The Obligations And Rewards Of Being A Project Management Officer
Projects are started and completed for a variety of reasons by organizations, including the launch of a product, the improvement of a process, any legal obligations, and many more. The Project Management Office, often referred to as PMO, plays the role of the brain in any medium-sized to large corporation and is responsible for leading, managing, and controlling project delivery. An important role that should not be overlooked!
The Project Management Officer is the PMO’s leader in big corporations. Their job is to lead an organization’s Project Management Office, and it requires many years of project management expertise. On average, they earn around 218,000, but depending on each individual company, they may make up to 280,000.
This blog will go through the Project Management Officer role in great depth, their obligations, and all of the rewards you can get from becoming one.
Types Of Project Management Offices
The Project Management Office layout changes based on the organization’s growth, culture, and sector. According to the type of Project Management Office, there are three different types of PMO structures, and the roles of the Project Management Officer’s can vary according to them. This means the tasks and functions will be different. Let’s look through the various PMO structures.
#1 Project Management Office Structure: Supportive PMO
Other divisions and projects can benefit from supportive PMO templates, guidelines, training, and experience gained, among other things. This sort of PMO serves as the organization’s repository. Such PMO structure functions as a business archive, providing information and documents as needed, but it lacks robust project control. These PMOs usually pass on the information towards a different functional manager, like an IT or Engineering Manager, for example. This system is useful as it acts as a great resource to manage and control assets.
#2 Project Management Office Structure: Controlling PMO
Controlling PMO encourages and demands the use of tools and procedures. They keep track of whether needed papers are presented in a project, and whether important procedures are carried out in accordance with processes, and so on. This form of PMO provides a modest level of project oversight. PMO Managers and PMO Leads administer these Project Management Offices, however, they are often not strong in the corporation.They can be seen as supportive with additional influence and control.
#3 Project Management Office Structure: Directive PMO
Directive PMO is in charge of project management and is solely responsible for project completion. They both have powerful positions within the organization and in situations of authority when it comes to the project’s decision-making and organizational structure and process. Of the several forms of PMO, directive PMO possesses the most control. PMO Directors and/or Project Management Officers oversee this sort of PMO, and the leads are influential members of the company taking a direct hand in managing and controlling a project.
What Are The Responsibilities Of A Project Management Officer?
The Project Management Officer’s position description differs based on the sector and company. Project Management Officers are usually found at the chairman level of a company. They supervise a team of Project Managers, Program and Portfolio Managers, Project Assistants, and Specialists, as well as other project management-related experts within the company. If the company is large enough to have over twenty project managers, the number of PMOs & PMO managers overseeing each one could be quite big. The Project Management Officer would be in charge of every PMO manager in this situation.
Take, for example, a Fortune 500 tech firm. The company will have thousands of workers and several project managers, with many project management offices, each concentrating on a distinct area, in various places. For example, the research and development Project Management Office may be in charge of all new products and features development, whereas the Delivery Project Management Office is in charge of client integration and deployment. Both of those PMOs can be led by the same Project Management Officer.
A successful project management officer should have plenty of program and project management experience, outstanding communication skills (because they’ll be coordinating cross-functional organizational activities), experience in working with top management from various functions (HR, engineering, sales, and others ), financial skills, as well as budget management.
The Role Of A Project Management Officer
An organization’s Project Management Officer will be held primarily responsible for the project’s successful completion. You may see some of the requirements listed below that applicants must possess to get a job as a Project Management Officer.
- 10+ years of project and program management of large, complex technology deployments with direct interaction with senior executives.
- Mastery of project management skills and processes.
- Establish Project Governance Structure and partner with workstream leads to ensure program standards and governance adherence.
- Experience managing both operational and program budgets with strong financial acumen (very good at numbers, P&L, etc).
- Ensures financial and operational requirements are met throughout all programs and projects by coordinating with the Finance Executive Leadership and Internal Audit.
- Develop various financial reports required by leadership both at a team level and project level.
- Work closely with Lead; business budgeting & planning in processing various vendor invoices.
- Good history and track record of working with vendors.
- Facilitating the steering committee and other cross-program governance activities.
- Producing executive communication, dashboards, scorecards, and reports.
- Understanding of Project Management Institute, Agile and Six Sigma methodologies.
- PMP certification is a plus.
- Strong presentation and coordination skills.
- PMO responsibilities like finance, budget management, and tracking reporting.
Salary Of A Project Management Officer Director
The dilemma with wages is that when one’s seniority level rises, pay and benefits vary greatly based on the sector and organization. The same is true for Project Management Office Directors. According to Salary.com, the median pay in the US for Project Management Officers is 218k, with a range between 193-248k.
Salary can rely on a combination of factors like education, certifications, additional talents, and the span of time that you’ve worked in your field.
How To Become The Best Project Management Office Director
In a PMO, Project Management Officers serve as role models for the rest of the project managers. As a result, they should serve as a devoted and helpful leader, facilitating and coaching project managers, while also performing other PMO functions. PMO Directors are often required to satisfy quarterly and yearly KPIs. For instance, a PMO’s main goal is to complete projects on schedule and within the budget, and the PMO lead’s performance is solely dependent on these parameters.
Several requirements must be met in order to complete projects on schedule and within budget. A project team should be made up of qualified individuals, and a project manager needs to possess the necessary ability to handle the project, as well as environmental conditions and a variety of other considerations. To improve project efficiency, the Project Manager Officer should guarantee that experienced Project Managers are recruited and promoted in the Project Management Office. The ultimate aim of a Project Management Office director is to achieve this.
According to the responses of attendees at a corporate training course, the most typical challenges within project delivery companies are schedule delays and inept resources. Unqualified resources can be an issue with project management in 47 percent of organizations, based on the responses from the same sample group, whereas incompetent resources got a 24 percent in the respondents’ organizations.
Additional key performance indicators for Project Management Officers might include developing talent and maintaining a certain amount of project management workforce turnover. It takes 6 to 9 months on average to adjust a new PM team to a company. As a result, PMO leaders need to ensure that the PMO staff is pleased and interact with them proactively, just in case any demotivating issues exist.
How To Increase Your Project Delivery Productivity And Engagement
Project Management Officers need to understand what motivates their team. Did you know training project management professionals can boost their commitment to the company and raise their engagement? Here are some important findings from a Forbes study on corporate training.
- Professional experience and career progression chances are highly significant to 87 percent of millennials.” (Millennials are members of your team who are between the ages of 25 and 40.)
- Education and training are one of the most essential workplace policies, according to 68 percent of workers.
- During their first year, 40 percent of workers who get inadequate job training will end up leaving their jobs.
- For every dollar spent on training, you get a 30-dollar boost in productivity.
- Any companies that adopt e-learning technologies see an increase of 18 percent in engagement.
The most crucial lesson for PMO leaders from Forbes’ ranking is that 84 percent of global managers rated staff learning as critical or extremely important.
The Obligations And Rewards Of Being A Project Management Officer: Conclusion
PMOs are the foundation of every organization’s project delivery system. Project Management Offices are led by PMO directors, managers, and Project Management Officers, who oversee a team of PM specialists. Various PMOs may report to several Project Management Officers or Directors if the company is big enough and there are numerous PMOs.
In the US, a Project Management Officer earns approximately 218k per year. Project Management Officer compensation can range from 170k to 280k, according to the officer’s talents, history, and qualifications, as well as the industry and organization.
A Project Management Office Director has various key performance indicators and duties. The main goal is to make sure that all projects are completed on budget and within the allotted time. Project Management Officers should focus on getting the proper skills, developing current talent, and lowering turnover for the Project Management Office to accomplish this. Organizing courses and training programs for the PMO workers is crucial for raising current talent and increasing engagement.
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