Good Governance!

September 21, 2010 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

At least one place in the world, that title is not an oxymoron. The Auckland, New Zealand City Council's Programme Management Office is second runner-up in the 2010 PMO of the Year competition. You can read all about them in the downloadable ebook posted here, or on SlideShare. But, just in brief:

• Auckland City Council has the largest local government capital portfolio in New Zealand, made up of increasingly large and complex projects.   An independent review predicted that they would be unable to meet strategic objectives without vastly improved project and program management. So ...
• In 2006, they created an enterprise PMO. And now ...
• The organization’s capacity to deliver capital investment has increased by over 200% in less than four years, with no significant change in organizational structure or human resources.

What?! Is this a government agency we are talking about? Yes, but one in a uniquely Kiwi flavor. The PMO is just an outgrowth of a Council with a project- and customer-oriented mindset. Consider their strategic vision statement:

"Customers, citizens and businesses will see the organisation as trustworthy, credible and easy to deal with ... ensuring that we maximise the value of our investments through strategically aligned projects and programmes.”

If this is the wave of the future, I can't wait until it reaches our shores. Learn more about Auckland's ambitious Ten Year Plan here. Next up: Our third runner-up, T-Mobile USA.

About the Author

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, and the author, co-author and editor of over twenty books on project management, including the 2007 PMI Literature Award winner, The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition.

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Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

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