The Project and Program Management Function (PMO) 101
American Management Association
www.amanet.org
only facilitates the lessons- learned workshop, but also attempts to create
an environment conducive to fostering productive dialogue:
Because one of the things that we think is very valuable and bene cial
to the organization as a whole is the fact that we are probably the one
neutral department in the organization that doesn’t own a piece of the
business in any way, shape, or form. . . . I think the key is the facilita-
tion of the lessons- learned workshop. That’s one of the reasons why
we tend to put a PMO liaison in that role, rather than the PM. We
make sure that there are ground rules established at the beginning of
each lessons- learned workshop, focusing on and emphasizing the need
for honest feedback, declaring up front that the feedback that may be
received isn’t personal; that we try to keep a limit to our criticisms at
a constructive level. And ideally, the recommendations or the output
from the lessons- learned workshop shouldn’t just be complaints, but
it should be actionable.
Likewise, one of the project managers in the project manager focus
group talked about how he emphasizes “the process,” not “the people,” in
his lessons- learned sessions:
When we do lessons learned, we talk about some of the situations, what
worked and what did not work. If it’s emphasizing the person, then it
becomes counterproductive. But if we emphasize the process . . . that’s
how we try to make it a more bene cial process for all of us.
Another one of the project managers con rmed the need for e ective
facilitation, saying, “Yeah. It’s like emphasizing the positive and not the nega-
tive. Because the tendency is to emphasize, especially in post mortems—it
becomes a ‘blamestorming’ more than anything else.”
Professional Development. One- quarter of the PMO leaders also pointed
to professional development as an enabler of cross- project learning. Pro-
fessional development activities facilitated project learning in a number
of ways. In one case, training was provided that equipped sta members
with the skills required to conduct productive lessons- learned sessions.
In another case, the organization required that each project member at-
tain a certain number of professional development “credits” as part of
102 Roles
American Management Association
www.amanet.org
her annual performance objectives. Project members could obtain these
credits by attending the knowledge- sharing meetings set up by the PMO.
In yet another case, the organization sponsored a number of employees
in a master’s program, through which they developed close relationships
and now work at the highest levels of the organization as advocates of
improved project management practice. Karen described how she and her
colleagues bene ted from this professional development activity:
About two years ago, the company sponsored a master’s program be-
cause they saw a need for project managers and decided, “We have to
gure out some way to grow our own project managers.” And so they
put 10 of us through a master’s program. So the 10 of us became very
close in the cohort. As it turns out, one of my classmates is now the
director of strategic planning.
In the summative focus group, Rachel described how she pairs junior
project managers with more experienced ones who can provide mentor-
ing on an as- needed basis:
We set up that kind of mentoring, or however you’d want to say it.
The project manager has another PM to go to (and I’m always avail-
able too), but just the idea of having another PM to go to, who you
can be in the trenches with the stu on, that could help mentor and
guide through any particular process. You know, it seems to be very
favorable. There’s no appraisal piece to it. It’s just, “Here it is. Let’s talk
about it,” and then the PM gets to move on with it.
Re ection Throughout the Project. Re ection throughout the project,
rather than only upon project closure, was identi ed by 10 percent of the
PMO leaders as an enabler of cross- project learning. Patty described in
more detail how she works with her organization to encourage re ection
throughout projects rather than only at the end:
So the two ways in which we try to achieve that, or get around that
particular challenge, is we highly encourage that project team to keep a
running list of lessons learned in real time, or at least conduct a formal,
a more formal check- in at the end of each phase of a project. Then
through our guidance and facilitation of the formal lessons learned,
The Project and Program Management Function (PMO) 103
American Management Association
www.amanet.org
we’ll try to set that up in a way in which we try to kind of refresh their
memories.
Similarly, in discussing his organization’s lessons- learned practices,
Mack mentioned that “instead of doing the lessons learned at the end, we
ask teams to actually do it at the end of each phase.”
Barriers to Cross- Project Learning
All the PMO leaders identi ed various barriers that impeded their and
their organizations’ e orts to learn from past project experiences. Follow-
ing is a discussion of these barriers.
