So many organizations have divided themselves into silos. This likely wasn’t an intentional choice, but as organizations grow it’s easy to fall into the trap of silos. We all know silos are bad – they cause inefficiency, confusion and detachment, but how do we overcome them? How do we build connected organizations so we can reach our goals? There are many ways you could go about building a connected organization, but there’s one department or team (that you might already have in your organization) that’s inherently suited to break down silos and connect your organization: the Project Management Office.
A project management office (PMO) can help organizations break down silos and build a connected organization. So, what exactly is a PMO? The Project Management Institute defines a PMO as “a management structure that standardizes the project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.” This is a great definition, but we’ve developed a simpler definition that focuses not on what activities the PMO does, but what its purpose is. In talking with our customers, they’ve expressed that they think the purpose of a PMO is to help people in their organization from project managers, resource managers, decision-makers, whole departments, or whoever needs it in making good informed decisions about projects and completing projects on time. Because they provide help to all corners of the organization, PMOs are uniquely positioned to build connectedness and they can do so in five ways.