How to Stay on Top of Your PMO Data: Tips from Industry Leaders!
Over the last 20 years, I have been managing Project Management offices. I have managed 10 PMOs across four different companies. It has been an amazing experience, and I have learned a ton of valuable information. I am excited about sharing just some of that information today. One of the key experiences and findings that I have made in managing these PMOs, was that you must stay on top of your program and project management data. If you don’t, you will really struggle to run a successful PMO. You need to trust me on this one. Effective PMO Managers continually stay on top of their PMO’s data.
Be clear that having all this PMO data available to you can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not familiar with its structure or how to access it. Today, I am going to provide you tips for you to stay on top of your data. Well, before we get to far into this article, I thought I would give you access to a recent webinar I did where we talked about the importance of data. Check it out here:
Comment in the video or down below and let me know what you think! If you are looking to move your PMO forward, this is going to be an important first step.
Typical PMO Manager Questions Scenario
One of the key responsibilities a PMO Manager will have when running their organization is to keep answering questions around how programs and projects are executing. This means you need to know your PMO data and what is happening across your organization. You will have executives and leaders asking you all the time, what’s happening in the PMO? How is the XYZ project going? When will that go live again? How is Bob Jones doing? I heard he is pretty overloaded these days. Is that true? What projects is he working on? You know, you and I have both heard these types of questions before, but before you answer, you better be sure you have processes in place to provide you with that information, so you are ready and able to provide those answers. Running blind to how your PMO is doing is not a great place for you to be in. This would be especially bad if your leaders don’t have the confidence that you are on top of your PMO!
Why is this important to stay on top of your PMO data?
Well, that’s easy. Here are some things you can do:
- Keep track of your programs and projects executing in your PMO
- Keep track of deadlines
- Keep track of your resources and assignments
- Assess progress and identify potential issues early on
- Make changes and course corrections as needed
- And so much more…
What do you do to put those processes in place? How do you answer those key questions? Well, it is pretty easy, and it is a matter of getting a rhythm of business (ROB) setup for your PMO. Do you have an ROB going in your PMO today? Do you know how to set one up? That’s ok, let’s investigate setting one up now!
Setting up a Rhythm of Business (ROB) for your PMO!
I heard a quote from years ago I love and wanted to share it here because it is so important. It was from Peter Drucker and he said
“We can’t improve what we don’t measure”. Think about that for a second when you think about setting up a rhythm of business for your PMO. If you are not measuring and reviewing your PMO data, then you are not actively looking for improvement areas, and therefore, your PMO won’t get any better. But setting up a Rhythm of Business for your PMO, you are proactively looking to put processes in place to grow your organization.
PMO Rhythm of Business (ROB) Calendar Example
In this first example, you can see a full series of PMO meetings from Red/Yellow meetings, ROB Meetings, Leadership meetings, and PMO All Hands meetings. This is a full plate of PMO meetings that are important to set up and drive for your organization. Like what you are reading? Great, want to read more than check out the full eBook I wrote on Amazon for more details and access to some of these ready-to-use tools for your PMO! Click here for purchase a
copy of PMO Best Practices – Continuous Status Monitoring (Kindle Edition) today!
What do you think?
I think this is the perfect time to tell you when you get into the eBook you are going to see some different dashboards and that’s great, because what PMO does not need to consolidate and view all of their data?
Summary
Ok, we covered a lot of great information to start, but there is so much more….
Check out the ebook today! Putting those processes in place will help you understand your data of your PMO and help you make the course corrections along the way.
What do you think?
If you like that article, I would love to point you over to this one as well. It is on
How to build a PMO in 12 easy steps. Check it out! Or this one, on
How to Run a PMO. Let me know what you think! Thanks! Bill Dow, PMP
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Be clear that having all this PMO data available to you can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not familiar with its structure or how to access it. Today, I am going to provide you tips for you to stay on top of your data. Well, before we get to far into this article, I thought I would give you access to a recent webinar I did where we talked about the importance of data. Check it out here: 
