Mark Price Perry

I am a student, practitioner, and advocate in the field of business-driven approaches for the management of projects and the management of project offices (PMOs). For decades project offices have had difficulties getting started and in staying on the right track. Some critics blame the executives for not taking on the right projects, taking on too many projects, allowing business areas to continue with their pet projects, and abdicating to the PMO the management and coordination of the resulting mess.

Other critics blame the PMO and project managers for having an overly inward mindset on theoretical PMO models, rigid and too detailed project management methodologies, and a focus on project documentation as the primary measure of progress as opposed to more contemporary agile views. In my humble opinion, blindly pursuing and adopting academic and theoretical approaches and models as opposed to practical business strategies tempered with good business, technology, and financial judgment is perhaps the greatest single reason for the poor track record of PMOs.

What many of the critics and practitioners too often overlook is the simple fact that when PMOs are driven by the needs of the business for which they exists to serve, they succeed. When PMOs are driven by any other motivations or rationale, they fail. While the concept of being business-driven might seem easy and intuitive to grasp and execute, regrettably for most PMOs it is not.

Most PMO books and advice offered by the so-called experts tend to be a reincantation of standards, bodies of knowledge, and theoretical models. This knowledge and information is important to a degree, but for many organizaitons seeking to set up or refresh a PMO, this limited set of theoretical cookie-cutter PMO models that for decades have failed all too often will continue to fail today and into the future.

In pursuit of business-driven success, more and more organizations and practitioners are breaking away from the traditional mold and approaches of the "formal" project management community that though originally well intended have become myopically focused on certification standards to the point of becoming irrelevant to the business-driven and agile needs of today's project organizations.

As a servant-leader in the field of business-driven PMOs, I am committed to filling an unmet need in the current thinking about project management and PMOs. That is the need to clearly demonstrate how to create and maintain a business-driven PMO and the need to challenge many of the so-called PMO experts by providing examples and constructive critiques of the many errors in thinking and ineffective advice that has been espoused for far too long within the "formal" project management community.

To thrive, not just survive, PMOs of all shapes and sizes must have a relentless focus on the needs of the business and a wide focus on where project management and the PMO can meet those needs and deliver tangible results.