Project Management 411

Where We Are, Where We’ve Come From, and Where We Are Going

by Bob Turek on November 10th, 2007

One project management technique that provides clarity, positioning and confidence is to simply say “here’s where we are, here’s where we’ve come from, and here is where we are going”. Discussing this among your project team gives everyone an opportunity to voice concerns about whether the team is ready to go to the next step, whether some activities and tasks need to be revisited or redesigned, and simply gives the team an opportunity to take a deep breadth of “understanding” before proceeding. This basic “we are-have come from-are going” assessment is needed right now related to my “Choosing the Right PMO Vision” series:

Where We Are: We are exploring the different models of a PMO, their characteristics, their value, risk of failure and basic theme.

Where We’ve Come From: I first introduced the “bookends” of my PMO series with “What is a Project?” and “Innovation Requires Selling Value” posts, followed by discussion facilitation posts on “key considerations” and “senior executive pain” designed to elicit an identification and agreement on the problem we are trying to solve.

Where We’re Going: Upon completion of the various PMO models we will explore how to assess your situation with a value assessment followed by how the highest value PMOs serve their companies by helping drive innovation.

OK…I feel better. Now we have a picture of how we got here and what is in store. Do you use this technique often during your projects? If not, how do you create a sense of balance and understanding of what is going on?   

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POSTED IN: Best of the Best Practices, Choosing the Right PMO Vision, PMOs and Portfolio Management