Right-sized Governance P1: Introducing Right-sized Governance | Does PMO have a PR problem?
Written by Jonny Baber on
In a recent survey of PMO professionals, only 1 in 5 fully agreed that their PMO is seen as delivering value to their organisation. Yet we know intuitively that effective governance is critical to the success of any change delivery.
Talk to any business owner about what’s it’s like to try and deliver change in most organisations, and this is what you will likely hear…
...and the picture isn’t any better for those trying to deliver the change.
PMOs are to a greater or lesser extent on the hook for all of these pain points, and the perception of their value-add invariably suffers as result – sometimes unfairly, but often with a degree of just cause.
So, what is going wrong?
There are a range of delivery governance methodologies that have claimed to unlock the secrets to delivery success over the years. They all have their place, but invariably miss the key point that no one size fits all.
Every organisation is unique and, as a result, requires a pragmatic and adaptable delivery governance approach to succeed – striking the delicate balance between governance control and delivery freedom. An effective PMO (or equivalent governance function) should be a force for good, helping to find this balance, but so often falls into the trap of trying to enforce an approach that is not fit for purpose.
On the other hand (and perhaps just as damaging to PMO credibility) is the all-too-common situation where the governance approach is the right one, but its effectiveness is undermined by a wider organisational culture that only pays lip service to change governance.
What needs to be done differently?
At changemaker, we believe the right approach is to not follow one specific governance methodology, although we are highly conversant in the standard delivery governance frameworks. Rather, we consider the needs of each organisation against a set of common sense-based delivery governance service areas – Demand Management, Resource Management, Governance and Assurance, Portfolio Delivery, and Culture / Behaviour.
We then use our own considerable practical, real-world delivery experience to work with each organisation on bespoke delivery governance solutions that are tailored to their individual needs, budget, and ability to absorb change.
The end result is a change delivery governance approach that is right-sized for each organisation, and ultimately seen as a strong value-add that facilitates effective change delivery.
Catch up with the full series:
Enterprise Resource Management
Interested in finding out more?
Contact info@changemaker.org.uk or Jonny Baber, Principal Account Director - Change Delivery at jonny.baber@changemaker.org.uk.
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