisions, groups or geographies. The
externally facing PMO provides a link
The author begins by introducing the concept
between the organization and one or more of
of projects, programs and PMO. The Project
its customers. An organization may have

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multiple PMOs. A central enterprise PMO Each of the phases has been defined in
may be included to provide overall sufficient details the roadmap begins with
organizational PMO coordination. Other assessing the organization’s project
blended models may exist to meet the unique management needs. After this phase, a
needs of a particular organization. As a point definition of and a vision for how the PMO
of general guidance, introducing the PMO will address some or all of these needs is
concept is best accomplished using phased established. The selling process involves
approach. This approach may involve piloting presenting the PMO plan to management.
the PMO concept in one division or group or After the selling phase is completed
geography to gather knowledge and then successfully, several foundational activities are
implement the PMO concept more broadly. undertaken to implement the PMO. Once the
foundation is there, the PMO is launched and
Author has dwelled deep into defining the
it enters a phase of operations and continuous
benefits of the PMO concept. He explains that
improvement. The first critical step in setting
PMO serves as a fundamental unifier for
up the PMO is setting up the PMO team. It is
project and program activities in the
also important to formally establish
organization. Members of the organization can
management oversight to the PMO function.
seek guidance to projected management
questions from PMO. PMO may serve as a The purpose of the Assessment Phase is to
central oversight organization for providing identify the current state of project
key project status information to management. management in the context of People
Corporate management may also utilize the (Organization Assessment), Processes
PMO to manage oversight of project (Process Assessment) and Project outcomes
chartering, risk profiling and other governance (Delivery Assessment). The deliverables from
activities. PMO can also play a key role in Organizational Assessment include – project
standards setting. Organization may also use resource demographics, project organization
PMO roles as a way to attract and retain charts and project management development
project management talent. processes. The deliverables from Process
Assessment include – Process definition for
Obstacles facing Organizations establishing
project selection and approval, Process
PMOs are well presented in the book.
definitions for project management and
Management may not understand the roles and
Process definition for project closeout and
benefits of PMO. Many times PMOs may
archiving. The deliverables from Delivery
establish new processes that may modify the
Assessment include determining project
way Project managers work or create
success within three critical dimensions- cost,
additional work for project managers and team
time and customer satisfaction.
members. The initial success of a PMO is
largely dependent upon having sufficient The assessment process serves as a basis for
monetary and human resource availability. determining areas that could be standardized,
Having a solid plan and a business case enhanced or improved. This data serves as an
ensures that the management understands the input regarding the purpose and goals of the
benefits of the PMO. PMO. Once the opportunity matrix has been
developed, a PMO value statement can be
Author provides very practical insights by
developed. The PMO value statement
providing a roadmap for a PMO Start-Up as:
translates the opportunities matrix into a set of
Assess objectives for the PMO. Once the PMO value
statement is defined, the next step is creating a
mission statement that summarized the intent
Define of the PMO.
The sell phase involves creating a base
business case and selling the PMO concept to
Sell
the organization. The base business case will
contain four key sections – Overview of
Implement
current project organization, Key challenges in
current project organization, PMO
Operate and Improve

