Geoff Crane commented on one of my previous posts on PMOs. I do agree with him completely and I must admit I intended to create some controversy around the flurry of Project, Program, and Portfolio Management Office activity.
His point about ineffective implementation of PMOs is part of the “fad” pattern and my main concern with these structures. I’ve been bouncing around Manufacturing IT for almost 23 years and I’ve seen my lot of fads and bad to horrible implementations. Let’s see if you remember any of these; if so you may still have nightmares about them and I am sorry for torturing you:
- Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). Regardless of what some may say; CIM s pretty much dead. Grandiose promises, but most of what was called CIM only had limited functionality. Most of the people who were pushing this moved on to MES or ERP.
- Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Still very much alive with a large number of software and service providers. The main problem is that most companies that decide to implement an MES do not take the time to streamline their processes and end up automating bad practices.
- ISO 9000. This one I’ve “enjoyed” a lot… The first two attempts at ISO 9000 I experienced where multi three ring binders full of procedures, best practices, workflows, forms, etc. that were so cumbersome that the emergency change management procedure was the only one really used. A pared down version was finally developed, audited, certified, and promptly forgotten.
- Quality Management Systems. Pretty much the same as ISO 9000; once again three trips around the block but nothing much at the end. After ISO 9000 and Quality Management Systems my take is that Quality is either second nature or some unachievable goal. You just can’t put Quality into the product you can only preserve it.
- Project Management Methodologies. Most of them are similar efforts to ISO 9000 and Quality Management Systems. Guess what the result is…
A Project Management Office (boy I hate that term) can work as long as it does not try to fix all the ills of the world in one fell swoop. There is hope if a Project MO, acting as a collegial group of PMs, identifies and then tackles the 3 worse problems PMs can influence, eliminate or mitigate those problems, and then repeats the process as many times as needed. Eventually all PMs will sit quietly, with their feet on their desks, doing nothing.
What do you think? As always questions and comments are welcome.
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