Introduction | What a Project Office Does | A Successful Projects Environment
Problems without a CPO | What Project Managers Do | The Chief Project Officer

A Successful Projects Environment

If our projects are to be successful, we must create an environment that will recognize project leadership as a separate and distinct discipline, and provide a structured organization to house these essential skills and to foster the development of standards and expertise. Through the project office we accomplish the following:

1. Clarify the role of projects and project management in the enterprise.
2. Establish a standard project management methodology, including tools and communication.
3. Develop forms and templates to facilitate the development of project estimates, plans, and reports.
4. Provide for training in project management and project management tools.
5. Provide guidance and mentoring.
6. Develop a cadre of trained and competent project managers and project control specialists.
7. Audit the implementation of project management in the enterprise and provide assistance in complying with standard project management practices.
8. Perform a watchdog role to assure that good project management practices are being applied.
9. Gather project experience and data for use in future projects and to improve project management methods.
10. Provide a neutral, centralized office for planning, negotiating and analyzing projects, and for reporting throughout the enterprise.
11. Provide a central, customer-focused office to care for the concerns of the client/sponsor.

If you do not embrace the project office concept, then examine what you are doing now for project management and ask if you are supporting all of the important functions listed above.

What a Project Office Does

Problems without a CPO

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