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opportunities, Key actions and In the Blended PMO Model the PMO draws
accountabilities. Once the documentation on the components of strong PMO and
portion of the base business case is complete, consulting PMO models. It creates a structure
it is important to plan a management that supports project management within the
presentation to provide an overview of the organization at the PMO level and within the
base business case. It is important to overcome divisions or geographies. Few advantages of
initial resistance by way of managing this model are that it is suitable for
expectations, reporting regularly, limited organizations that cannot afford a full time
investments and limited risks. PMO staff. It provides both active project
supports as well as project management. Few
Overall, the author very clearly and in details
drawbacks of this model are that it may face
defines the initial steps in the process of
issues related to resource utilization. There
establishing a PMO within an organization by
may be a tendency to rely on the PMO more
undertaking the different phases as mentioned
heavily as a project management group when
above.
large numbers of projects and limited
In the subsequent chapter, the author provides resources exist in the organization.
an insight to several important PMO Models
The author then provides general
and determining the scope of the PMO. He
considerations for all models – Centralization
provides valuable insights into the strengths
(Centralized PMO or Decentralized PMO),
and drawbacks for each type of PMO models.
Resource allocation (PMO manager and full
In the Strong PMO Model the PMO serves as time / part time staff consideration),
the central project and program management Environment (Organization Culture,
body. Few of the advantages of this model are Management commitment etc), Organizational
that it exerts significant influence over the input (Role of existing project organization. It
standards and processes. It often performs key is also important to consider the three essential
benchmarking activities, maintaining project functions of PMO – Consulting, Knowledge
libraries and lessons learned summaries and and Standards. These three functions are the
building knowledge bases of organizational core for the activities undertaken by the PMO.
best practices in the project management area. An understanding of the extent to which the
In the strong PMO model, the PMO manager PMO is intended to serve the three functions
is often a manager at the mid to upper levels of will be important in development,
management. Significant management implementation and operation of the PMO.
commitment is required to establish a strong
The author provides a great level of details and
PMO. Few drawbacks of a strong PMO are
meticulously reveals considerations for all
that it can require a significant organizational
three types of PMO. In respect of each of the
realignment, long time for implementation.
three functions, the author provides a good
In the Consulting PMO Model the PMO perspective with regards to Staff, Additional
addresses the project management needs of the resources, Support Activities, Engagement,
organization primarily through mentoring and Knowledge Management, Knowledge
fostering a sense of project management Repository, Capture and dissemination of
community in the organization. Few knowledge, Knowledge process,
advantages of a consulting PMO are that it Knowledgebase evolution, Training and
may serve as a center of expertise but it Professional Development, Portfolio
seldom has direct responsibility for project Management Role, Establishing and
efforts. It may play a mentoring role by Maintaining Standards, Standards
helping troubled projects, providing training or Development and Implementation, Standard
publishing best practices. Few drawbacks of Setting and the Detailed Business Case.
this model is that this PMO may face difficulty
Author sums up the discussion by stating that
in gaining organizational acceptance, it may be
in most cases a good approach is to determine
viewed as an overhead, and many top project
an appropriate mix of focus on the various
managers may see limited growth in such
roles in short terms while still planning for
PMOs. In order to overcome these drawbacks
long term development of each of the roles as
a strong organizational commitment is
the PMO matures.
required.

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Author then illustrates the steps in determining strategic and tactical aspects rather than
the PMO scope. The scope statement has administrative aspects of PMO
several dimensions like organizational reach, implementation. The essential areas of PMO
roles and responsibilities and intended implementation plan are – (1) Assembling the
outcome. Scope statement serves as the team (2) Developing a detailed
guiding document of the detailed business implementation plan (3) Developing a
case. Establishing a clear PMO scope, ensures management communication plan (4)
that there is clarity regarding intended roles Introducing and training the team (5)
and functions of the PMO. Developing a marketing and communication
plan (6) Transforming PMO goals into
The next step involves the process of
strategies (7) Executing the plan.
developing a detailed business case. The
author lays stress on clearly articulating the Given the nature and purpose of the book, the
benefits and returns in business case, without author provides practical insights into each of
which the value of a PMO may not be well the areas as well as provides important
understood. Business case sets up a basic set pointers for avoiding pitfalls and failures.
of PMO goals and ensures that the focus However the author at some places provides a
remains on it. very simplistic view of aspects such as team
assembling, organization chart which in reality
The author elucidates the objectives that a
may pose severe challenges.
business case should accomplish like
presenting key project management challenges Author described the major components of
that PMO will address, documenting the PMO developing a detailed implementation plan. It
objectives, roles, responsibilities and structure, should be an exercise in further decomposing
Implementation plan for PMO. Author the major tasks provided in the start-up
explains the general sections of the business roadmap, validating the time frame,
case as – (1) Introduction (2) Summary of consideration of potential issues, resource
Current Challenges and Opportunities (3) requirement for each major task, consideration
PMO Roles, Responsibilities and Organization of internal process issues etc. Author could
(4) Initial PMO Goals and Measure (5) have provided a sample or a template for the
Anticipated Costs and Expected Returns (6) implementation plan that could serve as the
PMO Start-Up Roadmap (7) Authorization to guide for readers of the book.
Proceed.
While describing the Management
Against each of the section the author provides Communication plan, author provides a good
valuable guidelines for the form and content. sample of communication type, frequency,
At some places the author also provides the audience and format. In the next stage of
points to be avoided. Few samples are introducing and training the PMO
presented by the author that is very useful to Implementation team, the author provides
the readers in documenting the business case common pointers to effective meetings and
for PMO. trainings. This section describes in details the
main agenda point and important tips and
The next step is presenting the detailed
tricks for work sessions as well as additional
business case to the Management and securing
training requirements for the PMO staff.
the approval to move forward. The book
Author briefly talks about certifications;
provides good pointers and details for this
however a detailed description of different
presentation in terms of attendees, the
certifications along with eligibility
presentation topics. Like all good
requirements could have served the reader
presentations, the author emphasizes the need
better. While elucidating the PMO Marketing
for positive discussions. The final step is the
and Communication plan, the author dwells
authorization to proceed with the assumption
deeper into areas such as identifying
that no follow-up steps are required.
audiences, identifying marketing deliverables,
Moving to the main purpose the author developing the plan, executing, measuring and
describes the process of implementation improving the plan. Author briefly describes
planning of PMO in chapter 4. The focus of the steps in executing the plan.
the author in this section remains on the

