There are plenty of tools and software to help as you establish your new project management office (PMO). It can be tough to know what you’re going to need, and Agile consulting services can help with making tooling decisions for your new PMO.
Your tool choices may be determined to varying degrees by the systems your wider organisation currently uses. With restrictions in place or the opportunity to build from the ground up, an Agile consultant can help make the right decisions and get things ready to go.
If you’re trying to decide whether you need Agile consulting services to help with your tooling process, we’re going to look at:
- The tool choices that your Agile consultant can help you with
- How your Agile consultant can support your tooling choices
- Why using an Agile consultant during your tooling decisions can be of benefit
What tool choices does a new PMO need to make?
Getting the software stack for your new PMO right at the very beginning will have a major effect on the success of your PMO. It will allow you to focus on important tasks while automating elements such as reporting, budgeting, and efficiency monitoring.
As a PMO leader, you can’t be expected to know every tool out there and how to get them to work together. This is why an Agile consultant looking at tooling can be invaluable – you will get the best tech for your needs and futureproof your PMO from needing to change tools.
You need to be looking at:
- Project management software, such as Asana, Trello, Monday, Wrike etc to manage tasks and timelines.
- Collaboration and communication tools, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom to make sure your teams can stay in touch.
- Document and file management tools, which could include Microsoft Office, Google Suite, or Dropbox, allowing work to be shared efficiently.
- Resource management software allowing you to track holidays, schedules, absences, etc, which could include Resource Guru or Teamdeck.
- Reporting and analytics tools to help you gather and present data with minimal manual intervention, such as Tableau or Power BI.
These and other tools will keep your PMO ticking over and make sure that everyone can do their work. Agile consultants should know what will work best in tandem and also be able to get the best offers and pricing based on the number of seats, storage etc, that you need.
What can an Agile consultant do to help choose the right tools for my new PMO?
There are a lot of elements to consider when choosing the tools you’ll use for your new PMO. It may be something you’d rather not focus on, or may feel you don’t have the broad knowledge to make informed choices.
An Agile consultant will:
- Understand your PMO requirements – from your headcount, the reports you need to produce, and the current tools being used in your business, your consultant will figure out what your needs are now and as your portfolio expands.
- Work with stakeholders – your project managers, HR department, C-suite, and IT department will all have an opinion on your tool stack. A consultant can break through office politics and recommend the best tool based on everyone’s input.
- Research the market – with time and resources dedicated to knowing what’s available, an Agile consultant will know what is available and should be abreast of changes and upgrades that are in the pipeline.
- Determine integrations needed – some tools are designed to work together, such as the offerings from Google or Microsoft, while others can be integrated with tools like Zapier or APIs. Your consultant will work to put everything together and have it work smoothly.
Your Agile consultant can help all the way to building your tech stack and pushing it live, if that’s what you need.
Why do I need an Agile consultant for PMO tooling?
Choosing the right tools to get your PMO functioning optimally is something you need to get right. It’s a specialist area of expertise, and even an expert PMO leader can’t be expected to know everything that’s going on in the realms of collaboration, document storage, or task management software.
Your Agile consultant can make your tooling decision easier, more efficient, and better integrated than if you had to deal with it alone.
