The Complete PMO

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The Complete PMO

• Chapter 11 - Career Development

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Please Note that the following Slide text is
derived from the content in The Complete Project
Management Handbook by Gerald Hill
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Career Development

• Activities associated with achieving professional
  advancement aligned with progressive expansion
  and application of PM skill, knowledge, and
  experience.

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PMO Career Development Responsibility

• The PMO serves as an advocate in establishing
  career paths within the PM environment by
  facilitating an understanding of PM
  professionals.
• Helps achieve professional recognition for PM
  participants.
• Facilitates career planning and professional
  development efforts for PM participants.
• Provides career motivation and direction for PM
  participants.
• Prepares expanded business roles and
  responsibilities for evolving PM professionals.
• Contributes to organizational retention of
  qualified PM professionals.
• Enhances organizational competitive position.

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Career Development Activities Across the PMO
Continuum
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Career Development Activities across the PMO
Continuum

• PMO is instrumental in instilling and managing
  professionalism within the PM environment.
• Project Office Applies experience in the
  relevant organization combined with PM knowledge
  to guide project team members in pursuit of
  professional advancement.
• Mid-range PMO Collaborates with HR department
  to introduce formal processes and practices of
  professional career development to ensure the
  integration of business accouterments within the
  career development program.
• Center of Excellence Analyzes project
  professional career development program results
  to improve the program within the relevant
  organization.

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Career Development Support Function Model
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Develop PM Career Path
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Establish PM as a Professional Discipline

• The PMO helps make PM a core business competency
  by endorsing professional attributes of project
  participants to establish a progressive PM career
  path within the relevant organization.
• Develop Basis for Executive Support - The PMO
  presents the case for adopting a PM career
  structure to the executive control board.
• Align PM with comparable positions in other
  business areas.
• Align PM with comparable positions in other
  organizations.
• Endorse modern PM as a core competency.
• Fulfill regulatory requirements or business
  needs.
• Implement organizational restructuring
  initiatives.
• Secure HR Department Ownership - The PMO
  collaborates with the HR department to examine
  opportunities and advantages of a PM career path.
  
• Job descriptions and responsibilities.
• Skill, education, and experience requirements.

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Benefit of Establishing a Professional PM Career
Path

• Increased staff retention due to defined
  professional advancement opportunities.
• Easier identification of persons for specific
  project assignments.
• Improved morale and motivation within the PM
  environment.
• Specified training, certification, and
  skill/knowledge requirements for levels of
  project participants.
• Enhanced collaboration and information sharing
  between peers and within peer groups.
• Clearer definition of professional
  responsibilities within the project management
  environment.
• Professional affiliation for traditionally
  project team members.

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Impact of Establishing Professional PM Career Path

• Current Project Participants Impacts.
• New position designation issues.
• Responsibility change issues.
• Scope of control and influence issues.
• Compensation issues.
• Professional recognition issues.
• Professional certification and position
  qualification issues.
• Relevant Organization Impacts.
• Organizational change issues.
• Personnel action and administrative issues.

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Define Professional Advancement Model

• Categories professionals in a PM environment to
  facilitate project resource allocation
  activities, resource task assignments,
  performance measurement and reporting actions,
  communication and collaboration processes, and PM
  responsibilities.
• Entry and Support Level Project Manager Positions
  - This career level identifies potential PM
  professionals with basic PM skills and knowledge.
• Project assistant - Performs traditional
  administrative duties i.e. graphics design,
  document preparation/reproduction, meeting
  scheduling, maintain telephone and visitor logs,
  prepare project correspondence, and distribution
  of project deliverables.
• Project coordinator - Facilitates
  collaboration/communication between project team
  members and across project teams, business units,
  and other project stakeholders, as well as
  managing project facilities, equipment, and
  supplies.
• Project administrator - Monitors, receives, and
  compiles reports from project team members to the
  project manager manages change control, project
  plan updates, project document storage and
  control, and project issues and action logs
  monitors and manages project deliverable due
  dates, risk mitigation actions, and contractual
  obligations manages customer and
  vendor/contractor invoices and payments.
• Project business analyst - Performs specialized
  PM activities such as schedule development and
  management, budget preparation and oversight, and
  resource workload management provides project
  estimating and planning support and expertise
  analyzes cost, schedule, and resource utilization
  performance and variations contributes expertise
  to project management planning in areas of
  specialty, e.g., risk, quality, procurement, etc.
• Qualified Level Positions.
• Project technical staff member.
• Technical task leader.
• Project leader.