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Overall this chapter provides a good ensure that their efforts will be aligned with
understanding of implementation planning to the long-term areas that PMO will undertake.
the readers. A little more focus on practical
The last three chapters in the book specific
examples and better structuring of contents is
functions of the PMO from the standards,
required.
knowledge and consulting perspectives are
Author then shifts the focus on PMO start up discussed. Author examines four areas of
and operational aspects. A smooth standardization – Project management
implementation from implementation to standards, project management toolsets,
operations is critical for a successful project portfolio management and project
introduction as well as growth of PMO. The reporting. Organizations need to decide
author provides few key factors for success of whether they need to have a far and wide focus
PMO – Lead by example, Knowing the or deep and narrow focus in terms of
mission and Market and Dress to impress. In standards. Author also provides an alternative
the context of PMO, the author describes of instead of PMO undertaking standards
Leading by example in the sense of PMO team development; the PMO staff may analyze and
itself demonstrating the Project Management purchase a standardized project management
best practices. The key to success in leading methodology from a vendor.
by example is to proactively identify areas in
The author has discussed in details the project
which potential issue might arise. An
management standards development process
understanding of PMO mission by everyone
that starts with the assessment of the processes
involved in the implementation helps to keep
in place, Defining and Documenting,
the results aligned with the mission. “Dress to
Validating, Deploying and improving the
impress” refers to ensuring that there is
processes. As more standards are deployed
appropriate level of professionalism in the
the PMO may consider bringing together all of
presentation of PMO as well as conduct of
the accumulated standards into a single
PMO staff. For PMO start up the areas of
methodology. The PMO may further be
focus include – Recognition of the
involved in managing compliance to
implementation team, review of the PMO
standards. Further elaborating the project
marketing and communication plan,
management toolsets the author provides
Introduction of PMO to the organization,
general guidelines for identifying and
Closeout of the implementation phase.
implementing useful toolsets such as software
Overall the Startup section of the book focused packages, models and templates. A brief
on important implementation areas. Author description of the industry standard tools
himself concludes that there may be additional would have helped the reader gain a better
areas of focus for PMO depending on the size, understanding of the toolsets.
scope and requirements.
While describing the concept of the project
The focus then shifts to Operation. From an portfolio the author explains that portfolio
initial operations perspective the relevant areas represents the collection of all projects along
are – Delivering the initial goals, Measuring with relevant detail on each project such as
value, Reporting to management, Seeking resource utilization, cost, schedule, budget
feedback from the organization, Planning for information. The role of PMO includes
“what’s next”. developing and implementing a process for
project portfolio management and the related
Author provides valuable indicators for each
processes for standardization. Author throws
of the areas. Author gives focus on having a
interesting light on the concept of single
proactive risk-management plan, maintaining
enterprise project portfolio vs integrated
communication. Measuring values is clearly
enterprise portfolio PMO models. Author has
an important aspect of PMO operations and
provided a well crafted description of portfolio
author does well in describing means of
processes in terms of understanding of
measuring values. This chapter concludes by a
management needs, project selection,
description of the planning for next set of
determining management’s expectations,
activities and laying down a foundation for the
determining project selection criteria,
PMO road map that helps the PMO staff to

