An IT PMO has control over all the IT projects of an organization. Its focus, therefore, is oriented to everything related to technological architecture, development, and systems.
In addition, it also necessarily focuses on ongoing activities and internal services, not just on projects. The clearest example is the maintenance and operations related to technical services that support the work of the organization. The projects that result from this maintenance are the constant improvements that must be made so that the systems are up to the demands of the users.
In that way, although the responsibilities are similar, the focus of an IT PMO changes, being protected from the CIO initiatives.
- Technology selection
- Calendar marked by IT (development, operations, and architecture)
- Definition of architecture
- Technology design
- Building technological solutions: hardware selection, development, system integration, testing
To support the work of an IT PMO, it is essential to have a simple, robust and easy-to-use PPM tool, such as ITM Platform.
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Why does a CIO want an IT PMO?
The IT PMO is an independent department that deals with technical and non-political criteria, able to coordinate work and manage the relationship with customers.
In highly technological environments, one of the advantages of a PMO is that it is responsible for facilitating the human aspect, serving as internal diplomats that facilitate understanding among engineers, whose arguments are not up to everyone, the management layers, and the external customers. In this “diplomacy” are integrated responsibilities as strong as the management of calendars and expectations, the prioritization of efforts or the creation of a rational framework for the delivery of projects.
On the other hand, for the CIO, the IT PMO becomes a fundamental instrument for the management of complexity. Through its mission of control, the IT PMO centralizes information, digests it and offers it in formats that make it as easy as possible to make business decisions aimed at making the services of the corporation as efficient as possible.
Some differences with a business PMO
While a business PMO tends to control only projects of strategic importance, usually grouped into programs, the IT PMO has as one of its fundamental missions to control the demand, filter it and prioritize it. For this reason, all work that can be managed as a project belongs to it –it does not matter if it is only a small adjustment or a minor impact: if it belongs to IT, it will be controlled by the IT PMO.
The reason is that there may be hundreds or even thousands of projects of these dimensions, which means that this must also be prioritized.