A Taste of the Essentials for PMO Directors Course

The Essentials for PMO Directors course is the final level in the Essentials suite of qualifications from the House of PMO and APMG International. PMO Learning became the first accredited training organisation to deliver these courses and after the first pilot course in late 2022 we’re delighted to see if as a firm fixture in our training schedule.

Training at the senior level in PMO – for those leading PMO functions – is very different to those courses aimed at people working in the PMO (the Administrator and Analyst levels). It’s not just about the different contexts, accountabilities and responsibilities people have – it’s also about the time available to them for self-development.

The Essentials for PMO Directors course is a two-day course which focuses on the core competences required when managing enterprise-wide PMOs, enabling time-poor learners to attend and gain the knowledge they need across the two days.

This course is also about having the opportunity to learn alongside others who are also working at this level of PMO – it’s that chance to speak to and learn from others’ experiences too – sometimes working at this level in an organisation can be a lonely place so it’s good to know there are others out there too with the same experiences.

Reasons Not to Take the Course

Finally, people working at this level of PMO are often very experienced PPM professionals – people who haven’t taken up many formal certification-based courses lately because they have been busy doing the job, in fact there are several reasons why experienced practitioners don’t take up formal training:

Experienced people may not take training courses for a variety of reasons, including:

They may feel that they already possess the necessary skills and knowledge, and that the training course would not offer any new insights or information.
They may prefer to learn through hands-on experience or on-the-job training, rather than in a classroom setting.
They may not have the time or resources to commit to a training course, especially if they have other work or personal obligations.
They may believe that the training course is too basic or too advanced for their current level of expertise.
They may have had negative experiences with training courses in the past, and therefore be reluctant to invest time and money in a new one.

Take Another Look at the Essentials for PMO Directors

The Essentials for PMO Directors course is aimed at those who are fairly new to the role of PMO Director – perhaps having come from a previous PPM role and now have taken on the responsibilities for the PMO.

It’s also aimed at people who may have been in the role for a short while and feel they are missing some of the more recent advances in PMO good practice.

The course can supplement the on-the-job experience – not only giving the formal knowledge expected from a course but also the interaction with others on the course.

The course is aimed at those with prior experience and comes with pre-requisites:

The following pre-requisites are applicable for this course:

Essentials for PMO Managers OR;
A Practitioner certificate in either P3O®, PRINCE2®, PRAXIS Framework™, AgilePM®, MSP®, PRINCE2 Agile, APM PFQ, PMQ, PM4SD™, PMP®, PgMP®, or CAPM or equivalent OR;
3 years’ experience of working within a PMO, project, programme or portfolio environment