CEO Insights from the PMO Symposium

November 9, 2017 | by Johanna Mickel

Now that I have time to catch my breath after the whirlwind of information that is the PMO Symposium, I wanted to skip back to Monday and share a few insights from a panel of C-Suite luminaries convened by PMI for the occasion:

Bruce Rogers, Forbes Chief Insights Officer, noted that we are in an era of digital disruptions and that no industry is safe. “When the rate of change outside an organization is greater than inside, the end is near!” he warned: a powerful argument for improved change management, agility and project management. His tips for survival:

• Adjust strategies on continuous basis
• Leverage PMO skills and capabilities.

Forbes research has revealed that 84% of digital transformation efforts fail; and since all industries are increasingly tech-mediated, these failures present a huge stumbling block for corporate health. What is the answer? PMI's new research says, Organizational Agility.

CEOs in their study feel OA is key to success (92%), but only 27% of CEOs believe they are highly agile ... however, in a similar finding to PM College's study on project management skills, CEOs have far different views about corporate capabilities than project managers and others in the ranks below the C-level.

Howard Bagg, Director of Agile Transformation and Program Management for KPMG added that CEOs want OA and" the big issue is people." Agile transformation needs executive sponsorship, must include everyone ( to give an enterprise perspective), needs to consider organizational change, and consider the transition time … because, especially in large organizations, nothing happens overnight. He agreed that it was key to leverage the PMO to drive change because they have an end-to-end view of the organization. He recommended establishing a formal transformation program.

Kudos to the PMO Symposium planners for bringing these voices to the project management arena. As we enter 2018, I look forward to seeing how project management experts can leverage our unique perspective and skills to improve that digital transformation success rate!

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