How do you measure the success of your Project Management Office (PMO)? What metrics do you use?
I recently read a great post on PMOs called "7 Marks of a Great Project Management Office" http://is.gd/2Kjoi by @alecsatin. These "marks", as Alec Satin refers to them, actually struck me as great fodder for a potential list of metrics for a successful PMO. I made that point in a comment to his blog posting and re-Tweeted the link. Even after returning to other activities, Alec's post really stuck with me.
As I continued my day I coincidently found myself working on my Metrics presentation. I was simply adding the PMI Metrolina North Carolina chapter logo in preparation to speak at their conference in October. My continued reflection of Alec's blog post prompted me to review, and subsequently update my list of recommended PMO metrics. That update became the inspiration for this post.
Under goal-oriented sub-headings, here is my list of recommended PMO Metrics:
Facilitating and Enabling Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)
- % of investment decisions influenced by PMO-provided data
- % of projects aligned with organizational goals
- % of projects reviewed during execution by Executive Management
- Executive satisfaction with PMO - survey based
Influencing Project Success
- Project success rate (upward trend)
- % of projects delivered ahead of schedule
- % of healthy Projects
Establishing a Partnership with Project Managers
- Project management competence (upward trend)
- Number of mentoring relationships
- Number of training days delivered
- Project Manager satisfaction with PMO - survey based
Fostering Processes that Enable Success
- Project standards, processes, tools and templates are designed and implemented
- Project processes are owned and managed (process management lifecycle)
- % of projects complying with project management standards & methods
- Value of PMO is measured and understood
I admit it will be a challenge to establish the systematic approach to instituting these metrics and determining their measures. I believe it is well worth the effort to do so.
What metrics do you use? What do you think of these? It would be great to hear your comments.
Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist