I had an interesting conversation the other night with the Director of a PMO for a large company. After delivering my Project and Portfolio Management presentation she took me aside. She described her role leading the PMO and explained how she was also a leading advocate for advancing PPM in her company. She has indeed garnered a semblance of executive interest and support and has been told to "Go ahead and do it." She asked me who I thought should be the leader of PPM and if I was of the opinion she could indeed fill that role.

I told her the ideal was for the CEO to act as the leader of PPM. I immediately acknowledged I have seldom seen this to be the case. I then said the second best scenario is for the CEO to act as the "champion" of PPM, constantly reinforcing the vision and knocking down the countless inevitable obstacles to PPM success. In this scenario, the leader of PPM is the member of the Executive Leadership Team who has the best chance of meeting the business objectives set forth for PPM. Identifying this person is always a challenge.

The first aspect of the challenge is the determination of the business objectives of PPM for a given organization. Many people argue that PPM is PPM is PPM. I beg to differ. PPM can manifest itself in numerous ways and it comes in many shapes and sizes. The optimal incarnation is one that directly addresses the business opportunities and business problems that initiated the need for PPM in the first place. Yes, the ultimate goal and purpose of PPM is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed programs and projects to best achieve the organization's overall goals. But meeting this goal is a journey. There are numerous sub-processes and operational mechanisms and few enterprises can establish them all at once. Instead, the most pressing business needs (opportunities and problems) should determine which vestiges of PPM are introduced when.

Once the appropriate business objectives are determined, the next aspect of the challenge is to determine which member of the Executive Leadership Team is best positioned to lead the charge to achieve them. Some of the challenges she or he will face are:

• The clear articulation of PPM vision and the "roadmap" for getting there
• Defining the steps required to meet determined PPM objectives
• The need to engage and influence every area of the business and constantly traverse organizational boundaries
• The establishment and fostering of the appropriate mechanisms required to meet PPM process objectives - the most challenging being those required to reconcile inevitable differences and conflicts
• The systematic management of PPM processes (monitoring, measuring, analyzing and optimizing)
• The practical and reasonable maturation of PPM
• Proving the business value of PPM

To overcome these challenges, the Leader of PPM must have:

• The respect and confidence of the Executive Leadership Team
• An acute understanding of business strategy, goals, objectives and planning processes
• An understanding of corporate culture, organizational behavior and political nature
• A detailed understanding of Governance and PPM best practices, frameworks and methodologies
• A working knowledge of the art and science of Process Management and the ability to apply this insight to ensuring the correct PPM flavor and fit
• The ability to facilitate the reconciliation of differences in opinion and interpersonal conflicts - at the Executive level
• An understanding of the enterprise's definition of business value and the ability to articulate the benefits of PPM in those terms

After describing much of this to the PMO Director, she knew my answer to the second part of her question. Seldom do I find a PMO Leader with the means to fulfill the role of PPM Leader and she came to this conclusion without my saying so. Yet again and again I find PMO Directors thrust into the unenviable position of leading the charge for PPM. I believe this occurs when enterprises don't fully understand this critical, strategic, game-changing business process. This lack of understanding prevents many organizations from having an appreciation of the horsepower required to lead PPM and the process suffers because of it.

Who leads PPM in your organization and how are they doing? Who do you think should? I am sure there are PMO Directors out there who would appreciate your insights.

 Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist