Project management offices are finding their way into government organizations too, mainly due to the benefits that businesses and organizations are reaping because of them. Integrating PMOs into government offices could have been a much difficult task, if not for the increasingly skeptical customers and austerity measures that have made completion of projects under the budget a rule, rather than the exception.The sad part is that PMOs are underutilized in these sectors, which is also a reason why they are unable to make a significant impact on the processes.
All in all, PMOs have been adding value to public sector and government organizations. Here is how.
Plans in sync with organizational goals
PMOs make it possible to create and deliver project plans that are close to the organizations goals. The PMO has to be aligned to the overall goals and strategies of the organization, which will then enable the leaders to clearly define roles and responsibilities. With the PMOs functioning as a business does with another, it would be able to improve the efficiency of public sector functioning in spite of the bureaucratic environment.
Focused on goals
Given the changing attitudes, policies and bureaucratic tendencies of the government organizations, it is easy to lose focus on the goals. A PMO can prevent that by ensuring that the organization or division it is assigned to follows standardized processes and does not shift momentum or direction due to any kind of distractions.
Problems Identified Early
Roadblocks and other issues that crop up during a project can hamper its progress significantly. While the time lost due to such problems is not the PMO’s responsibility, it can help the organization in identifying potential roadblocks to completion of the project and even assist the project managers in coming up with a suitable alternative to keep things moving ahead.
Fill the gap within public sector agencies
Most of the governmental organizations work in isolation, or without any connection whatsoever with the rest of the other organizations. Even within an organization, some divisions fly solo and work without any connections with the other divisions of the organization, which can sometimes slow down the project processes.
PMO’s cross-initiative approach ensures that leaders of all divisions within the government or public sector organization meet up to identify and bridge any possible gaps that can lead to a delay or in complete failure of the project in question.