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Construct Position Description/Qualification

• The PMO collaborates with the HR department to
  develop a structure for PM career progression.
• Position title.
• Role and responsibilities.
• Scope of authority.
• Experience requirements.
• Education and training requirements.
• Salary, compensation, and benefits.

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Identify Training Resources

• The PMO identifies training resources that can
  deliver a wide range of basic and advanced
  courses to satisfy the needs of the different
  stakeholders in the relevant organization.
• In-House Training Resources The PMO examines
  the capabilities of education centers, training
  departments, or corporate universities serving
  the relevant organization to determine the
  sufficiency of that resource with regard to the
  range and depth of PM training serving
  professionals in the PM environment.
• External Training Resources The PMO examines
  the capability of commercial PM training
  resources to determine the ability to customize
  their training courses to use in the relevant
  organization.
• Public Training Resources The PMO often
  considers available PM training available to the
  public.

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Integrate Career Path into the Organization

• HR department is primarily responsible for
  career-path integration activities.
• Position alignment with staffing structure -
  Align positions in the PM career path with the
  organizational chart.
• Position transition planning.
• Identify affected individuals.
• Identify transition impacts.
• Specify new positions.
• Prepare for transition.
• Determination of transition date.
• Perform promotional activities.
• Secure authorization of transition.

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Support PM Career Planning
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Provide Career Guidance

• The PMO facilitates career guidance activities.
• Career planning Collaborate with personnel in
  examining PM career opportunities relative to
  progressively advanced career levels.
• Training and education Conveys
  industry/organizational standards and
  requirements for training and education to enable
  personnel to acquire preferred skill and
  knowledge in a learning environment.
• Personal progress reviews Examines indicators
  of personal performance, relative to
  demonstrating professional competencies and
  capabilities.
• Career counseling Advise PM professionals and
  participants relative to formulating career
  development objectives, defining personal
  educational and career development pursuits, and
  performing self-evaluation of PM progress and
  potential.

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Promote Business Skill Development

• The PMO helps personnel to prepare to meet the
  challenges of expanding professional
  responsibilities, consistent with their career
  pursuits and stage of professional development.
• Strategic Perspective - Project managers need to
  have sufficient strategic perspective on business
  activities in the relevant organization and in
  their industry.
• Business Function Familiarity - Project managers
  need to understand business operations outside
  the PM environment as a fundamental requirement
  of professional development.
• Interpersonal Relationship Management - Project
  managers need to recognize the impacts of
  personal behavior and attitudes in the business
  environment.

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Implement Career Planning Support

• The PMO establishes a formal process to
  facilitate career planning and ensures that PM
  career-path participants use it to maximize
  career progression advantage and opportunities.
• Review prior-year performance goals and
  achievements.
• Review prior-year education and training goals
  and achievements.
• Prepare/Update individual career development
  plans.
• Specify review points for achievement of
  objectives
• Joint review of the career development plan by
  mentor and PM participant.
• Finalize annual career development plan.
• Implement annual career development plan.

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Establish Professional Certification
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Develop PM Certification Program

• Professional certification represents validation
  of individual skill, knowledge, and experience
  with a certifying body.
• External Professional Certification - The PMO
  verifies, validates, or confirms professional or
  technical capability and related characteristics
  and credentials by an independent institution
  (Project Management Professional -PMP
  administered by the Project Management
  Institute).
• Internal Professional Certification - The PMO
  validates individual achievement of specified
  criteria.
• Define relevance of certification.
• Specify certification program target group.
• Determine certification program implementation
  approach.
• Construct certification criteria.

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Facilitate Technical Professional Certification

• The PMO supports the pursuit of technical and
  professional certification opportunities by
  personnel within the PM environment.
• Provide training courses and programs.
• Conduct or arrange for technical study groups,
  including meeting facilities, speakers/instructors
  , and equipment.
• Incorporate technical or professional
  certification in professional development
  objectives and performance reports and
  appraisals.
• Conduct public recognition of personnel who
  achieve relevant and specified technical and
  professional certification.