The PMO Bootcamp (find the job, ace it, & master the PMO)

A “no-holds-barred” look into the realities of today’s PMOs, the challenges PMO Leaders face, the skills they need to have to tackle them, and why aspiring for the top PMO role is absolutely worth it!

About the presenter: Andy Jordan

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras based management consulting firm with a strong emphasis on organizational transformation, portfolio management and PMOs. Andy has a track record of success managing business critical projects, programs and portfolios in Europe and North America in industries as diverse as investment banking, software development, call centers, telecommunications and corporate education.

Andy is an in demand speaker and author who delivers thought provoking content in an engaging and entertaining style, and is also an instructor in project management related disciplines. He always strives to provide thought provoking presentations that drive his audience to challenge accepted norms while providing actionable content that can be applied in the real world.

Learning from Wanda’s extensive experiences and research, and getting her perspectives on:

• What should anyone interested in the PMO Leadership role do to get that job?

• What would you do today if you were setting up a PMO for the first time? What if you had no previous project management experience?

• Agile vs. Waterfall? Does a PMO have to be a different for each? How so?

• What are the wrong things to focus on when starting out a PMO?

• What is the impact of neuroscience on PMOs?

• And much, much more.

About the interviewee: Wanda Curlee

Dr. Wanda Curlee is a full time Associate Professor at American Public University. Her business career spans over thirty years in several industries, including IT, Government, Insurance, Telecommunications and Consulting. Dr. Curlee is active with the Project Management Institute’s certification and standards teams. She served on the Requirements Practice Guide and Program Management Standard (4th edition) core teams and was part of the team that developed the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) certification. Dr. Curlee has published three books; two delve into complexity theory and one is about virtual PMOs. She has earned four PMI credentials: PfMP, PgMP, PMP and PMI-RMP.

She is proud to be the mother of three children who have served or currently serve for the US Military. She met her husband, Steve, while both were serving in the US Navy.

Discover all the tips and strategies that will help you put your best foot forward as a candidate for the next PMO Leader at your dream company.

About the presenter: Lindsay Scott

Lindsay Scott’s been around PMOs since the late 90s – working first as a Project Office Co-ordinator and later as the PMO Manager for Hewlett-Packard’s Consulting Division. She then became the co-founding Director for Arras People – the project management recruitment business and focused on PMO recruitment for a number of years. To her, it felt like the wild west, not many businesses knew how to find the right kind of PMO talent for their business so there was certainly a lot of education going on. She also stayed part of the PMO community and volunteered for the PPSOSIG. The PPSOSIG was a community of PMO practitioners who met after taking the training course called the PPSO (Programme and Project Support Office). Lindsay is still friends today with the people she met there, and often get together whilst running and attending PMO Flashmob.

Avoid these 10 project management mistakes and save yourself from 90% of things that usually go wrong with projects.

About the presenter: Chris Croft

Chris Croft has an Engineering Degree from Cambridge University, and an MBA, worked as a senior manager in manufacturing for 10 years and then as a university lecturer for five years before starting his own training company in 1995. Since then he has trained over 80,000 people, and his free email tips are sent to 20,000 people.

Chris is featured on lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning where he presents courses on time management, project management, assertiveness, negotiation, problem solving, difficult people, and happiness. His lynda.com project management course has had over a million views – it is probably the most viewed Project Management course in the world. His total Lynda and LinkedIn views are now over 6 million.

Learn 4 keys to drive position actions to tackle 4 major challenges that PMOs face today.

About the presenter: Chris Cook

Chris Cook has spent his career in the construction industry. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial Technology Management with an emphasis in Building Construction Management and Master’s of Science in Project Management. He is an accredited PMP.

Alan & Dr. CJ Walker Waite discuss the concept of Enterprise agility and how PMOs can practice it to help their organizations meet evolving business needs.

About the presenters: Dr. CJ Walker Waite & Alan Waite

Alan Waite is CEO of the Praxis Corporation, and Executive Director of the Phoenix Rising Praxis Foundation, a non-profit organization. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Project Management at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s School of Continuing Education corporate program and an executive coach.

Over a span of 30 years, Alan has served as a business executive, legislative analyst for two statewide elected officials, trainer, inspirational speaker, author, and courtroom trial consultant. In addition, he was Board Chairman and Senior VP for NVS Technologies, a bio-remedial corporation, and Senior VP of Pallas Productions, a California based music production company.

