Anyone else feel like Punxsutawney Phil, the weather forecasting groundhog, took a bit more heat than necessary for inaccurately predicting the beginning of spring this year? Though, I suppose if there had been enough heat he wouldn’t have gotten into this mess in the first place. The beginning of spring for me is when the roses start to bloom and flourish again – emerging from their stark, thinned winter pruning. You’ve seen a pruned rose bush I’m sure: totally barren of blooms, leaves and extraneous stems. Properly pruned roses get trimmed right down to the stalks. Lovely to look at?  

More companies in a widening range of industries have turned to PMOs (program management offices) to manage multiple, complex initiatives with wide-ranging implications in cost, human resources and impact on customer relationships. However, many of these companies have found that internal implementation of a PMO is a costly learning exercise that delays or derails the promised benefits. The goal of the outsourced PMO is to help companies improve the execution, and ultimately the profitability of company projects by establishing project execution and reporting standards to enable better decision-making. These initiatives may include staff utilization, on-boarding and off-boarding employees and contractors,  

 Putting Project Profitability More Quickly Within Reach Companies of all sizes and industries have begun to realise the strategic advantages of a virtualised or outsourced “master office” that makes sense of all projects within a company and gives leadership a quick, clear view into all the company’s projects, how well they’re working, and how they impact the bottom line. This is the outsourced Programme Management Office (PMO), and while its potential benefits are many, there is a wide range of success among companies that have attempted implementation. For companies whose projects suffer from resource drain, cost overruns and managerial chaos,  

Learn how improved visibility and control over your projects and resources can help improve business efficiency and effectiveness. Successful project management is not just a case of adopting best practices; technology too is a crucial enabler. The majority of PM top performers use project scheduling and project portfolio management technology. That means when a delay occurs, no matter how minor it seems, no matter what the cause, every stage in the schedule is updated and project managers remain in complete control. Any knock-on effects are clearly seen early, and so can be minimised and managed. Resources can be redirected and