The Project Office: Its Important Role (and What to Do if You Don t Have One)


The Project Office: Its Important Role (and What to Do if You Don ‚ t Have One)

One of the changes to the 2000 edition of the PMBOK Guide was to acknowledge the role of the project office. The acknowledgment is brief but helpful, stating that the project office ‚ s functions can range from simply ‚“providing support functions to project managers in the form of training, software, templates, etc. ‚½ (section 2.3.4., p. 21). all the way up to the actual management of projects. If you have a project office in your organization, they very likely will be your first stop as you perform your project management training needs assessment. (In fact, you probably have already been talking with them.) They often will have materials, templates, forms, and numerous other resources that will likely find their way into your workshop materials. They may also have done extensive needs analysis regarding training and will certainly have their finger on the pulse of the organization with respect to current project management training needs. The project office will be your primary source of information and your most resonant sounding board for training ideas. Count your blessings if you have this resource at your disposal.

If you do not have a project office, you ‚ ll need to find an alternative process for standardizing your organization ‚ s project management methods . The ideal solution will be to create a ‚“virtual project office ‚½ consisting of some of your best existing project managers. These managers can act as a body to approve training materials and, if possible, adopt some standard practices to use as a starting point for introducing training for a project-oriented approach. Ideally, this virtual office should have the blessing and support of upper management and may eventually give way to a real brick-and-mortar project management office. For now, however, you are mainly interested in having an advisory group to help ensure that your project management needs assessment accurately reflects the organization ‚ s true needs and that your workshops will have the greatest potential for success.




Project Management Training
Project Management Training (ASTD Trainers Workshop)
ISBN: 1562863649
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 111

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