Dr. CJ Walker Waite, Ph.D, PMP, CCA is Executive Vice President of the Praxis Corporation and a Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies. She has over a quarter century of strategic, organizational transformation and program/project management experience, spanning nearly a dozen nations and 13 different industries across North America and Europe, with multibillion-dollar global clients like Saab, Nortel, Discovery, Bechtel, ABC/Disney, and MTV to name just a few.

Dr. CJ Walker Waite is serving as a Director on the PMI GAC (Global Accreditation Council) and previously served as a Director on its International Board of Directors.

Alyce identifies the various skills of PMO leaders, discusses what effective leaders do, and explores how PMO leaders should anticipate situations to transition between charismatic and transformational leadership.

About the presenter: Alyce Reopelle

Alyce Reopelle joins us with over 25 years’ experience in project/program/portfolio management and implementation and growth of PMOs. Having completed her Master’s Degree with a specialization in Project Management in 2016, she quickly turned to pursue her Doctor of Education in Leadership and Learning with a specialization in Organizational Leadership. For Alyce, her passion is in seeing individuals, PMOs, and organizations as a whole grow and succeed. As an author, speaker, and trainer Alyce looks to ensure that everyone recognizes and grows from what she presents. She will challenge you to consider the possibilities.

Through his session, Salah will make you a presentation rockstar so that you can train your team to build captivating presentations in record times. These will not only help you effectively manage your communication as a PMO Leader, but will empower you to navigate the components of change that come with the top PMO role.

About the presenter: Salahuddin Khawaja

Salah Khawaja is the responsible for automating Global Risk’s enterprise testing program (1,500 employees covering over 5,000 tests). Shifting from a highly manual process to an automated one will allow us to increase the scope of testing (sample size to full population, frequency of testing and adding new tests) which in turn will lower the bank’s Operational and Compliance Risk.

Salah joined Bank of America in 2015 with the responsibility of running GBAM Risk’s Change Management group. He subsequently ran the Risk ID program as part of the firm’s CCAR/Stress Testing efforts.

Before joining Bank of America, he spent 15 years at Deloitte and JP Morgan running large scale technology transformation projects across various disciplines (Risk Management, Billing, and Securities Processing).

Salah has a Bachelors in Computer Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and Masters in Telecommunication and Network Management from Syracuse University. He is certified as an Agile Scrum Master and Project Management Professional.

In his spare time he runs an EdTech focused on giving a technology education to underprivileged children in Pakistan (more at Khud.org). He also believes in the transformative power of Presentations, Storytelling and Visual Design.

In his presentation, Chris identifies the 3 major mindset mistakes that inhibit our chances of project success and prescribes the exact steps to transform these mistakes into success opportunities.

About the presenter: Chris Hallett

Chris is seasoned project professional and brings over 25 years experience of delivering projects and programmes. His focus recently has been the set up and management of PMO’s and the personal development and training of the project management community. Experienced across many business sectors, Chris also brings a different perspective based on his work as a transformational coach and is a NLP Master Practitioner, Master Hypnotherapist and NLP Master Coach.

Dealing with difficult stakeholders is a common challenge PMO Leaders face. View this presentation to arm yourself with six practical strategies that you can pick out from when flipping this challenge on its head.

About the presenter: Andy Kaufman

Andy Kaufman is a recognized expert on leadership and project management, helping organizations around the world improve their ability to lead and deliver. Andy works with leaders at the United Nations and other global clients to improve their ability to deliver on their initiatives. Before becoming an internationally sought-after speaker, Andy started as a software developer and was promoted into management for all the wrong reasons! He is the author of three books and host of the acclaimed People and Projects Podcast, which provides free PDUs through interviews and insights for his global listeners.

According to research, the value of PMO is called into question time and again. Often this is because the reason for a PMO being implemented is not entirely clear.

This presentation takes viewers and listeners through the assumptions we make and the questions we should be asking when considering setting up a PMO.

It then explores some tactics to determine the real life value of the PMO and how it can be seen as a business partner.

About the presenter: Emma-Ruth Arnaz-Pemberton

Emma-Ruth Arnaz-Pemberton; a Fellow of the Association for Project Management is a PMO, Project, Programme and Portfolio specialist with extensive experience in the change management industry and a particular focus on collaboration, PMO conception & strategy, method and capability development.

