Deloitte have been pushing something called a “Results Management Office” (RMO) for a couple of years now. The RMO is all about moving the PMO on to the next level – where PMOs actually play a role and make a difference when it comes to organisations executing their strategies. The original report back in 2009 introduced the RMO as ‘an expanded approach’ which would address the limitations of PMOs and increase the programme and project success levels.
So what is a RMO?
Well first of all, the “Results” in the title stand for not only the technical or financial outcomes, but realising the benefits or longer term value of the programme and project outcomes. There’s nothing new in that PMOs have been jumping on the benefits management bandwagon for a good few years now. The RMO aims to take the traditional PMO model to the next level through four key areas;
- A deeper understanding of an organisation’s business objectives and the alignment of a programme’s goals with those of the organisation
- The incorporation of domain-specific knowledge to achieve integration
- The emphasis of the importance of organisational dynamics and human factors in programme success
- A lean programme and project management approach
But what does this all really mean? In reality? And for whom? If we look at an atypical project or programme office today, what changes do they need to be making?
Fundamentally the atypical PMO will need to change its resourcing and skill levels significantly to achieve any of the four points above, as most PMOs are still stuck in the doldrums of providing administrative style support to programmes and projects only. What is needed is a stronger emphasis on PMO workers who have significant skills and experience in project management, programme management and, ultimately, business management. These are not people who have been dumped into the PMO because there was nowhere else for them to go or better still, the organisation has heard of this thing called a PMO and wouldn’t it be great if someone was on our PMs backs all the time about updating their status reports or completing their time sheets!
The Deloitte report goes on to make some useful insights – and if you’re a seasoned PMO professional, you’ll be used to seeing these in the many white papers that exist on the subject, however what is missing for me is the resourcing issue of future PMOs/RMOs. We need to address this fundamental issue – yes, we know what a bright future would look like with a great RMO that keeps an organisation – and the programmes and the projects – on track. Yes, we know its important to cut out the crap when it comes to streamlining project processes. We also know just how important the human aspects of projects are. And of course, the PMO has to move on from just being a monitoring group.
My New Year Resolution for 2012 is that organisations get serious about PMOs. They pull together all the best practice and white papers that exist from around the world and really think about what they want their PMO to do. Once that is sorted they’ll pay serious attention to the type of people they need within the PMO to make it happen. And finally, they’ll pay the right salary levels to attract and retain those people. So maybe, just maybe 2012 will be the year for RMOs/PMOs.
Do you have a New Year’s Resolution for Project Management? Leave a comment or get in touch via the contacts page. We’re looking to compile the thoughts from the project management community for 2012
Image By Alex of Gothenburg
