Case study, programme delivery
One PMO, more than a dozen concurrent programmes
The situation
A delivery business winning government ICT work faster than it could govern it ends up with a dozen programmes that each report differently, escalate differently and close differently. The client is then unable to answer the only question that matters at portfolio level: which of these is actually in trouble.
What was needed was one office, one standard, and a deliberate plan to hand it back.
What we did
- Stood up a single portfolio office rather than a project manager per programme, so risks, issues and decisions were visible in one place.
- Set one reporting standard and applied it across every workstream, which is what made comparison and escalation possible.
- Ran governance to the audit standard. Registers, minutes and decision records kept in a state an auditor can read without a rescue effort.
- Designed the handover from the beginning, so the client’s own people could carry the office rather than depending on us indefinitely.
The outcomes
Four programmes closed in a quarter
Closure became a repeatable process rather than a negotiation, so finished work stopped consuming attention.
One reporting standard replaced several
Portfolio reporting became comparable across workstreams, which is the point of a PMO.
The client can now run it
The office was built to be handed over, and the standards and templates stayed behind.
The discipline behind it
Governance that fits the audit, and a handover designed in from the start
A PMO you cannot hand back is a dependency.