PMO POINT OF VIEW: SURVEY SAYS!
We asked survey responders to define a successful PMO and got a number of different responses. We were able to allocate each answer to a particular theme. As shown below, 66% of the responses noted results/outcome focused PMO as what makes a successful PMO. Other themes seen were business agility (9%), stakeholder support/satisfaction (9%), governance (9%) and 7% reporting other definitions.
The findings here tells us that regardless of how a PMO is being measured today, the outside theme of success for a PMO actually lies in driving results and business outcomes for the business. Notice that none of the answers we received were actually related to being on-time/ on-budget which was the most popular answer (35%) for how a PMO is being measured. Additionally, the second most common answer for PMO measurement was stakeholder satisfaction (27%), but here we see responders (9%) citing a PMO is successful through stakeholder support/satisfaction. Again
Again, we see a misalignment between what success is for a PMO and how it’s being measured. Without alignment at this level, organizations are going to see a gap in performance because ultimately the PMO and the organization are determining success differently.