Project/programme management offices (PMOs) are increasingly moving away from just providing monitoring and controlling activities and instead are moving upwards to provide support at the strategic and portfolio level, a report said.

ESI International, a global leading project management training company, today released the findings of its latest annual benchmarking survey “The Global State of the PMO 2015.”

The annual survey seeks to investigate the evolving role of the PMO in training and development, its level of maturity and value for the overall business. This year’s survey continues its inquiry into the role that Agile plays within the PMO.

“Despite the increasing maturity of PMOs globally, PMOs still struggle to prove their value,” said J LeRoy Ward, senior executive consultant, ESI. “This survey has proven that PMO effectiveness measurement and the project/programme alignment with strategic objectives are closely linked. Organisations would do well to put metrics in place to measure their PMO’s effectiveness. What’s good for the PMO is good for the project and vice versa.”

Key findings:

•    The PMO Value Dilemma: While more and more PMOs are reaching full-scale maturity – demonstrated by an increase in services which support strategy and portfolio management – they have a long way to go when it comes to demonstrating value through considered, quantitative measurement and metrics.

•    The Rise of Agile: The use of Agile is increasing in all areas, especially in larger organisations, with the UK showing the greatest increase followed by India and Germany, yet the survey suggests a looming skills crises in Agile implementation. Project/programme level PMOs have had the most challenges in this area, pointing to a need for organisational buy-in rather than trying to implement from the bottom up. The PMO needs to act to provide better training in Agile, as well as try and alter cultural bias against the approach.

•    Funding Secure: Funding for the PMO is considered secure today – with 74 per cent of respondents believing it will increase or stay the same. The fact that the majority of it comes from corporate heads means PMOs will continue to be challenged by senior management until the PMO can clearly demonstrate its value.

•    The PMO Career Path: Only 46 per cent of PMOs surveyed offered a defined career path for staff. When broken down into job title this equated to 37 per cent of project managers, 31 per cent of programme managers and only 18 per cent of portfolio managers stating their PMO offered some form of a career path.

•    The PMO Challenge: Seventy-two per cent of respondents claimed the PMO had been challenged by senior management. The top three reasons for challenging the PMO were its lack of perceived value (44 per cent); its lack of project/programme maturity in the organisation (41 per cent) and a lack of executive support (32 per cent).  Resource management was considered one of the greatest perceived challenges for PMOs - and more specifically, the lack of training and skilled resources in Agile projects. – TradeArabia News Service