What is an Agile PMO?

We’ve been running a two day course on the Lean-Agile PMO for a while now and we’ve seen a real assortment of PMOs and businesses come through the doors.

Why are people taking the course?

It’s simple, more and more projects are being delivered by using Agile approaches rather than by more traditional waterfall approaches.

And while project teams are becoming slicker at delivering within Agile frameworks, there is still a need to ensure that governance and oversight are in place, so the wider business and execs know what’s happening within their delivery teams.

For the PMO, whose primary objective is to provide guidance and support to all those involved in the delivery of project and programmes – from senior executives to end-users and customers – they need to know what they’re providing guidance and support on.

They need to not only understand the best practice around Agile delivery (check out AgilePM as an excellent online training option for this) they also need to know how it can be managed, monitored and reported on alongside existing traditional projects.

The PMO is also starting to understand the different Agile frameworks that exist too. This is aligned to something called agile transformation.

Primarily organisations are looking at Agile approaches across the whole portfolio of change (projects and programmes) in the business and for this – Agile at Scale is something that fits the bill. The most common approach so far seems to be SAFe.

The Lean-Agile PMO course from PMO Learning looks at all of these challenges the PMO is currently facing and provides real practical guidance on what steps to be taking. Each one is a one day course, so it’s quick and effective, you don’t need to take too much time out of the office. These courses have also be carried out in-house too.

It’s a PMO that is responsible for providing guidance and support on projects and programmes which are delivering using Agile approaches.

It’s a PMO which is having to provide an environment to enable Agile projects to succeed and then supporting them throughout the lifecycle.

The Agile PMO is also responsible for ensuring the same governance and scrutiny is applied – just as it does for traditional projects. That might mean specific processes need to change or be adapted. For example, project status; benefits management; business cases and risk management all need revisiting and revising.

The PMO still maintains its role in being a source of help for people working in project delivery – with Agile projects coming on line that has just meant that there are new types of assistance needed.

And the Agile PMO is still supporting the existing the traditional projects too, which means flexing and adapting to carry on with an existing service.

If your PMO is now supporting Agile projects and you’re looking for help, guidance and practical advice on the way forward – take a look at the courses available to help you navigate through this new perspective: