Your project management office always needs something to work to. With a new year comes a new opportunity to set goals. We’ve defined the four types of PMO goals you can set for the next 12 months to give you some ideas.
There are seven steps to establishing any goals for your PMO, which we covered in our last article. Before you can start setting goals for your office, you need to know what part of your office your goals will be for the office as an entity, the people working within the office, or you individually.
Here, we’re going to look at the four types of goals you can set for your PMO at the office level. These are goals that everyone on the team can work towards as a team, with the PMO leader ultimately responsible for delivery.
We’ll be looking at:
- Project-related PMO goals
- Setting goals around PMO processes
- PMO goals that’ll align with the wider business
- Objectives for your PMO team
So you know the types of PMO goals you can plug into our guide for setting goals.
1. Setting project goals for your PMO
The main role of most, if not all PMOs, is to get projects delivered on time and on budget. Realistically, this probably isn’t how 100 percent of your projects shake out.
Setting goals that directly relate to project success should see your KPIs delivered by the end of the year. You can have project goals such as:
- Deliver 97% of projects within budget
- Complete 98% of projects within the initial deadline
- Record stakeholder satisfaction above 95%
- Less than 5% of projects to have a change request after delivery
The specific numbers will depend on your PMO’s current performance for these metrics, of course.
2. Setting project goals for your PMO processes
The successful delivery of projects has a lot to do with the processes and frameworks that a PMO implements and monitors. To deliver on project goals, you need to make sure that there is a focus on the processes your office works with.
Look at the challenges your office is having around processes. Is information regularly not gathered on time? Is there consistently inaccurate reporting or forecasting? See where processes aren’t quite working
From there, you can look to set goals that might be:
- Close all projects with 100% completed documentation
- Have 100% of reports delivered on time
- Review and update all processes and forms within the next 12 months
Again, the specifics of what will work for your PMO will be different – use these as ideas as inspiration to set your own goals.
3. Setting business-focussed goals for your PMO
The mission of your PMO will be acutely tied into the goals of the business it operates in. Projects may be the bread and butter of what the business delivers or might be one cog in a company with lots of moving parts.
Either way, you want to make sure your office is focused on delivering the business strategy. These goals will be very specific to the business, but you can consider things around:
- Increasing the return on investment (ROI) of projects by 3%
- Developing cross-business relationships with a networking event per quarter
- Publishing an article per month on PMO performance on the company blog
Have strategic awareness and work with the PMO’s C-suite sponsor to develop specific business goals.
4. Setting objectives for the people in your PMO
The people in your office are what makes it successful. By working to develop them, you not only add to the skills at hand within your PMO, you also engage them with the business – everyone likes being invested in.
We’ll be looking at setting goals for your team members in our next blog, but here are some ideas to get you thinking:
- Investing £1,000 per team member into professional career development
- Using 20 hours per month to have team members shadow other business areas
- Reduce staff turnover in the PMO by 10%
Types of PMO-level goals you can set
Having goals to push your PMO and demonstrate its broader business value will ensure its longevity. By considering the four types of PMO goals you can set for the coming year, you can develop goals that are achievable, realistic, and measurable.
