If your organization designates people as “project managers” but doesn’t allocate time to project management duties, you are at risk of:
- Cancelled and incomplete projects
- Disgruntled project workers
- Portfolio chaos
With a minimum-viable PMO strategy, organizations in this situation can attain:
- Fair and achievable process for time-strapped project workers
- The right balance of discipline and tools to drive projects to successful completion
- Improved portfolio visibility
Book Your Workshop
Onsite Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn’t enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our Project Workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a road map in place to complete your project successfully.
Book NowModule 1: Preparation
The Purpose
- Define goals and success criteria.
- Finalize agenda.
- Gather information: update project and resource lists (Info-Tech recommends using the Project Portfolio Workbook).
Key Benefits Achieved
- More efficiently organized and executed workshop.
- Able to better customize and tailor content to your specific needs.
| Activities: | Outputs: | |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Discuss specific pain points with regards to project manager allocations |
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| 1.2 | Review project lists, tools and templates, and other documents |
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| 1.3 | Map existing strategies to Info-Tech’s framework |
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Module 2: Make the Case and Assess Needs
The Purpose
- Assess current state (including review of project and resource lists).
- Discuss and analyze SWOT around project and portfolio management.
- Define target state.
- Define standards / SOP / processes for project and portfolio management.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Gain perspective on how well your processes match up with the amount of time your project managers have for their PM duties.
- Determine the value of the time and effort that your project teams are investing in project management activities.
- Begin to define resource optimized processes for zero-allocation project managers.
- Ensure consistent implementation of processes across your portfolio.
- Establish project discipline and best practices that are grounded in actual project capacity.
| Activities: | Outputs: | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Perform and/or analyze Minimum-Viable PMO Needs Assessment |
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| 2.2 | SWOT analysis |
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| 2.3 | Identify target allocations for project management activities |
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| 2.4 | Begin to define resource optimized processes for zero-allocation project managers |
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Module 3: Establish Strategy
The Purpose
- Select and customize project and portfolio management toolkit.
- Implement (test/pilot) toolkit and processes.
- Customize project manager training plan.
- Evaluate and refine toolkit and processes as needed.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Ensure consistent implementation of processes across your portfolio.
- Establish project discipline and best practices that are grounded in actual project capacity.
- A customized training session that will suit the needs of your project managers.
| Activities: | Outputs: | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Customize the Zero-Allocation Toolkit to accommodate the needs of your projects |
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| 3.2 | Test toolkit on projects currently underway |
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| 3.3 | Tweak project manager training to suit the needs of your team |
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Module 4: Train Your Zero-Allocation Project Managers
The Purpose
- Communicate project and portfolio management SOP to Project Managers.
- Deliver project manager training: standards for portfolio reporting and toolkit.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Equip project managers to improve their level of discipline and documentation without spending more time in record keeping and task management.
- Execute a successful training session that clearly and succinctly communicates your minimal and resource-optimized processes.
| Activities: | Outputs: | |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Project Manager Training, including communication of the processes and standard templates and reports that will be adopted by all project managers |
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Module 5: Assess Strategy and Next Steps
The Purpose
- Debrief from the training session.
- Plan for ongoing evaluation and improvement.
- Evaluate and refine toolkit and processes if needed.
- Answer any remaining questions.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Assess portfolio and project manager performance in light of the strategy implemented.
- Understanding of how to keep living documents like the workbook and SOP up to date.
- Clearly defined next steps.
| Activities: | Outputs: | |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Review the customized tools and templates |
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| 5.2 | Send relevant documentation to relevant stakeholders |
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| 5.3 | Schedule review call |
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| 5.4 | Schedule follow-up call with analysts to discuss progress in six months |
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