As the Director of Consulting Services for Wellingtone Project Management, Emma-Ruth is responsible for all services within the PPM DNA consulting area; including PMO implementation, project definition, and PMO metrics, training and competency framework. She organises Wellingtone’s two flagship annual events; the FuturePMO conference and Project Management Day of Service.

Join Rich’s session to dive deep into seven (7) building blocks that will arm PMO leaders to masterfully manage the change that comes with setting up a PMO.

About the presenter: Rich Batchelor

Rich has been successfully delivering change for over 25 years. His consulting practice has seen him work with organizations across all parts of the globe! His legacy includes developing the change delivery model for UK government and being a founding member of the Association of Change Management Professionals, where he was founding president of the Toronto Chapter for 6 years. He has a masters in change management and is a certified Lego® Serious Play® Facilitator & Workshop Designer. He is also certified in Project Management, Process improvement, Facilitation, HR, Coaching, Counseling and Psychotherapy.

His presentation delivery is known for its passion and direct challenges to the audience. He enjoys the opportunity to disrupt traditional thinking, bring humour to the learning space and enable curiosity to take control of the change space for everyone.

Learn from Kiron’s extensive experiences and get his perspectives on:

• The mindset and attitude that a successful PMO Leader should adopt

• What kind of a PMO would work best for your company

• Which processes should a PMO Leader focus on first

• How can PMO Leaders quickly demonstrate their value and gain credibility within their firm

• The 3-5 metrics that PMOs should monitor to measure THEIR OWN performance

• And much, much more.

About the interviewee: Kiron Bondale

Kiron has worked in the project management domain for more than fifteen years managing multiple projects, leading Project Management Offices (PMO) and providing project portfolio management consulting services to over a hundred clients across multiple industries. He is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) since 1999 and served as a volunteer director on the Board of the PMI Lakeshore Chapter for six years.

Kiron has published articles on Project and Project Portfolio Management in multiple journals and has delivered over a hundred webinar presentations on a variety of PPM and PM topics and has presented at multiple industry conferences. Since 2009, Kiron has been blogging on a weekly basis on project management topics and responds to questions daily in the LinkedIn PMI Project, Program and Portfolio Management discussion group and on ProjectManagement.com.

Julia talks about what “buy-in” really means, correlates progress with the level of buy-in secured, and delves into how you can actually get your stakeholders to buy-in to your PMO.

About the presenter: Julia Steel

Julia Steel is a global thought leader on getting buy-in. She works with high profile organisations and leaders around the world, helping them to translate their strategy and needs into inspired change and execution. She has held senior business transformation, project delivery and PMO positions at major services organisations in both Australia and the UK for two decades and is obsessed with establishing the buy-in, and trust that leaders need to succeed. Julia is an alumnus of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, has led internationally recognised projects and is a certified practicing Program Director that is all about strategic delivery, not just theory.

Doug takes a forward-looking view in what your PMO will need to do when working with artificial-intelligence (AI) related initiatives.

About the presenter: Doug Rose

Doug Rose has been transforming organizations through technology, training and process optimization for more than 25 years. He has authored several books on data science, management and software development and teaches classes at the University of Chicago and online through LinkedIn Learning. In Artificial Intelligence For Business, Doug discusses the exciting possibilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning and how it will impact your business.

Communication holds an important key in the success of PMOs. In today’s evolving workforce which sees people from all cultures and backgrounds, avoiding miscommunication becomes even more difficult. Sam takes us through how unconsciously miscommunication takes place, and lays down the steps to avoid it.

About the presenter: Sam Yankelevitch

Sam Yankelevitch has helped numerous organizations reduce their struggle with unwanted results caused by miscommunication. He facilitates workshops where he helps align teams in local and international settings.

Sam has presented at international conferences and is the author of several books including Lean Potion #9- Communication:The Next Lean Frontier, Walking the Invisible Gemba, and Lean Communication where he combines over thirty years of global industry and supply chain experience with quality and continuous improvement methodologies.

Oliver uses his combined experiences in the PMO, project management and marketing discplines to share 8 compelling ways to “sell” your PMO to your leadership.

About the presenter: Oliver Yarbrough

Oliver Yarbrough is an author, speaker, trainer, and leading expert in project management, PMP® Exam Prep, and growth strategies to raise competitiveness. Mr. Yarbrough holds a Master’s degree from Babson College’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business (MBA program ranked #1 in Entrepreneurship for 25 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report). His professional career includes positions with Fortune 500 companies such as Lucent Technologies, Staples, and Sprint, along with his own successful business ventures.

