The Enterprise Change Office

The Enterprise Change Office

If you spend time around change initiatives, you may hear comments about the PMO. Whether on LinkedIn or in office corridors, people sometimes express frustration, labelling PMOs as “bureaucratic,” “slow,” or even “pointless.” However, in theory, the PMO is designed to do the opposite: to help organisations implement initiatives more smoothly, consistently, and transparently.

So, why does the PMO often receive negative feedback? And what is an alternative?

Contents
So What Does The “P” In “PMO” Actually Mean?

One interpretation of what the “P” in “PMO” represents is P3O®(1).

This concept was developed by the UK Government’s Office of Government Commerce to serve as universally applicable guidance. It aims to assist organisations in establishing the necessary support structures for the successful delivery of their portfolios of change “programmes” and “projects”. The guidance outlines a hierarchy of structures, which is summarised in Exhibit 1. It also notes that “projects” can stand alone and do not need to be part of a programme.

Exhibit 1: Definitions Of P3O® Hierarchy Of Structures
The Need For Integrated Organisational Change Management

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The role of a CMO includes:

  • Being the interface between strategy formulation and strategy execution;
  • Establishing and refining the methodologies  including Lean Portfolio Management in an organisation specific playbook for OCM;
  • Setting up and maintaining a Centre of Excellence, see Appendix III, to disseminate best practices in OCM across the organisation;
  • Setting up and maintaining a template for a intranet based collaborative platform that can be replicated across initiatives and provide the basis for executive reporting;

and;

  • Establishing and refining appropriate OCM governance processes to meet the requirements of overall corporate governance.

As alluded to above, the trick with a CMO is tailoring it to the specific needs of the organisation – one size does definitely not fit all. 

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The Office of Government Commerce And P3O®

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) was a UK government body established in 2000 to promote efficiency and best practices in public sector procurement, project management, and programme management. One of its significant contributions was the development of the P3O® (Portfolio, Programme, and Project Offices) framework, first published in 2008. This framework provides principles and guidance on designing and operating effective support structures for delivering change. P3O® was created in response to the growing need for organisations to align their strategies with execution and to standardise the roles of PMOs across different contexts.

In 2014, the stewardship of the OGC’s best practice portfolio was transferred to AXELOS, a joint venture between the UK Cabinet Office and Capita. AXELOS continues to maintain and publish the official P3O® guidance, with the most recent version being “Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices: P3O® Guidance” (AXELOS, 2013).

The guidance outlines a hierarchy of structures, which is summarised in Exhibit 1. It also notes that “projects” can stand alone and do not need to be part of a “programme”.

Exhibit 1: P30® Hierarchy
Definitions For Portfolios, Programmes And Projects

The “P” in PMO can mean Portfolio, Programme or Project. A definition for the purposes of this blog for each of the entities is:

  • Project: A temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business outputs according to a specified business case.
  • Programme: A temporary, albeit with a potential life span of a number of years, flexible organisation structure created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related Projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to an organisation’s strategic objectives.
  • Portfolio: The totality of an organisation’s investment (or segment thereof) in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives.

However, in practice, organisations may term what are defined as programmes above, as projects. This is particularly the case with major transformation “projects”.

Applying Definitions To The Role Of A PMO

Whilst the definitions above provide some degree of clarity, the same cannot be said as to establishing an overarching description of the role of a PMO.

In some organisations, a Project Management Office may have a wide ranging role operating across the organisation’s portfolio in, for example, setting the standards for project and programme definition and delivery management and governance.

In contrast, the function of what is termed in some organisations as a Programme Management Office, may be limited to a supporting secretariat to the Programme Manager on a single programme.

Initiatives And The Change Management Office

To differentiate the function proposed in this blog to that of a traditional PMO, the function is called a Change Management Office. The terminology programmes and projects is replaced by the term initiative with the following definitions.

  • Initiative: A temporary, albeit with a potential life span of a number of years, flexible organisation structure created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of workstreams of activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to an organisation’s strategic objectives.
  • Portfolio: The totality of an organisation’s investment (or segment thereof) through the undertaking of Initiatives in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives.

In practice, exact terminology is of less importance than the relevant stakeholders having a complete and common understanding of the terms being applied. One way of achieving this is through an organisational intranet including a glossary of terms and a charter for the functional office.