Lack of Direct Authority. Just over half (55 percent) of the PMO leaders in
the study pointed to a lack of direct authority over project teams or proj-
ect managers as making it more challenging to ensure that past learning
is incorporated into new project activities. Melissa, a recently appointed
PMO leader, described her reactions after attempts to begin working with
a problematic project team:
One big barrier is—“Who’s Melissa coming in here? Why do we have
to tell her anything? Why are we going to do what she says? She’s not
our manager.” You know, “Who cares?” That was a huge barrier, and
that’s always a huge barrier, coming in as a PMO when you don’t actu-
ally have these people reporting to you.
Robert, a more established PMO leader faced with similar challenges,
described how he’d change things if given the authority:
Get me out of IT. Get me into the Enterprise. Give me all the projects,
all the project managers, all the initiatives, all the products, and I will
save you money and will get this [stu ] done on time, on budget.
The lack of direct authority meant that for some PMO leaders, project
teams were seen as working in “silos.” In the cases where this occurred,
the PMO leaders expressed frustration that project teams sometimes
worked at “arm’s length.” Karen, for example, said, “You know, it’s not
easy to nd out the details of what’s going on sometimes when you’re
104 Roles
American Management Association
www.amanet.org
on the outside of a project.” Similarly, Antonio described his relationship
with project teams and how he is limited in his capacity to share or transfer
lessons learned:
A lot of these project teams sort of work in their own individual silos,
if you will, and they go o and do their work. Right now the only
mechanism for sharing best practices is, you know, when I’m able to
communicate with them [informally]. You know, communicate to the
individual project teams.
Mack demonstrated how the lack of direct authority over the project
managers can lead to uncertainty about whether or not past learning is
being incorporated into new projects:
Right now there’s no way for us to check if [project managers are using
the lessons- learned recommendations from their knowledge- sharing
forums] and have they thought about those recommendations and
why they decided to do it or not to do it. So that’s one issue we have.
In a striking con rmation of the frequently reported lack of direct au-
thority, a project manager talked about how another PMO was created by
one of the company’s business units outside of IT, placing his PMO within
IT in a precarious position:
The biggest issue in our environment has been new PMOs that just
sprung up recently, that have nothing to do with our PMO model. I
think that they argue with the idea of, “What’s the value of us always
going to that group for expertise? I can hire the same people you guys
hired. We can hire our own PMO leader, and we don’t have to strive to
your methodology. We can make it work for us.”
Time Pressures. Just under half of the PMO leaders (45 percent) identi ed
some combination of time pressures and resistance on the part of organi-
zational members to engaging in what they perceive as “extra work.”
Time pressures sometimes result from project members being pulled
into new projects immediately after their last project ends, making it dif-
cult for them to take time for re ection. Sarah described how this phe-
nomenon impedes her ability to improve future projects:
The Project and Program Management Function (PMO) 105
American Management Association
www.amanet.org
So if I were the queen of the world, then I would ask for more re ec-
tive time, time to actually decompress and—What’s the word? And
bring about a learning environment which is, “Yeah, just give us a little
more time to get our breath before we move on to the next one,” be-
cause that’s how you learn the lesson. You know? Okay. Yes. The PMO
can bring everybody together, and we can talk about the lessons, and I
can document them, and then I can circulate them. But if that’s while
you’re already one- third of the way into the next project, how the hell
am I supposed to apply them as quickly as we’re doing the projects?
Time pressures are also cited as a reason why project members may not
want to take the time to follow PMO processes related to lessons learned.
Darla, the PMO leader in the organization that requires documented les-
sons learned in order to maintain an internationally recognized quality
certi cation, talked about the “pushback” she sometimes receives on these
requirements:
They’re pretty hard-core here about requiring so much documenta-
tion, so much follow-up, so many metrics. Some of them make sense
for some projects and some of them don’t make any sense for some
projects, so I think there’s a lot of pushback in getting that done. You
know, when you didn’t have to do it before and you suddenly do, it is
a lot of extra work.
The perceived burdens of “extra process” were also highlighted by a
project manager who said the following in response to the interviewer’s
question, “What do you think PMO leaders perceive to be their respon-
sibilities related to the transfer of lessons learned?”:
I think that their perception of a PMO is the governance, more gover-
nance, and setting the rules, setting templates, and they’re almost mak-
ing these templates and rules as a goal by itself. I think this is where you
get, not all of it, but many of the perceptions.
People Rotating Into and Out of Roles. Just under half of the PMO leaders
(45 percent) also stated that people moving into and out of project- related
roles at all levels, including project managers, team members, and senior
decision makers, impeded their ability to ensure that past lessons learned
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.