Shift the Focus to Benefits Now: A Report from the PMO Symposium
Try the demo of our new BRM diagnostic tool.
The annual PMO Symposium has kicked off and we could not have had a better starting gate than the presentation that expanded on PMI’s research into benefits realization. That this is the focus and the kickoff of the Symposium is so appropriate, because it ties right into what we believe to be the principal theme of systemic benefits realization management (BRM) : “begin with the end (benefits) in mind.”
It’s long past time that organizations began to put strategy execution ahead of every other priority, and benefits realization is strategy execution in action. PMI published some excellent research on this topic this year, but one thing that surprised me in today’s presentation was the indication that 93% of companies they surveyed said they had some form of BRM in pace (although most of them confessed they were not actually using it). This does not jive with what we have found in interviewing clients and consultants who have experience with BRM. Indeed, our about-to-be-released study The State of the PMO 2016 shows that while best-in-class PMOs perform benefits management, most PMOs do not. This is more pressing than ever, given that one of the data points covered in the presentation here today was that companies with mature BRM practices were 1.6 times more likely to realize project objectives.
What about you? take advantage of the opportunity to assess your organization's BRM capabilities by participating in the demo of our new tool: we ar
e offering a preview of it during the symposium. Check it out here.
About the Author
J. Kent Crawford
Kent Crawford is the founder and CEO of Project Management Solutions, Inc. (PM Solutions) and PM College. His experience spans more than twenty five years, where he has been responsible for the development of systems requirements and the functional design of integrated project management systems for a number of Fortune 500 organizations. He is the Former President and Chair of the Project Management Institute (PMI®). During his tenure in office, Mr. Crawford implemented innovative programs, which resulted in an astounding fifty percent membership growth for the Institute. His leadership in PMI has been widely recognized as a primary driver in PMI's success. Mr. Crawford is a recipient of the PMI Fellow Award, PMI's highest and most prestigious individual honor. A prolific speaker and advocate of the profession, he is also the award-winning author of The Strategic Project Office: A Guide to Improving Organizational Performance (for which he won a David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award from PMI), Optimizing Human Capital with a Strategic Project Office, Project Management Maturity Model: Providing a Proven Path to Project Management Excellence, and Project Management Roles & Responsibilities.
View Posts by J. Kent Crawford
J. Kent Crawford
- Your Questions Answered from The State of the PMO Webinar
- Are You Still Just Waiting for Results? Now Is the Time to Put These 3 Strategic Priorities in Place
- Why the PMO Matters Now: A 2026 Perspective on Project Success
- More Tools, More Data, More Chaos: The Real Reason Resource Management Keeps Failing
- AI Is Here, But the Human Edge Still Drives PMO Success
- How the State of the PMO 2025 Research Is Guiding the C-Suite
- Inside the PMOaaS Trend
- Unlocking the Future of PMOs: AI, Complexity, and Intentional Strategy
- PMOs in 2025: New Research
- Spotlight on PMOs: The Struggle Is Real
- 2025: What Is the State of Your PMO?
- Yes, We're Still Talking About Resource Management...
- Research Webinar Nov. 19
- PMI Global Summit: Learning and Networking on Day 2
- PMI Global Summit Kicks Off: Change in the Air in LA
- Updating the Adaptive Organization
- The PMO: Trending Towards Agility
- New Research: Hybrid Approaches Work Best
- Strengthening Partnerships for Better Project Outcomes
- Enhancing Your PMO: The Roadmap to Greater Project Outcomes
- Implementing a PMO: 8 Steps to Get it Right
- Understanding PMaaS-Part 2
- When You Needed Results Yesterday: Understanding the Role of Project Management as a Service (PMaaS)
- PMaaS and Organizational Performance, Then and Now
- (More) Changing Approaches to Project Management
- What We Mean When We Say PM as a Service
- A Festively Decorated Big Box of …. What Now?!
- Jazzed Up About Project Management and AI
- Live from Atlanta ... People, Ideas and More, Part 2
- Live from Atlanta ... People, Ideas and More
Related Posts:
Tags:
(3 votes. Average: 4.3 out of 5)
Popular Posts
- The Project Management Maturity Model … Now with Agile/Adaptive Assessment!
- PM Solutions Celebrates 25 Years of Project Management Excellence
- Managing Project Managers Within and Outside the PMO
Popular Categories
- Agile or Adaptive PM (5)
- Culture & Change Management (75)
- Project & Program Management (82)
- Portfolio Management (50)
- Project Management Office (PMO) (113)
- Project Management Research (50)
- Resource Optimization (28)
search blog:
Sign up for PM Solutions'
Insights eNewsletter
Delivered every other month in addition to periodic research, white papers, and news alerts.
