Envisioning a digital infrastructure for a Learning Health System
Optimized Project Management Office Structure – I
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) established by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for training certified Project Management Professionals (PMP) suggests that “balanced matrix†organizations are the most effective form for project management organization.   The project management matrix organization is shown in figure 1. The concept of a “balanced matrix†is one in which the control of resources is distributed between the project manager and the functional manager. In a balanced matrix, the project manager negotiates for resources for a project, but when the resources are assigned to that project manager’s team, they are under his control until they get reassigned back to the functional manager.
The challenging question for me today is how the Project Management Office (PMO) fits into this structure. I will, in a subsequent blog, present a picture of a PMO within a “projectized†organization, which tends to be the more predominant structure of consulting, government contracting, and other business services companies.
The PMO within the balanced matrix organization can really be depicted as the component of the matrix organization that is defined in Figure 1 as the project management functional organization. As with other functional organizations, the PMO is responsible for:
Apparently much confusion exists about the charter of the PMO in a matrix organization, leading many organizations to create a completely separate structure to manage the PMO function that may report to non-operations components of an organization which have no direct responsibility for delivering products or services. These organizations tend to serve a role in establishing and enforcing compliance to standards, and frequently struggle with the operations organization and the project managers to increase their control over projects. Conflicts would be lessened if the standards enforcement was maintained within the project management functional component of the operations organization as described above.
As mentioned above, my next blog will explain how PMOs will work within “projectized†organizations.
2 Comments
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It's simply a discussion of how a project management organization works within a matrix organization, which I assume you are thinking about creating.
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Interesting but a bit over my head. We've just started an effort to improve communicate between upper management, "middle management" (those of us with various titles) and line workers, so this discussion may be relevant. We'll stay tuned. Thanks, Tom.
