The PMO role in risk management

The links between project risk management and the organisation’s risk management mean that some project risks could be dealt with at organisation level more easily.  It is in both the project manager’s interests and the boards to get these processes to join up effectively.  A good PMO (Project Management Office) who really understand risk management and organisational context can help by spotting themes to talk to corporate risk managers about.

Risk Management – beyond the project

The UK Combined Code for corporate governance  says “the board’s role is to provide entrepreneurial leadership of the company within a framework of prudent and effective controls which enables risk to be assessed and managed.” (A.1)

PMO Confused?

Senior Managers seem to be confused: every consultant they talk to describes a different model for a PMO or PPSO (programme and project support office) from the last consultant they thought they understood. 

This is not new for larger organisations. The confusion for the PMO staff can be quite difficult and transition to new roles can be tough if you have staffed the PMO with completer/finisher admin or project managers in waiting.

Checklist Quality is Bad Value

Kaoru Ishikawa lead the thought that said everyone was responsible for quality.  Ray Kroc founded McDonalds success on a work system of very tightly defined tasks performed by people who needed minimal training to do that job as well as their company’s expert.  Richard M Hodgetts defined check sheets (checklists) as a way to “record data on a form that readily allows interpretation of results from the form itself”.

These developments are helpful to quality: make everyone care about quality, define the job and train people, give them tools to monitor and interpret progress made on their work.  That way is the road to great management and excellent performance.

So why does it go bad?