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developing the Portfolio, and managing the valuable insights from a consulting point of
portfolio. view. Author even provides a brief overview
of roles of responsibilities for a few consulting
The next chapter focuses on the concept of
roles like the ad hoc consultant, Formal PMO
PMO as a Knowledge organization. Interesting
consultant, Project Proposal Development
problem of excess of knowledge in the current
consultant, Project kick off and team building
age of computerized organizations is
consultant , Troubled project recovery
discussed. The goal of building a project
consultant, Project tracking, Monitoring and
management knowledgebase is to create a
Reporting consultant, Project Auditing
repository for relevant knowledge assets that is
consultant, Lessons learned and project
organized, useful and available to the
closeout consultant. Author further lays
organization for reference. Capturing and
emphasis on finding the right mix in
maintaining organizational project knowledge
consulting roles. There is a further discussion
making the assets available to the organization
about mentoring process in which a PMO
facilitates reuse and encourages organizational
member mentors a project manager and the
learning. Developing a knowledge
role of PMO in project staff augmentation and
management action plan requires Identifying a
active project management.
Knowledge Leader, Determining
Knowledgebase Scope, Collecting Knowledge Author does a good academic description of
Assets, Capturing External Knowledge, essential PMO concepts, models, roles and
Cataloging and Distributing Knowledge, PMO roadmap. However the reader would
Rollout and Critical Success Factors. have gained more had there been more focus
on practical insights and models for PMO
The chapter ends by a detailed description on
value measurement, trainings and PMO and
Education and Training on Knowledge
Project Management certifications. The book
Management. Author provides too much
does not give much description on best
emphasis on theoretical aspects of training.
practices being followed in the field of project
While it may be a good learning for a basic
management. A critical analysis of best
level of PMO, it would have more value
practices and the scope of PMO
adding to the reader if the author had provided
implementation in highly process matured
more practical insights into the methodology
organizations would have been better. Author
of training, role of automation in training and
has described – Strong, Consulting and the
references to training organizations in the field
Blended PMO model. Author has not provided
of Knowledge Management.
any guidelines for the type and nature of
The last chapter in the book discusses about organizations that should implement different
the role of PMO as a Consulting Organization. types of models. While structuring the
PMO may operate in one or more of the overview topics on core operational areas of
following consulting domains – Project and the PMO – Consulting, Knowledge and
process consulting, Mentoring, Project staff Standards there is lot of repetitions of concepts
augmentation and active project management. related to Knowledge Management and
For each of the domains author provides Standards organization as
these are discussed in details in the later help as a ready reckoner for the reader. While
chapters of the book. A brief overview on core describing the PMO implementation plan,
PMO operational areas would have been there is too much emphasis on mechanics and
sufficient in the initial chapters of the book. administrative activities. A brief to the point
Author should have provided a few case description of implementation steps would
studies of the organizations that have have been z more value adding read. While
successfully launched and implemented author has provided a scholarly description of
PMOs. This would have helped the readers steps in developing a knowledge management
gain more real world knowledge. Best action plan, it would have helped the reader,
practices in the field of PMOs should have had there been a greater emphasis on
been described for each of the phases of PMO importance of reuse of knowledge and
implementation. A brief two page PMO starter methods of measuring value of knowledge
toolkit with bullet points for each of the management. While measuring the values of
implementation phase is required as it would PMO, it is expected that some models and

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dashboards for measuring PMO value be laws. Author has not provided any pointers on
presented as it is one of the most important this aspect of knowledge management.
selling point for a PMO. While discussing the
Overall the author does well in covering the
concept of PMO as a standards organization,
primary missions of the PMO – Developing,
there should have been some examples or
managing and growing organizational
names of specific processes that are in scope
standards, and project consulting and project
of standardization. An important aspect of
knowledge base. It’s a good read for the
knowledge management is the ability of
managers of the organizations planning to
organization to ensure compliance to copyright
implement a PMO.

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