PMO Symposium Attendees Agree: Organizational Change is the Big Threat/Opportunity for PMOs

November 13, 2013 | by Johanna Mickel

I used to think "disruptive" was a bad word.

But Kent Crawford set me straight yesterday during his presentation at the PMO Symposium, titled "The Disruptive PMO: Change, Innovate and Lead." It's not just that new technology can be disruptive, as discussed on the Forrester blog, but that disruptive innovations require a rethinking of the processes that make the business tick. The PMO is all about process and also has some unique skillsets that can keep the organizational ship steady even while undergoing disruptive change, in products, in technologies, or in structure (think M&A). PMO expertise in portfolio management, agile project management, reducing time to market, and leading organizational change puts the PMO leader in the spotlight when the organization faces massive changes. Kent shared links to reports and articles by the Harvard Business Review, Ivey Business Journal, and McKinsey & Co. that highlight the ways that the process owners in organizations will play key roles in an era of disruptive change.

I enjoyed this presentation, as did many in the audience, not just because of the content, but the form: using a new presentation tool, Prezi, enlivened the visuals and Kent also shared related video snippets and several real-time polls. (One guy in the audience remarked, "Thanks for not power-pointing us to death!"). The poll that seemed to generate the most response and discussion asked attendees where the PMO in their organization could have the greatest impact through improving the processes that support innovation and change. The poll results, shown below, underline the wisdom of PMI's adding Stakeholder Management to the PMBOK® Guide in the new edition.

Other concerns highlighted in the polls was that organizational change was the top area where attendees felt their PMOs needed to take charge ... while at the same time acknowledging that being slow to enact changes was the biggest risk faced by their organizations.

Numerous PM Solutions consultants and staff have written on this blog over the past few years about the PMO taking the lead role in major organizational change programs. Looks like the PMO's role is about to morph again ... maybe into the Office of Creative Disruption this time?

 

 

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