Look at me, look at me, look at me now!
PMOs too often get painted as the dour “project police”. Our willingness to deliver results without demanding attention and praise is one of the more attractive character traits of project management culture. But as noted in Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin’s post on The Million-Dollar Question: What’s the Value of a PMO?, delivering results quietly can be a trap:
[O]nce the systems for executing strategy through well-run projects are in place, it’s tempting to think you can rest on your laurels. But, no such luck. When project and program management is working well, it’s invisible: nothing bad happens. And the PMO becomes, apparently, a line item of overhead.
Jeannette notes that many PMO leaders shy away from marketing their PMO after it has been established. During the PMO project itself, we all seem to understand the importance of stakeholder management and communications. But when we become a function, we forget that lesson or think it unseemly, inappropriate, etc.
I’m not suggesting we crassly broadcast our successes. Perhaps “narrowcasting” is the better idea — a discreet word with the CIO about identifying a poorly-priced deal ripe for re-negotiation, a walkthrough of high and low profit projects with a sales manager, etc.
Filed under: PMO | Tagged: communications management, Performance Management, PMO Directors, PMO value metrics and measurement, strategy execution, Value Management, Value of PMOs |
Crossderry Blog 
Hi Paul
Apologises for using your comments field to get in touch, I’d like to feature Crossderry on the ppmcommunity.com website. It’s a website that brings together all the project management blogs on the web. We are profiling blogs and also the site allows readers to vote for their favourites
Take a look at the site and drop me a line if you would like to join in
Many thanks
Amy
I think it’s really important to celebrate success – subtly. If people don’t know what value you add, as an entire PMO or just an individual within it, your value will be questioned. Make the point of letting everyone know how great you are!
I say you should go out there and flaunt the value you add, but as Elizabeth suggests, do it subtly. It might be a good idea to publish a timeline of the value you’ve delivered to the business, so that your continued success is easy for all to see.
D
“narrowcasting” is a good idea for those who don’t adopt the trend of getting known and publicize…a better way of being noticed and followed..