

Agile PMOs also place business users at the top, but that’s where the similarities end.įrom there, the flow moves to the project team, which includes the product owner, Scrum master, developmental resources, quality assurance resources, and miscellaneous resources. At the top of a traditional PMO chain of command are business owners and PMOs. The organizational structure of an Agile PMO, on the other hand, is far more circular.

Traditional PMOs rely on a top-down approach to their leadership and team organization. What is the organizational structure of an Agile PMO? Not only is it a better estimation of how long certain tasks will take, but it also promotes a more productive way of doing things. Regular PMOs count hours, while Agile PMOs measure team capacity and what they can complete in a given sprint. This may require some additional support members from time to time, but it’s ultimately more productive than starting from scratch each round. Instead of ending and starting a new group for every new assignment, cross-departmental teams stick together. In an Agile PMO, teams aren’t determined by the projects. In an Agile PMO, there is a standard qualification filter that puts every new idea through an initiation and an approval stage before it gets added to the backlog. In a traditional PMO, most projects begin without a clear approvals system beyond a simple sign-off. When each team member has complete visibility into project plans and data, they can all take ownership of the project so that there is no need for reporting to a manager each step along the way. Team empowerment means allowing teams to be self-reliant, make their own informed decisions, and remove otherwise time-consuming approval processes. Among its many benefits, an Agile PMO makes it easy to keep track of all upcoming and active projects in one place. A system of workflow checks and balances that streamlines forward movementĪ great Agile PMO looks a lot like a traditional PMO with a few key exceptions based on the philosophies of Agile methodology.Īgile PMOs keep a catalog of enterprise projects that are ranked according to order of importance by predetermined criteria.īacklog grooming in Agile means project organizing and tracking.Agile budgeting and resource allocation.The decentralization of control and planning.The biggest differences between a traditional and an Agile PMO include:

Although many of the goals are the same, an Agile PMO makes projects more flexible than traditional methods. Its purpose is to adapt quickly to our changing needs and world in ways a regular PMO simply cannot.

In a nutshell, an Agile project management office (PMO) is a modern take on project management techniques. Although these ways of thinking have been successful in the past, changes to the ways we work, lightning-fast globalization, and the increased use of Agile across industries require a new way of working.Īs a result, structuring an Agile PMO is the next logical step. Traditional forms of enterprise project management are constantly evolving as the field matures and expands. What is an Agile PMO? Aren’t all PMOs supposed to be Agile and support transformative change? Does my organization need an Agile PMO? Keep reading to discover the benefits of Agile development and the specific set of features and organizational structure an Agile PMO offers that regular PMOs simply don’t.