In this presentation, Stan looks deep into leadership traits, principles, process and methodology – and how you can specifically apply all of them to the leadership of your PMO.

About the presenter: Stan Prueitt

Stan D. Prueitt, a performance consultant in Process, Product, and Project Management, Organizational Design and human behavior. Stan holds motivational seminars, life coach workshops, Lean Six Sigma certifications, and performance seminars across the country. While currently leading enterprise integration, organization, and process performance initiatives for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Stan still finds time to consult to private and municipal organizations on the side. Previously he was not only a Director of Project Management at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, NNSA but also one of the leaders in the Lean Six Sigma program. Published author of 4 books, co-founder of two publicly traded renewable energy research firms, vice-president of Thunder Ridge Wildlife Refuge, holder of one US patent and inventor of two classified weapons program devices, adventure TV show host, Lean Six Sigma master black belt, Lean Six Sigma and Performance Management instructor, master instructor and holder of six black belts in the Martial Arts, Law Enforcement firearms instructor, owner of USLLC Tactical Marital Arts training center, professional off-road race driver, entrepreneur of two successful franchise chains, radio show host, project manager, motivational speaker, certified law enforcement officer, husband and loving father of five.

Whether you are starting a PMO for the first time, trying to get your PMO back on track, or just want to make sure your PMO is as high-IMPACT as possible, this presentation will get right to the heart of what actually makes a difference, where you should start, and how to accelerate your PMO performance to deliver high-IMPACT outcomes for the organization. It’s time to stop talking about “PMO Survival” and ensure that YOU and your PMO are THRIVING!

About the presenter: Laura Barnard

Laura has been helping business leaders get the results they crave using the power of project management for the last 24 years. She spent 15 of those years as a PMO leader on the inside and the last 5 helping businesses accelerate their growth through her consulting practice. She runs several training and membership programs to help you grow your PM and PMO competency with a deliberate focus on driving high-IMPACT outcomes on every project. Laura shares her insights and stories in her blog titled, “I wish I had me when I was you… ” where she is shaking up the way the industry thinks about our role in driving strategy realization. Laura welcomes you to join her community of IMPACT Drivers. You can learn more at IMPACTbyLaura.com.

What happens after you’ve gone through the grind of setting up a PMO? You’ve got to run your PMO! So what does a day in the life of a PMO look like? What are some of the recurring things it can’t afford to take its focus away from? And what are the resources that are going to make your life as a PMO Leader much easier than you think?

Tune in to this presentation to find out!

About the presenter: Bill Dow

Bill Dow, PMP, is a recognized expert in Project Management by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for specifically developing and managing Project Management Offices (PMOs). His extensive experience with Project Management and PMOs have enabled him to co-author several comprehensive books available through Amazon.com. Bill has presented and ran several workshops on PMO and Project Management Conferences around the world, including United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Bill has taught at the college level for more than 25 years in Washington State, British Columbia and Ontario, Canada, and has worked at Microsoft for more than 13 years. He has spoken at multiple Project Management Institute (PMI) conferences, breakfasts and events nationally. Projectmanagement.com and projecttimes.com host numerous articles by Bill currently.

From the man himself who pioneered the concept of business-driven PMOs, Mark walks us through why every PMO should be business-driven and what it takes to get one up.

About the presenter: Mark Price Perry

Mark Price Perry is an advocate of Business Driven PMO Setup and Management. In 2002, after 20 years of general management experiences where he was a constituent served by a PMO or a business executive to whom the PMO function reported, Mark founded BOT International, a boutique consulting firm that helps organizations determine and achieve the purpose and value of their PMOs.

Mark is the author of the Business Driven PMO three book series which includes Business Driven PMO Setup; Practical Insights, Techniques, and Case Examples for Ensuring Success (2009), Business Driven Project Portfolio Management; Conquering the Top 10 Risks that Threaten Success (2011), and Business Driven PMO Success Stories; Across Industries and Around the World (2013), published by J. Ross Publishing, 2011. Based upon his books, Mark has given presentations and workshops on Business Driven PMO Setup in over 50 countries.

Prior to BOT International, Mark had numerous PMO experiences over a 17 year career with IBM and as the Managing Director of Saville Systems Asia Pacific and Vice President of Entrust Greater China.

