Successfully Market your PMO

Transcription

1 Successfully Market your PMO Tom Mochal President, TenStep, Inc 1

2 Agenda Background PMO Communication Plan Marketing the value 2

3 High-level Value Proposition Companies define goals/strategies toward a desired future state Projects move a company toward goals / strategies Project management enables projects to be more successful PMOs implement good project management practices and support projects 3

4 Understand Your PMO There are a thousand PMO types Determine which one is best for your organization Difficult to market PMO without knowing purpose Purpose might come from your sponsor Purpose might come from discovery Current State, Future State, Gap Analysis Need solid foundation to push back when challenged 4

5 The Value of Project Management First, more predictable results Second, better/faster/cheaper Reduced cycle time and costs Improved quality of product deliverables Better understanding of problem and how to solve Better estimating and scheduling More proactive management of the project Communication, issues, risks, scope,.. Reduced time to get up to speed on new projects 5

6 The Value of the PMO Helps project teams be more successful Develops and deploys common methodology Determines skill gaps and areas of training focus Accelerates adoption of project management Helps ensure compliance with PM standards Provides consolidated view of projects and status Measures project and project management value Drives the culture change for project management.. 6

7 Communicate Early and Often Communicate, communicate, communicate Proactive communication can help change culture Get out front with a value proposition Deal with any skepticism early Get people used to seeing your name 7

8 PMO Communication Plan 8

9 Determine Stakeholder Groups Know who your sponsor is Do they have organizational power? Do you need to rely mostly on persuasion to be successful? Identify your PMO customer Is it the project managers? Is it the entire organization Is it your business managers and sponsors? Need to know who you are trying to please 9

10 Set up Communications Plan Determine stakeholder groups and communication needs What information do they need? How will you provide it? What medium? How often? Who will do it? In a larger PMO, this could be a substantial part of a person s job 10

11 Compliance Mandatory, push Informational Communication Plan General information, how-to, pull Marketing Sell, push 11

12 Compliance Examples Status reports Status meetings Meetings with Steering Committee Government required reports and other information Union reports Safety reports Audit reports 12

13 Informational Examples Awareness building sessions (not training) Lunch and learns Brown bag meeting PMO documents placed in a common repository Tell people the information is there Place in a location people can access Project information on a website 13

14 Marketing Examples PMO newsletters with positive marketing spin Contests with simple prizes to build excitement PMO slogans to portray positive images Celebrations to bring visibility to the completion of major PMO accomplishments PMO memorabilia to celebrate accomplishments Pins, pencils, cups, T-shirts, etc. 14

15 Branding the PMO More sophisticated form of marketing communication Establish identity that conjures up a positive image Associate an emotion when a person hears of PMO Proactively build your brand, rather than have one branded on you All PMOs get branded If you don t control, it is usually negative 15

16 First Phase of Communication You don t have accomplishments focus on awareness building Explain purpose of PMO and how it will impact people Perhaps separate messages for staff and managers Lunch and learns, staff meetings, intro s Get your brand out Logo, pins, pens Establish website Ask for input from the staff to get more buy-in 16

17 Second Phase of Communication Quick hitter projects Provide value as soon as possible Communicate and make a big deal out of early wins Solicit and distribute testimonials Communicate about harder work ahead Ask for more input Communicate accomplishments so far Problems solved People trained Charters written 17

18 Third Phase of Communication Continue marketing message, but not as frequent Find reasons for positive communication Celebrations Now content Good class feedback Start to mix in long-term statistics Total number of staff trained Number of project managers adopting good processes Disasters avoided Projects cancelled 18

19 The Holy Grail Provide and report evidence of the PMO value 19

20 The Key to Successful Marketing YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO DELIVER VALUE! What is the PMO doing? Consolidated reporting Methodology management Training/ coaching Project Quickstarts End of project reviews Governance model Organization assessments. 20

21 Focus on Providing Value Focus on external value to the organization Not internal PMO-focused value Validate that each product/service is providing value Communicate the value provided Write value-added status updates Seek performance feedback to ensure you are meeting expectations Be evangelists about the PMO and the value provided 21

22 Activity vs. Value We trained 25 project managers We built 31 templates We have successfully deployed common project management processes We talked with four executive managers about project management Project managers rank their confidence level 4.2 out of 5.0 Project managers report they have the tools they need to do their jobs We are completing 75% of projects within expectations vs. 55% one year ago We cancelled three projects that no longer made business sense 22

23 Common Problems Staffing the PMO with poor communicators PMO does not know what they are doing PMO does not believe they are providing value People are talking about what a poor job the PMO is going PMO is doing great things but no one knows PMO communicates accomplishments but not value The sponsor cannot articulate the value of the PMO to peers and executives 23

24 Summary Make sure you know what you are doing and why Successfully marketing the PMO is a matter of: Creating a set of value-added products and services Communicating purpose and value provided Defining and executing a Communication Plan Focus on marketing communication Delivering successfully against expectations Proactively communicating PMO value (not just accomplishments) 24

25 More Information on TenStep TenStep, Inc. Tom Mochal, President Contact us via the survey or for: Copy of the slide deck Certificate of participation for 1 PDU 25

26 More Information on ASPE-SDLC SDLC Software/Systems Development Life Cycle Training Public courses taught in over 75 cities Customized on-site delivery Free white papers & resources available on our website 26

27 Questions?? 27