Project Management Bureaucracy

This concept comes up in conversation more often than I care to admit: "Project Management Office (PMO) is just another layer of bureaucracy". This is an overly simplistic point of view, so let's think about it in terms of the human body.

I think what people fail to realize is that the human body would fall apart without the interstitial tissue that connects and holds things together. PMO is the organizational equivalent of that tissue.

Look at this this way; you've got marketing and manufacturing and software and design and a host of other perspectives within a business. These perspectives need to be in alignment when they come together to form a project — but let's be realistic — each department has its own agenda and way of doing things.

You might think that it's the leadership of the company/department that keeps everyone pointed in the right direction, but that's only partially true. Do you want your leadership team wasting their time and energy following up on every little detail? Making sure that marketing and design are talking to each other? That software properly implements what UX came up with?

No, you don't. That's not their expertise. It's not the expertise of anyone in any single group to do that... except the PMO. That's why you have — no, need — project managers.

Try running a country, a company, or a project without at least some bureaucracy and see how far you get. Don't look at it as some necessary evil, look at bureaucracy for what it really is, a natural and healthy form of growth that improves communication and productivity between teams and organizations. And just like with your own body, including its interstitial tissues, you have to be proactive in keeping it fit and healthy! 💪