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What is a PMO and What Does it Do?

By Bruce Beer, PMP: Editor’s note: This is the first post in a series on PMOs. PMOs are increasingly becoming the “in thing” these days, even though they have been around for many years. So this series of articles will try and…
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Virtual Teams and PMOs – The European Experience

By Bruce Beer, PMP: Working with virtual teams and PMOs has enough challenges when they are all contained in the USA; however when these teams are global with different time zones and languages, it has a certain dimension that adds “interest”…
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Point-Counterpoint: The Role of the Project Management Office

By Kathy Martucci, PMP: What is the role of the Project Management Office (PMO)?  Is its sole purpose to provide an organizational home for project managers or is it an independent group charged with developing and communicating project…
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Don’t Put Project Management in a Box

By Vicki Wrona, PMP Project Management is both operational and strategic. It uses both analytical and interpersonal skills. It includes leadership and negotiations. Why do we want to limit its definition…and our worth as project managers?! All too often I run into senior managers who believe that project management is strictly an operational function. They need a project done and someone gets it done...that's how they see it. But as good as that is, if used properly, project management can be much more than that. When used by senior management or in a project management office (PMO), it can be strategic as well. The project management office or similar function can help determine which projects will be funded and how they will be prioritized and worked. In other words, with solid portfolio management practices, they determine the mix of projects that best support the organization’s mission. This is not an operational function but instead a very strategic one.