Establishing the Project Management Office (PMO)
an Interview with Jim Stewart, 4Q4 style*

The following is an interview with Jim Stewart, PMP, CSM JP Stewart Associates by Peg Duggan, PMP

Thank you Jim for speaking at our March Chapter Meeting on the topic "Lessons Learned in Establishing a Project Management Office."  And thank you for spending some time to share more on PMOs.

What's the big idea?

Jim: Launching a strong Project Management Office is an effective way to establish and manage standardized project methodologies that drive consistently positive results. However, it is critical to align the PMO with your organization's strategic objectives AND understand that its implementation may be viewed as a significant disruption by some stakeholders. Its creation is fraught with potential pitfalls. If the PMO isn't set-up or promoted correctly, it often fails and is discredited. And while it is important to develop a PMO's technical components correctly (templates, project audits), it is critical that you understand the sociopolitical environment in which the PMO must operate. This is true for Agile as well as the traditional waterfall methodology.