Joe’s approach on building and improving the PMO isn’t just about Project Management Offices. He brings his own flavour on what you can do to tackle the common pitfalls PMOs face, and turbo-charge your PMO from an underperforming entity to a champion asset.

About the presenter: Joe Pusz

Joe Pusz is the Founder & CEO of THE PMO SQUAD, a Project Management Consulting firm serving clients across the United States. THE PMO SQUAD provides Services to address client needs with Project Management Best Practices, Training, Program Delivery, Software, and Resources across multiple industries including Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Aviation, Digital, eCommerce, Healthcare, Retail, and more.

“PMO Joe” is also host of the Project Management Office Hours radio show broadcast across the globe on the Phoenix Business RadioX network. He is a PMI member, Mentor and Project Management Advocate.

THE PMO SQUAD also sponsors the Veterans Project Management Mentoring Program with partners Vets2PM and Veterans2Work. The Program pairs Veterans seeking to transition into Civilian Project Management careers with experienced Project Managers who volunteer time as Mentors.

Through his session, Randy takes a unique approach to institute the effectiveness of a PMO via the theory of constraints.

About the presenter: Randy Cox

Randy Cox is a project management and productivity expert with experience managing high-profile projects, programs, and portfolios for a well-known professional sports team, large investment companies, the VA, and one of the largest academic medical groups in the country. He is a consultant, coach, trainer, podcaster, and writer.

The first 100 days for any leader entering office marks a major milestone. He/she is judged on the performance during that period and the opinion set during that time persists throughout his/her tenure. As a PMO Leader, you should take this standard upon yourself. This will most likely not be set as an expectation by your stakeholders, but this plan of action will be largely appreciated by them. This presentation outlines the framework to setup a PMO in 100 days. If you’re new to the PMO role or are setting up a PMO, this session is for you!

About the presenter: Hussain Bandukwala

Hussain Bandukwala is the Chief Coach at Parwaaz Consulting, Founder & Host of PMO Virtual Summit and helps PMO leaders succeed.

Through coaching, workshops and other resources, Hussain arms aspiring and first-time Project Management Office (PMO) leaders with experiential learning and confidence to achieve PMO triumph systematically and effectively.

He also works with PMO leaders and executives at high-growth small- and mid-sized organizations to conquer their biggest challenges in meeting strategic goals, achieving operational efficiency, and delivering project value.- upda

Hussain has led and facilitated the setup of PMOs at several companies and advised numerous PMO leaders throughout their own PMO setup journeys. He has authored several PMO-focused publications, teaches at LinkedIn Learning and speaks frequently on the subject.

This bonus lecture has eight (8) resources that you can tap into to:

• develop yourself personally and professionally,

• improve yourself in a few select disciplines in project management, and/or

• transition from a project manager to a PMO leader

Resource 1: eBook: Personal and PMO Professional Growth

A seasoned PMO Leader puts together her thoughts, tips and strategies to keep yourself personally rejuvenated and the leadership traits you should learn and exercise as an effective and transformative PMO leader.

Author: Alyce Reopelle

Resource 2: Value Questionnaire

This is a list of 80+ questions that PMO leaders can pick and choose from when interviewing their stakeholders to determine why their PMOs are really needed. Often PMO Leaders get stuck in analysis paralysis during this stage and this questionnaire can provide a massive boost.

Author: Hussain Bandukwala

Resource 3: Skills Attributes Introspection Guide

When figuring out what skills they should focus on next, aspiring and current PMO leaders find this self-evaluation tool pretty handy and it serves as a good companion when developing a roadmap for their own professional development.

Author: Hussain Bandukwala

Resource 4: 7 Steps to Prioritize Your Project Portfolio

A detailed checklist that you should keep on top of mind as you work through prioritizing your project portfolio; serves as a good reference when validating the prioritization of your portfolio or putting a high-level prioritization together quickly.

Author: Russ St. Hilaire

Resource 5: Resource Management

A primer on the process of resource management.

Author: Russ St. Hilaire

Resource 6: Shift from Project Manager to PMO Leader

A lesson in actions and mindshift to make the shift to become a PMO Leader.

Author: Russ St. Hilaire

Resource 7: Creating the PMO as a Safe Haven for Project Managers

Steps to take to make PMO as an all-necessary safe haven and community for project managers.

Author: Shashi Mohan

Resource 8: The value of PMO

A pragmatic look at how to develop a 15-second elevator pitch for your PMO, and what to do to have the 15min explanation ready for when opportunity arises.

Author: Simon Harris