So many people approach me to ask if the EPM system they saw in some demonstration last week will fix their enterprise project management challenges. “Do you have a PMO?” I always ask. The challenge of implementing an EPM system successfully comes with some presumed prerequisites. I’ve listed several in this article.
The hottest buzz in the project management industry over the last 10 years has to be the Project Management Maturity Model. This concept is an offshoot of the thinking at Carnegie Mellon on the Capability Maturity Model which has a huge following in the manufacturing sector. Increasing one’s assessment along the PMM model encourages organizations to be more formalized, more integrated and to create project management as a core process. That sounds great but is it great for every organization? This article discusses the concept.
How do you get management, the project management office and the line-project managers to take seriously how much effort it will take to implement enterprise project management? We’re often asked for “easy enteprise project management” which, I think, is an oxymoron. Project management concepts are challenging and all the moreso when they’re organizational in nature. Perhaps the “E” in EPM should stand for “Effort required” instead of “Enterprise”.
There is a movement afoot to promoted only centralized project management and you’d think you’d be most likely to hear that lecture on a site dedicated to enterprise project management like this one is. However, there’s nothing about the project management industry or the project management systems industry that makes centralized project management the ideal solution for every problem. Even here on EPM Guidance, we can come up with an argument for being more effective by having a de-centralized project management architecture. This article debunks the myth that only centralized project management is effective.
One of the classic problems that those creating new Project Management Offices (PMOs) fail to deal with is the challenge of having enormous responsibility with miniscule authority. It’s a challenge caused by where the PMO is placed within the organization’s organigram. Dealing with this dichotomy early is often a key success factor in the PMO’s evolution. Find out more in this article on the PMO’s dotted line.
Article: The Electric PMO While at a local Project Management conference I was able to talk to project managers about the different kinds of Project Management Office (PMO). I was struck by how choosing a different direction for the philosophy of the PMO would make for very different tools that should be selected by it for making the organization efficient. Here are some of my thoughts from that confererence. Read more…