A Postscript ... and Some News
Just as I completed my last post, a colleague sent me an article with the very timely title "Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Things that Never Happen" - which was my argument for why PMOs often succeed themselves out of business.
The article, from 2001, focuses on quality management initiatives, but it isn't hard to read between the lines and see how project management initiatives are subject to the same forces. That process improvements often improve themselves out of existence, leaving the organization less well off than hoped, the authors term "the improvement paradox."
And yet, when the authors note that the failure of organizations to profit over time from process improvements isn't traceable to just one factor, but to "the interaction of tools, equipment, workers and managers," the project management cheerleader in me can't help but note that the integration of all these factors would be simpler in a company with a solid PM culture ... the kind of culture you build through having a mature enterprise PMO in place.
Okay, now for the news: You may have noticed that the link to our PMO research report no longer goes to the CBP bookstore. That's because my sidekick of nearly 15 years, Jim Pennypacker, has gone off to start his own publishing firm and all the Center for Business Practices content has been moved under the PM Solutions flag. Our books are still available through Amazon.com; research summaries are posted here. Please reset your bookmarks for our research content to these urls, and join me in wishing all the best to Jim in his new venture.
About the Author
Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin
Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, and the author, co-author and editor of over twenty books on project management, including the 2007 PMI Literature Award winner, The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition.
View Posts by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin
Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin
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