Lessons learned in building PMOs over the past 20 years in different industries, including health care, financial services, insurance, software, etc. To be successful, you have to build PMOs that can reinvent themselves as businesses change so fast along with the environment in which they operate. We need to look at the People, Process, and Technology lessons learned and how continuous change made the PMOs relevant and valuable to the organization. This will mean they stay relevant in the changing digital environment and need faster delivery and change The talk will call on examples of how to develop people in the PMO and how skills have changed over time, along with the process development in delivering projects using different methodologies and how to have tools to support all of this. This was presented by Chris Cashell, Global Head of Change from Apex Group at FuturePMO, on the 26th of October. FuturePMO is a 1-day PMO event for practitioners at all levels. The conference brings extraordinary speakers from across industries to challenge your PMO and PPM thinking, helping you work smarter. The next one takes place on the 3rd of October 2024 in London. To learn more and book on to the next conference, visit www.FuturePMO.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/11120292 Twitter - https://twitter.com/FuturePMO Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/futurepmoevent/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHi8w5ACqsloXxBEA9t9pfA

1. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
How to build a future
proof PMO?
Chris Cashell
Apex Group

2. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
How to build a future
proof PMO?
Chris Cashell
Apex Group

3. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Chris Cashell
A career that spans multiple industries, including financial services, insurance,
manufacturing and service, healthcare, local government and utilities. He is renowned
for possessing stellar technical, project management, and interpersonal skills. A
proven motivational leader with a talent for developing highly effective and successful
individuals and teams, and a strong belief that the right team-building and leadership
skills can add value to any organisation. When it comes to building out a Project
Management discipline within an organization. Chris has a reputation for driving
change within organisations and in doing so creating a successful pattern to be
followed on future projects.
He is currently the Global Head of Change at Apex Group where he is building the
Delivery Capabilities across the organisation including the Project and Portfolio
Management discipline. This continues his focus and passion shown throughout his
career when it comes to helping organisations focus on the right projects and have a
balanced portfolio of them to deliver against the organisation’s goals.
Previously he undertook the transformation of Global PMOs with teams of up to 150
Project Managers and set up Shared Services focused on Project and Portfolio
Management, Workforce Optimisation, Organisational Change Management,
Operational Training and RPA. He also ran the Project Management Office
responsible for all the IT and Business-related projects to open up the first all-digital
hospital in Wisconsin in the US.
Over the years Chris has been involved in a multitude of large successful
implementations and presented at conferences about those implementations. He has
spent his career in the UK, US and now Ireland.

4. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Agenda
▪ Why do PMO’s fail?
▪ The Strategic PMO
▪ People
▪ Process
▪ Technology
▪ The Future

5. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier

6. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Why do
PMO’s Fail?
Success or failure depends
largely upon two aspects
(Gartner):
• How closely the PMO’s
mission and objectives
are linked to the real
needs of the
organization, and
• How well the role of the
PMO is matched to the
maturity of the
organization.
• Lack of Executive Support
• Too much bureaucracy
• Become Policemen and Auditors
• No Demand Management
• No benefits capture

7. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
What if we could…
▪ What if we could….
▪ create a simplified environment,
▪ deliver projects faster,
▪ more consistently align our projects around our strategic goals
▪ develop staff around a core project management skills ?
▪ What if we achieve this while….
▪ not increasing costs,
▪ reporting better metrics
▪ enabling more informed decision making.
▪ What if we
▪ use data along with judgment to say No to projects
▪ focus on what will drive the constant change in our business world.

8. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
• Update the demand intake criteria by establishing
active strategic business and technology partnerships
to optimize value delivery.
• Redefine their value proposition by updating their
services, roles and engagement models to reflect the
enterprise transformational changes occurring in the
domain they serve.
• Modernize their use of enabling technology by
introducing new technologies for portfolio management
and execution — ones that promote strategic portfolio
decision making and enable adaptive project and work
execution.
The Evolving PMO

9. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
What are we trying to solve? (problem statement)
▪ PEOPLE
• Mixed expectations of the role
• Two PM’s on one project
• Little career progression or training
• Lack of Change Management Experience
▪ PROCESS
• No control on investments/No Business Case
• Lack of consistency
• No clear methodology (Hybrid/Agile don’t exist)
• Use of process and templates
• No clear reporting on status
▪ TECHNOLOGY
• Tools are used inconsistently
• New tools overlapping existing tools
People
Who’s doing stuff
Technology
What we do stuff
with
Process
How stuff is done
Innovate Automate
Scale

10. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Transformation

11. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
People
ASSESS WHAT YOU
HAVE
INTERVIEW FOR
CHARACTER AND
ATTITUDE
ENSURE RIGHT MIX OF
PERMANENT AND
CONTRACT
DEVELOP
ONBOARDING GUIDE
ROLE CLARITY AND
EXPECTATIONS
ORGANIZATIONAL
CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
TRAINING AND
AWARENESS
Richard Branson said “Train people well enough so they
can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want
to”

12. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
What Makes a Good Project Manager?
▪ “In talking about a great project manager, new attributes are
emerging. We are seeing great project managers with stronger
business acumen, who are more strategically focused. Analytical,
conceptual, and visionary have become key attributes of a great
project manager.” Debbie Bigelow Crawford, PMP
Conceptual Analytical Visionary

13. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Process As Peter Drucker famously said: “There is nothing quite
so useless as doing efficiently that which should not
be done at all.”
Simplify Methodologies –
basic, simple and
flexible
Understand scope
of work regardless
of delivery method
Track costs and
benefits
Drive consistency
so data can be
analyzed

14. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Technology One saying is ‘use the right tool for the job’ and that if all
we have is a hammer, then the whole world begins looking
like a nail.
FIT FOR PURPOSE CONSISTENT IN THEIR
USE
DASHBOARDS CREATE
TRANSPARENCY AND
KNOWLEDGE
DEPENDENCY
TRACKING

15. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Reshaping the PMO for the Digital Era
Activities of Increasing Significance for PMO Leaders in a Digital Context
Coordinate solution
delivery team
workflows and
dependencies.
Investment
Steward
Promoter
Advocate for
and support
enterprise
change.
Ensure Investment
Alignment
Develop and Enable
Digital Talent
Orchestrate Delivery
Team Workflows
Govern and
Deliver Projects
Increasing Emphasis
Source: CEB analysis.
PMOs must increasingly focus on these activities to enable their organizations’ digital ambitions.
■ Facilitate operating model
shifts (e.g., to product lines).
■ Steward enterprise- level
capital
allocation.
■ Align product
roadmaps with
strategic goals.
■ Continuously
improve product line
performance.
■ Facilitate
cross-portfolio
prioritization.
■ Develop PM staff digital
skills.
■ Foster true product
ownership.
■ Support business-
managed projects.
■ Adapt project
management career paths.
■ Build extended
project management
community.
■ Coordinate multi-
methodology
delivery.
■ Promote adoption of new
delivery
practices (e.g., Agile,
DevOps).
■ Manage cross-
team/product
interdependencies.
■ Enable effortless
governance partner
coordination.
■ Broker third-party
relationships.
■ Execute projects.
■ Define methodology and
enforce
compliance.
■ Enable project-level
prioritization and funding
decisions.
■ Plan and allocate project
resources.
■ Track project
health and benefits
realization.

16. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
PMOs must flex across multiple roles
PMO Roles for the Digital Enterprise
Execution
Source: Gartner
Enablement
Program Driver
Execute large, strategic
and cross-enterprise
initiatives.
Orchestrator
Coordinate solution
delivery team
workflows and
dependencies.
Talent Enabler
Develop talent and
enable new roles in
solutions delivery
communities.
Investment Steward
Update investment
allocation processes
for a digital context.
Promoter
Advocate for and
support enterprise
change.
Service Provider
Support stakeholders
with on-demand
expertise and
services.

17. @FuturePMO #PMOFrontier
Thank You
▪ Evolve
▪ Reinvent
▪ Align
Chris Cashell
chris,cashell@apexgroup.com
www.linkedin.com/in/chriscashell