Highlights from Gartner’s PPM and IT Governance Summit—Part 3: Be an Enabler, Not a Disabler

In my last two posts, I talked about the evolving role of the EPMO and effective PMO communication, two of the four key takeaways from Gartner’s PPM and IT Governance Summit. This post will cover the third point, driving competitive advantage and PMO innovation.

Gartner states that traditional governance processes and project management systems crush innovation in organizations — which is the opposite of what a PMO needs to do if it is to be perceived as valuable to the organization.

I think this is an important point — that executives want, more than anything, competitive advantage, and that this requires taking more risks, not fewer. With this in mind, effective governance needs to enable an organization to optimize investments that balance out the portfolio within the risk tolerances of the organization.

This means, just like a personal stock portfolio, allowing room for riskier and more innovative projects, where there’s more uncertainty and planning is incremental but the potential upside is huge.

It also means that processes must be adaptive and move quickly, unburdened by a one-size-fits-all methodology and an overly cautious attitude. If governance processes are bureaucratic and laborious, and if project management methodologies fare no better, then the organization’s growth will be stymied as more adaptive and daring competitors pass them by.

PMOs and their associated processes must be enablers, not disablers. And that, I think, is Gartner’s key point here.

In the next post, I’ll talk about the last key point from Gartner’s summit, Driving PMO Maturity.

Written by Jerry Manas

Jerry Manas is an internationally best-selling author, speaker, and consultant. He is frequently cited by leading voices in the world of business, including legendary management guru Tom Peters (“In Search of Excellence”), who often references Manas’s bestselling book Napoleon on Project Management for its insights on simplicity and character, and Pat Williams, Senior VP of the Orlando Magic, who called Manas’s book Managing the Gray Areas “a new path for leaders.” Jerry’s latest book is The Resource Management and Capacity Planning Handbook (McGraw-Hill), which Judith E. Glaser, noted author of Conversational Intelligence, touted as “the first book dedicated to what is essentially the drivetrain of organizations—the effective use of its people toward its most important activities.” Through his consulting company, The Marengo Group, Jerry helps clients maximize their organizational people resources, leading to a grater capacity to innovate, a more value-focused workforce, and an increased ability to adapt to change. He is a popular speaker at events around the world, speaking on lessons from history, resource planning, organizational change, and other topics. Jerry’s work has been highlighted in a variety of publications, including the Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun Times, National Post, Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, and others.

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Highlights from Gartner’s PPM and IT Governance Summit—Part 3: Be an Enabler, Not a Disabler

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