Recently, I had the opportunity to review and evaluate some outstanding PMO award nominations that exemplify excellence.
I took the opportunity to see what lessons I could learn about what makes a great PMO, from their approaches to delivering PMO value, building capabilities, and driving organisational success.
Strategic Alignment: From Execution to Value Delivery
The best PMOs I reviewed have completed a significant evolution, moving beyond project execution to become true value delivery offices.
This shift from focusing solely on project outputs to measuring value outcomes represents a maturity that many organisations aspire to but few achieve. What makes a great PMO stand out is that they don’t simply track whether projects are delivered on time and within budget; they assess whether the initiatives genuinely deliver the expected value to stakeholders.
Examples of how they’ve achieved this shift include implementing a rigorous project intake process that explicitly verifies alignment with business objectives before proceeding and requiring senior leadership approval for any requests that don’t directly support organisational priorities.
Maturity Models: How the Best PMOs Guide Continuous Growth
Rather than growing organically or reactively, some of the best PMOs have deliberately used maturity models to guide development, establishing clear roadmaps for progression.
This structured approach to organisational growth has enabled them to move from simply ensuring compliance with requirements to fostering a value-driven culture throughout their organisation.
Building Communities of Practice to Enhance PMO Value
Communities of Practice are networks of professionals who share skills, knowledge, and experience through regular gatherings where they present topics for open discussion. This creates organic mentoring opportunities and enables staff to build comprehensive solutions through their combined specialisms.
These communities of practice serve as powerful mechanisms for knowledge transfer, professional development, and cultural reinforcement – all critical elements of PMO value creation.
ARTICLE: Strategies for creating a project management learning communityÂ
How the Best PMOs Embrace Digital Transformation
Digital transformation has been a key theme across the nominees I’ve reviewed. The most impressive PMOs have embraced technology to streamline operations, enhance reporting capabilities, and drive insights from data.
Technological advancements allow the best PMOs to shift from reactive to proactive management, identifying trends and potential issues before they impact project success.
One nominee described how implementing a project management tool had transformed their operations, by
- Bringing their processes into the digital age
- Improving project intake turnaround times
- Creating better data visualisations
- Standardising how project managers run their projects.
Another highlighted their use of AI, real-time reporting, and advanced dashboard metrics to enable deeper data analysis and more informed decision-making.
Investing in Competency Development: A Key Characteristic for a Great PMO
Great PMOs strongly emphasise developing the competencies of their team members and broader communities.
Investment in providing access to diverse resources, courses, conferences, and certifications that enhance skills and knowledge also reduces staff turnover and keeps the team current on industry trends.Â
These PMOs are not just process enforcers but capability builders for their organisations, to deliver long-term PMO value.
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How the Best PMOs Measure Impact: Beyond Traditional Metrics
Examples include tracking savings of thousands of hours annually through continuous improvement activities; generating a return on investment of over 250 to 1; and implementing feedback mechanisms to gauge stakeholder satisfaction and identify areas for improvement, creating virtuous cycles of continuous enhancement.
Rather than resting on their accomplishments, the nominees I reviewed had ambitious plans for the continued growth and development of their teams, and expanding knowledge to ensure their PMO remains at the cutting edge of best practices.
In November 2018, I was invited to the fourth PMO Manager’s Lunch to discuss PMO KPIs, Metrics, and Measures. The resulting report examines various aspects, including Service Level Agreements and organisational KPIs, and is available to buy using this link:Â Inside PMO report on PMO KPIs, Metrics and Measures
Lessons for Building the Best PMO
In conclusion, there are some valuable lessons to be learned by PMOs at all levels of maturity.
- Elevate your focus from project execution to PMO value delivery
- Use maturity models to guide your development journey
- Develop communities of practice to share knowledge and build capabilities
- Embrace digital transformation to enhance efficiency and insight
- Balance standardisation with flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances
- Invest in developing the competencies of your team and wider organisation
- Measure your PMO value in ways that matter to your stakeholders
- Maintain a clear vision for future growth and development
