Given the rise of Agile methodology and projects that adopt an agile way of working, there has been an emerging discussion on the concept of ‘Agile PMO’. Some people working in the agile domain are inclined to think that PMO is a rigid control function and has no role to play in agile organisations. Being a PMO professional myself, I beg to differ.
Agile Project Management vs Traditional Project Management
First of all, let’s take a look at the PMO in the ‘traditional’ sense and its major functions in the business context.
Traditional PMO
A ‘traditional’ PMO (Project Management Office) is often expected to act as a control function defining the governance framework, guidelines, templates and processes for project execution. With the restricted view, it is mistakenly perceived to be a management overhead that is inflexible and simply not compatible with agile.
Whilst a PMO warrants the appropriate governance and control are in place to safeguard project delivery. Its functions stretch far beyond that and offer a variety of other services, such as:
- Communication and Engagement
- Planning
- Financial Management
- Risk management and Issues Management
- Resource Management
- Change Control
- Centre of Excellence
- Quality Assurance
See the full description of PMO services on Leadership Tribe website
It is important to point out that, what a traditional PMO is or does can vary significantly according to different organizations and their requirements. For instance, it can serve different purposes and act as a governance body, advisory partner, training provider, support function, and some or all of them in the decision making process.
A successful PMO meet the specific requirement and deliver value to your organization. Similar to the other functions, it should always develop and evolve with the organization. As the organization become increasingly agile and better at self-organizing, there are some changes which need to be adopted by PMO as well. This leads us to the so-called ‘Agile’ PMO.
Agile PMO
The general functions of a PMO in an Agile project environment or an ‘Agile’ PMO probably won’t change much from the traditional sense. At least, I don’t believe so. Though how these functions are performed may vary considerably depends on the organization’s strategy of its Agile transformation.
Organizations may have strategic plans to implement an extensive Agile transformation and Agile training strategy throughout the organization or simply want to deploy an Agile process at the development level. The ‘Agile’ PMO needs to be shaped accordingly by the corporate strategy in terms of the design and solution for effective continuous improvement.
That being said, the functions of a PMO need to adapt to the Agile environment and some functions will inevitably vary one way or another from its traditional sense:
- Role of an Advisor with Agile Methods
As the project teams and team members become more self-organizing, the ‘Agile’ PMO should play more of an advisory, consultative and advocating role. Instead of the mandate the changes, it is expected to advise project teams on the effective and efficient Agile processes and tools, help them to implement the appropriate Agile practices, roll out improvement on performance to the wider business context, and promote closer and more collaborative work relationship.
- Agile Approach
Planning is an important part of the roles the PMOs play. In the agile team environment, an adaptive approach needs to be taken instead of the conventional plan-driven approach. Agile planning activities are more relevant at the strategic and portfolio level, as the project teams manage their releases, iterations, and daily planning cycles.
- Value Delivery and Benefits Realisation
Any project we carry out should deliver some sort of value and realise some benefits for business. In Agile, this is of particular importance. The Agile PMO needs to appreciate and contextualise value stream mapping, change management and value assurance, assist the active and continual organisation and prioritisation of work, measure business value and report to the leadership team.
- Consciousness of Leadership among Agile Practitioners
Where applicable, the Agile PMO helps the Product Owners and Senior Leaders to manage and prioritise the product and enterprise backlog based on their value delivery. It assists the leadership to ensure projects are aligned to the organization’s strategic initiatives. And it supports leaders to embrace servant leadership to remove organizational impediments and empower teams to explore and identify innovative solutions.
- Agile Coach Training
An Agile PMO as a Centre of Excellence is best situated to ensure the effectiveness of Agile adoption and promote an Agile way of working. It enables the team and organisation to transform from ‘doing agile’ to ‘being agile’ – not only by providing knowledge on the Agile techniques, processes and practices but also by promoting the Agile mindset and nurturing culture shift. From scrum teams to lean-agile project delivery, we specialize in agile management approaches.
- Less of a PMO in…
Whilst a successful Agile PMO needs to offer ‘more’ from certain aspects, I reckon it will not be involved as much in the ordinary PMO functions such as resource allocation, financial management or reporting, to best accommodate the Agile features in the new business context.
In summary, there is no ‘one size fits all’ PMO function for any agile organization and its project managers or stakeholders. Being ‘traditional’ or ‘agile’, it needs to serve the corporate strategy, adapt and evolves with the organisation’s changing requirements and project management landscape. Agile transformation of organisations doesn’t make the concept of a PMO obsolete or irrelevant, though it does necessitate some reconsideration on the role of a PMO.
