Trechos do artigo "The Next Generation PMO Mandate"

No 14º Congresso de Gerenciamento de Projetos do PMI-RS, ocorrido em Outubro, um ou dois palestrantes mencionaram em suas apresentações o artigo "The Next Generation PMO Mandate", de Kane Wai, apresentado em Outubro de 2014, no PMI Global Congress. Por causa disto, resolvi ler o artigo e literalmente 'copiar' trechos que achei mais interessantes para lembrar. 

Abaixo segue um resumo do artigo através dos trechos copiados.

Overview

Analogy between the PMO and a Coke, where the marketing must be done focused on the benefits it delivers to the user, not on how brilliant the product is.

"(...) the next generation PMOs should be more than just a governance institution, more than a support organization, more than a method repository, and more than a training team. It must be a marketing machine."

"Take a closer look at every Coca-Cola advertisement, promotion, or commercial, you will find that their focus is NOT the actual product itself. But rather, they are focused on the people who use their product. They focus on the value that they deliver to and for their end users! Have we been focusing so much on our PMO composition that we have forgotten about exactly why they are necessary?"

"Adoption occurs when the perceived value outweighs the cost. Inversely, rejection occurs when the cost outweighs the perceived value"

The Mandates

#1: Think Credibility

Know your customer. Know what matters to them. Make your work be relevant to them. 

You might have the best product/service ever, but if it doesn't fit your customer needs, it is pure trash

"Do I know who are my customers? How well do I know them?

1. Do you know their strengths and their struggles?
2. What is their tolerance for failure?
3. What challenges are they facing?
4. What are their “purchasing” constraints?
5. Do they like you?"

"Evaluate what your customers care about in relation to what you can provide as a value-add. "

"You must articulate how you are going to solve their problems."

"How you will improve your weaknesses or shortfalls as an organization. "

#2: Think Brand Appeal

Engage your stakeholders in the PMO assembly, share progress and status with them. Don't make it waterfall and show only when all is 'ready'. 

Sell it internally, with focus on the value you are adding and how you'll improve the way projects area executed and delivered.

"Help your stakeholders get started. Speed is always secondary to quality. Deploying a PMO haphazardly will not only cause adoption problems, it will also damage your reputation as a team."

"If you maintain significant social interaction, gaining trust and building community, then selling your PMO and getting adoption will be considerably easier."

"You should be able to penetrate your end users and stakeholders by highlighting your value-add and how your organization will seek to improve the way projects are executed and delivered and how the PMO will help them getting it done"

Mandate #3: Be the Right Leader

There are several types of leadership. In case of an incipient PMO, choose the Servant Leadership style.

Puts the interests of those he leads before self-interest and consistently involves his team in decision-making.

"Servant leadership is critical to a PMO because it is highly dependent on knowledge, experience, and expertise at the working level of the project infrastructure"

Mandate #4: Think Strategically, Act Operationally

"Your team should be enabled to DO, not just to think." 

Best strategy thinkers don't go anywhere. They need to act. The actions, aligned with your vision, take you to the right place your strategy defined..

"You as the leader must define your expectation of success and then let loose your team and let them take your vision and turn them into actionable and realistic steps. The success of a strategy can be measured by how well you accomplish the day-to-day tasks that lead to the results that you expected"

Mandate #5: Build a Marketplace for Critical Skills

Identify the critical skills your team needs (base on your customer feedbacks) and foster them. 

Not with traditional classroom training, but with 'learning'. Learning ensures the message is received, not just delivered.

"You should also make your PMO experts available to your stakeholders and end users by identifying mentors and coaches who are available to share their knowledge. 

You must also establish a knowledge base so that when information is required, information can be readily accessible."

Summary

• "You must know your chemistry: know your PMO and know your organization. There are telltale signs about the best approach you should take to engage the world beyond the walls of your PMO to gain adoption. 
• You must find your happiness: know your customers and know what they expect and what will work for them. 
• You have to make your value proposition widely known by your customers and compel them to adopt. 
• You must maintain credibility, broaden your appeal and focus on retention of your expertise. 
• You should create a culture of servant leadership, as your PMO ultimately is a service and support organization—delivering the backbone of hows and whys to allow your end users and project managers to achieve success. 
• You as the PMO leader must be good at strategy and also be good at operations. 
• And finally, you must go beyond training and share your knowledge, market your experts and your knowledge champions, and leverage the social networks within your organization to proliferate your PMO and its message."

Referência desta postagem

Wai, K. (2014). The next generation PMO mandate. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2014—North America, Phoenix, AZ. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.