What's On Your PMO Whiteboard?

We piloted the Setting Up a PMO course last week in London (the course was a great success and the next one takes place in November, take a look). The course was a real eye-opener for me – and that’s from someone who’s been around PMOs for a long time now, just goes to show there’s always something new to learn. The course looks at a PMO Implementation Roadmap which includes things like assessing the current situation; engaging with the business; developing a project delivery framework; getting that in place and embedded.

Throughout the courses at PMO Learning there’s lots of time to discuss; ask questions; find out about others experiences – all those things that help you to embed the information you’re learning about and reflecting on how you’re going to use it back in the workplace.

We got talking about whiteboards at one point. I think it came in the bit about communicating what the PMO is doing and how to make it more visible so others in the business can see progress.

We all love a whiteboard.

In a world where advances in technology are happening at lightning speed, it’s the humble pen and a wall that still rules on a corporate wall.

OK, it doesn’t work in all circumstances, virtual teams, hotdesking, all that jazz. When there is an opportunity, what do you use your whiteboard for?

A lot of PMOs are using the Kanban approach, bringing Trello back from the PC and onto the wall:

It’s a great place for the whole PMO to keep focused on what’s happening within the PMO – the work it has to think about (stick it on the backlog); who’s doing what right now and to keep motivation high by showing what we’ve already achieved. It’s also great for those sceptics who think the PMO doesn’t do anything.

Other PMOs chose to use the whiteboard as a mini portfolio prioritisation view – what’s the top ten most important projects the business has on right now and when are they due to finish? This view is great for anyone passing by the PMO – if they want to know where the business focus is, it’s right there.

For some PMOs, they see themselves as a hub of information – both business and social. They want to engage with the business in a way that shows we’re all just people at the end of the day and getting together for social occasions is a good thing to do. A whiteboard like this changes frequently, designed to create sticky and talking points. The PMO’s Quotes of the Day become a legend in the organisation??

It’s a funny thing, something as simple as a whiteboard and how people choose to use them and what impact that has on the work they’re doing. It’s something we probably wouldn’t think to ask others about. On this course, we asked – what do you have on your PMO whiteboard? – and got another little nugget of learning we otherwise wouldn’t have got.

So, what do you have on your whiteboard? Head over to our Linkedin group and join in the discussion.