This EPMO Has a Superpower: Intentionality

December 2, 2022 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Thrill of the day here at the PMI Global Summit: seeing our former client Ontario Power Generation score in the Top Three in the PMI PMO of the Year Award. OPG's Director of Project Services, Tracy Leung, and her colleague Rania McLarty, Manager, Project Controls, shared their pride and enthusiasm about their PMO's journey with me during a brief interview at the convention this morning.

Q: What's the most remarkable aspect, in your view, of your PMO journey?

Tracy Leung: We've always viewed project excellence as important at OPG, but each business unit had its own PMO. We felt that from an aspect of agility, there would be huge business value in an Enterprise PMO. In 2017 we embarked on an initiative that aims to enhance our tools, process, and people at an enterprise-level, starting with enterprise-wide governance.  On the tools side, we created a data warehouse to integrate all project information from across the enterprise. On the people side, we developed a training program for project managers and project controls staff. I think the key was that we followed closely along with this three-part vision, consciously tracking each area.

Q: So, you revisited your original intentions and made sure you were delivering on them. That intentionality is super important to success. What was your greatest challenge?

Tracy: Change is hard! We had to come up with innovative ways to move the organization forward. We had the buy-in and support of our Chief Project Officer, and we held town halls, created guides and videos, and came up with other diverse ways to engage people and keep on track.

You can read more about OPG and the PMO of the Year Award on PMI's Awards site: they'll be posting links to articles and videos soon. Congratulations again to Ontario Power Generation and Tracy Leung's amazing team of change leaders!

Tomorrow: A wrap-up view of this amazing conference.

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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.

View Posts by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

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