Every profession has its own association/institute with their vision and mission. PMO people, until recently, did not have an association to represent them. The value and role of PMOs is not well understand even with an estimated 5m people using the PMO in their title. PMOs directly and indirectly impact project, program, and portfolio success, but there is no collective vision on the future of PMOs and what they will be doing in 2030. PMOs in some countries form the backbone of a country vision. Unless PMOs develop their own vision and understand the opportunities and threats, it’s unlikely that they will be able achieve their maximum impact, especially in supporting their own organizations and collectively towards supporting their country’s vision.
Looking at PMOs today across the globe, one can come to the following conclusions:
- 1000s of types and configurations of PMOs
- PMOs vary per country, within and across industries
- Vary from being a success to a failure
- Vary from being secretarial support to running mega projects
- PMOs can provide over 300 services in any combination
- Researchers are unable to agree on a single categorization because of their limited sample size
- PMOs are involved at both levels of strategy formulation and strategy execution
- PMO names vary from the generic to the specific
- Not a profession, therefore limited potential impact on senior management
PMOs need a vision for the future; otherwise, they will continue struggle, and part of the vision should be to develop PMO Management into a recognized profession!
The figure above shows the vision 2030 strategy framework that is applied during the country workshop. This global initiative is being sponsored by institutes and organizations where it is being run country by country.