What is the Portfolio Management Office (PMO)?
We are running numerous projects simultaneously; at times, it is quite challenging to focus on the outcomes while ensuring the project delivery at the right cost, the right time and maintaining the right quality. So I decided to establish a Portfolio Management Office (PMO) in Cubix that focuses on business outcomes for every project.
On average, we are running three to four major projects and over 15 mid-size projects at the same time, ranging from social mobile apps to enterprise portals, R&D projects to big MMORPG games.
Why We Initiated PMO?
Couple of years ago, I planned to improve visibility and control on how the projects were progressing in a way that would help Cubix become the number one quality app development company, with 100% satisfaction from our clients. And we are heading there.
Clients often ask for updates on their projects and they share feedback on their demos, but the Product Owners (Project Managers) can’t respond quickly enough to their requests because the team is occupied with chasing timelines. This is where the PMO steps in.
How Does The PMO Work?
We conduct Portfolio Management Office (PMO) meetings every week on Tuesdays, I chair this meeting along with a group that includes the CTO, Account Managers, HR Head and Finance Manager. We question each Product Owner about the statuses of their project, we inquire about timelines, raise any red flags and schedule internal demos to ensure the quality of the project, communication with clients and most importantly set priorities. Issues and problems faced by Product Owners are often discussed, with solutions or mitigation tactics provided where possible, or further meetings planned if necessary.
After the PMO meeting, MOM (Minutes of Meeting) is sent to all the stakeholders.
These sessions keep our team motivated and maintain their stress level, give more control to management, re-prioritizing tasks and help us to build beautiful products for our clients.
