Project Management Office

In the AtekPC case, the midsize PC manufacturer is facing the need to increase efficiency and cut costs in order to compete in an industry whose growth has slowed, and to do this it has been gradually moving toward the implementation of a Project Management Office (PMO). But this transition has not been without complications, some of which include weak support from management, an unclear sense of the real business value of the PMO, and conflicts between the culture of project management and the existing company culture. But it seems that the first issue actually stems from the latter two issues – that pockets of the company are resisting the PMO because it is seen as being contrary to company culture for no apparent business reason. After all, the work has always been completed previously, so why add the additional layers of bureaucracy and paperwork?

On page 12, Nelson Field acknowledges that the PMO at best only hopes to provide “subjective consensus and anecdotal data” proving its worth. This doesn’t seem to bode well for the PMO in an environment that is largely against it. It seems from the case that the proponents recognize this, and their plan is to win over the organization by simply getting the company used to the PMO’s inevitability over a long period of time. The thought seems to be that eventually the company will start seeing it as “the way things are” and accept it.

As touched on in the text, the solution seems to be found in the PMO-heavy versus PMO-light debate. The company culture is resistant to the PMO largely because it is seen as extra administrative overhead and bureaucracy. If this objection is eliminated or at least lessened, the functional areas of the company would likely find less to resist, while allowing for better record keeping moving forward and the enjoyment of heightened efficiencies provided by professional PMs. It therefore seems that a PMO-light implementation would likely lead to a more ready acceptance of the PMO, as...