The PMO Resource Manager

February 17, 2010 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

In 2003, when I began researching PMO roles for our books, Optimizing Human Capital and Project Management Roles and Responsibilities, I proposed adding a role called "Manager of Project Managers" to our list, and was met with some skepticism, and rightly so. At that time, there was little evidence that project personnel were being managed and supervised within project offices: the matrix organization ruled.

Nevertheless, because we hoped that the book would be prescriptive - a force for change - rather than merely descriptive of present circumstances, this role (along with others that were rare at that time) was included. Whether it was because we correctly fingered the pulse of the industry ... or because companies took our advice ... by 2007 when we did our State of the PMO research, the majority of enterprise-level PMOs were actively managing a stable of project managers, plus a wide array of specialist positions, within the PMO.

What do I mean by "managing"? - well, pretty much everything that HR used to do: hiring, training, performance reviews, mentoring, and providing oversight. In addition, the PMO Resource Manager (the most common take on this title among our clients today) also stays close to the Project Portfolio Management process, assisting the PMO Director and/or Portfolio Manager in allocating and levelling resources to optimize the organization's strategic portfolio.

Does your organization have a PMO Resource Manager? Share insights about the role with us, and we'll be sure to include them in the next edition of our Roles & Responsibilities book.

Next week in our review of PMO roles: The Program Manager.

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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