Disruption can bring positive and long-lasting change to your project management office (PMO). Injecting a new way of working and disrupting the role of the project manager in your PMO can help improve your PMO.
When you choose to go through the process of disrupting your PMO using technology and automation. You need to make sure that the disruption carries through to the projects you manage by bringing the disruption down to the project manager (PM) role.
To positively disrupt the work of the PMs working under your PMO, we’re going to look at:
The traditional role of a PM
The reasons you should disrupt your PMs
How to disrupt the role of PMs in the long-run
What does a traditional PM role look like?
The work of a PM tends to be about managing a project from an administrative and governance perspective. Traditionally, a PM was there to make sure the project simply ran smoothly.
You expect a normal role holder to manage the process and produce the documentation about the work being done on their project. The role tends to be about governance and keeping the project on track in terms of the project methodology being used.
Tasks such as:
Managing costs
Monitoring schedules
Assessing risks
However, when you disrupt your PMO and projects using technology, these tasks can be automated, and the role of the PM can be transformed.
Why you need to disrupt the role of your PM
PMs do a range of tasks that can now be taken over by technology – which will form a change agenda all of its own within your PMO.
Any automation will bring about a cost reduction, although usually, it would be through making people redundant. This isn’t necessary with a PM; rather, you can harness their role and evolve it into a leader, which can further drive productivity.
When you disrupt projects and free up the work of a PM, they can be used to constantly promote change and digital transformation. Indeed, as their intimate knowledge of how technology improves the way that they work, this can help make disruption successful.
You will see your change agenda supported, and your projects get a fresh injection of leadership and direction when your PMs become leaders rather than managers.
How to disrupt the role of your PM
When your PMO is ready to disrupt and transform the role of a project manager in your business, you will need to have a plan in place.
The first thing you will need to do is get the technology in place to allow your PMs the time to change their focus. Tasks like:
Budget tracking and scheduling can be taken over by AI tools
Meetings can be cut down by using collaborative cloud technology
Communications and planning can be improved with the internet of things (IoT)
Which will give time and focus to other areas.
Once these are in place, you need to make sure your PMs are prepared for their new role. You need to provide education and training to help them become leaders and strategic thinkers. Working on PM soft skills will become the driving force of projects.
The next step is to encourage and facilitate data-led decisions at the project level. The automation and technology you introduce to projects should produce valuable insight that the PMs can use to inform their current and future projects.
Having your PMs go through this disruptive process to be leaders rather than managers should make them advocates for this type of change. They can become part of the transformation agenda that you’ll already be implementing in your PMO.
How to disrupt the PM role
The project managers that run the projects under your office will be used to a more administrative role in their work. By bringing in new technology, you can give them more time to focus on leadership as well as data to drive better decisions.
Disrupting the role of the project manager in your PMO will bring a more efficient and streamlined management process.
