The Project and Program Management Function (PMO) 89
American Management Association
www.amanet.org
So we have a document that outlines all of the product information
needed to actually build a product. Then it becomes the product rec-
ord, so to speak. So that the next time the product needs to be up-
graded or modi ed, you can go back to that sort of source document
and then work from there to do your change estimates and gure out
what needs to be done. We’ve been ne- tuning that document. I mean
we were ne- tuning it basically weekly for the rst couple of months
we used it.
In response to the question, “What are some other ways in which
PMOs transfer learning?” a project manager similarly talked about the role
of tools in his PMO experience:
They can share tools that worked on one project for another project.
And also the ability to use Microsoft Project. Because Microsoft Proj-
ect has many, many di erent ways of using it, with tools and views and
whatever. It’s not really standardizing it, but by using it the same way,
you can give some knowledge from previous projects of things that
work and things that didn’t work, moving on to the next project.
Systems such as intranet portals, databases, and project tracking tools
were also utilized by 65 percent of the PMO leaders to share or transfer
learning from past project experiences. Rachel described how her team es-
tablished an intranet site to share tools and templates:
We put up a site to house the various templates and examples of—
you know, not magic, but actually put up a project management site
so people could nd these templates, and nd the charter document,
and nd an example, and nd a communication plan. Because there
was this endless, like, “Oh, can you send me—Can you send me?” And
then you’re searching through e- mails. So just that is a simple way of
helping people with the tools.
Similarly, Cathy described how her team posts status reports to the
intranet so that others in the organization can see what projects are cur-
rently in progress along with their current status:
But the status reports are out there on the intranet web site that any-
one can reference any time. So we’re trying to keep them current. I