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The Agile Enterprise PMO – Part 2 – Agile transformation is a process, not an end-state

In this post I explain how you can make agility visible through measurable KPIs (key performance indicators) and link these back to the values and principles of the Agile manifesto. Some can be seen as leading indicators trying to measure the prerequisites (e.g. business and IT collaboration), others as lagging indicators trying to explore weather the agile mindset has actually resulted in more agility in software development and deployment (e.g. shorter lead times).

The Agile Enterprise PMO – Part 1 – Principles of organisational control

Agile software development is here to stay and has a quite dramatic impact on the “traditional Enterprise PMO”, the department that was originally set-up to bring order into the chaos of projects and software development.
In a series of blog posts, I will explain the principles of three organisational control mechanisms: the market-, bureaucratic and “clan-based” control system. Depending on the scenario some work better than others and sometimes only the clan-based system achieves the desired control (hint: this is about Agile).
The Enterprise PMO needs to understand if a particular control system works in a given scenario. I will give some ideas how the PMO can gather evidence via metrics and KPIs to what extent the outcome of Agile principles can be evidenced to become acceptable as control mechanism. Here the PMO can support the Agile transformation by accepting it as valid form of control.
Finally, I will explain how the PMO can transform itself by adopting agile concepts to stay relevant in the long run.

Building a successful Enterprise PMO

As organisations grow, their project portfolio becomes more complex or important projects fail management will set up an Enterprise PMO. Their names are different (e.g. Portfolio Management Office, Portfolio Management, PPM, Multi-Projectmanagement, Corporate Project Portfolio Management etc.), but in essence it will be responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the project portfolio. I have set […]

The customisation trap

Companies buy off-the-shelf software to simplify their system landscape and reduce their support and maintenance costs – and then they “customise the hell out of it” – why? What can you do to avoid falling into that trap? This article explains common traps to fall into when buying and implementing enterprise software and how to avoid them.

Seven things you should know about Project Portfolio Management

In simple terms project management is about doing projects right, Project portfolio management (PPM) is about doing the right projects – and ensuring those are done well. PPM complements successful project management and ensures that not only individual projects become successful, but the entire organisation achieves success through its projects. If you want to know […]