Posts tagged as:

PMO

7 Marks of a Great Project Management Office

by Alec Satin

Bad project management offices (PMO)s are easy to describe. You may have had to work with one at some point. Notice the words, had to work with one. People will do anything possible to minimize their interactions with a bad PMO. Poor PMOs don’t care. They have little contact with the people in the organization actually doing the work. Their focus is on compliance by force. Communication flows one way – from them to you.

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7 Marks of a Best PMO on IT Strategy Planning Blog

by Alec Satin

Andres Vivas is an a technical leader with business focus. He helps his clients keep their IT operations relevant and cost effective through the use of strategy.
I was honored when Andres asked me to write a guest post on the marks of a great project management office (PMO).
Seven Marks of a Best PMO.
(Image by ideologie)

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Leadership Skills for IT Managers – 10 Things Learned at Grid International Training

by Alec Satin

Last week I spent four days sequestered at a leadership training seminar put on by Grid International. Off-sites are often a mixed blessing for IT managers. On the one hand it can be a great relief to get some time away from meetings and the day to day routine. On the other hand, work can accumulate. On this particular training I was looking forward to enjoying the conference center’s pool, hot tub and nature trails. That turned out to be overly optimistic with days starting at 8am and continuing to 10pm or later.
Our facilitators Clark Robinson and Rachel McKee worked [...]

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Hey Project Manager! Beware of Fool's Gold!

by Alec Satin

Yesterday I was speaking with a good friend of mine who leads a PMO1 team of project managers and business analysts. Sharing stories together often provides much needed perspective. I came away from this conversation thinking about project managers and fool’s gold.
Fool’s Gold
Pyrite is a yellow mineral resembling gold. Inexperienced prospectors during the gold rush of the 1840s sometimes spent much of their precious time and effort focusing on this worthless “fool’s gold”. Others with more knowledge knew how to identify and pursue the true gold.
Power and the Project Manager
Experienced project managers understand the potential they bring to their project [...]

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10 Ways to Destroy the Effectiveness of Your Project Management Office (PMO)

by Alec Satin

For every PMO that delivers on its initial promise, there are two that hobble along, never really achieving much in terms of bottom-line benefit to customers, project managers, stakeholders or the business itself.
It’s pretty easy to eliminate most if not all benefits of a Project Management Office. Which of the following hold true for your PMO?

Make sure to set up a climate of fear. Emphasize the penalties of non-compliance. Use the stick and not the carrot.
Make sure to locate the program office as far away from the project managers as possible. Extra points if you make communication hard by limiting [...]

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