PMO in 30 Days

Status meetings do not fix priority collisions. Teams start work without capacity checks. Dependencies surprise leaders late. Reporting is inconsistent and decisions slip. You need a PMO that runs a clear cadence, shows one portfolio, and turns status into decisions. 

Choose this sprint if you already have a weekly rhythm and a basic portfolio but need structure to steer the whole book of work.

• You want one approved backlog, not five
• You want schedule reliability and throughput to trend up
• You need resource and dependency views to prevent surprises
• You want decision rights and escalation that work

We install five essentials sized for SMEs.

1. Charter and Roles
   The PMO’s purpose, services, and decision rights are written and approved. Roles are clear.
2. Service Catalog
   What the PMO provides and how leaders and teams engage it.
3. Portfolio Cadence and Governance Calendar
   Weekly, monthly, and quarterly forums with agendas and inputs.
4. Reliable Reporting
   A standard set of views: status, value, risk, schedule, and variance.
5. Resource and Dependency View
   A light model that shows who is loaded and where conflicts exist.

This PMO sits on top of your Foundations and Project System. It runs with your current tools.

Named artifacts you will own on day one.

• PMO Charter with mission, scope, decision rights, success measures
• PMO Roles and RACI for sponsor, head of PMO, portfolio coordinator, project leads
• PMO Service Catalog with request paths and SLAs for each service
• Governance Calendar for 90 days with forum owners and agendas
• Portfolio Operating Guide with intake, prioritization, and change control
• Reporting Pack: status format, dashboard fields, traffic-light rules, variance notes
• Resource View Lite: capacity by team or role, simple load rules
• Dependency Map across top workstreams
• Risk and Issue Register with thresholds and escalation
• Decision Log tied to portfolio items
• Handover Runbook so the PMO runs without us

 Acceptance criteria so you know it is working.

• Charter approved by the executive sponsor
• 90 day governance calendar live with invites sent
• Single portfolio view in use and updated weekly by owners
• First monthly portfolio review held with actions closed within 5 business days
• Resource and dependency views produced and used to make at least two tradeoffs
• Reporting pack in use with variance notes captured by item owners
• Decision cycle time begins to trend down against your baseline

• Draft charter, roles, and service catalog
• Map current portfolio, resources, and dependencies
• Confirm forum structure and inputs

• Stand up the portfolio board and reporting pack
• Create the governance calendar and forum agendas
• Pilot the first weekly portfolio review

• Owners update portfolio and variance notes themselves
• Produce first resource and dependency views
• Resolve two real conflicts in the forum and record decisions

• Run the first monthly portfolio review
• Close actions and publish the runbook
• Confirm acceptance criteria and the 90 day uplift plan

• Short working sessions with sponsor, head of PMO, portfolio coordinator, and project leads
• We facilitate early forums so your team learns by doing
• Built for your current tools; we add fields and views only as needed

We track simple signals in the first 30 to 90 days.

• Schedule reliability and portfolio throughput trend up
• Decision cycle time and rework trend down
• Conflicts are surfaced and resolved in forum, not in email
• Leaders report fewer surprises and clearer tradeoffs

• Executive Sponsor: approves charter and resolves escalations
• Head of PMO: runs the cadence and reporting
• Portfolio Coordinator: maintains the board and runbook
• Project Leads: keep briefs and variance notes current

Role cards are included.

•  Before: Project System Starter installs weekly rhythm, single intake, a one-page brief, weekly standups, and a single portfolio with value/risk flags. .
• After: PMO Maturity Sprint deepens risk, change, and benefits tied to decisions; coaching and dashboards.
• Later: TMO Pilot runs the transformation lifecycle across cross functional work.

Can this work without big new software?
Yes. We start with your tools. We add light structures that make the cadence run.

Do we need full-time PMs?
No. Many items are led by managers using the brief and reporting pack.

How much time does this take?
Expect 3 to 5 hours per week for the core group during the sprint.

What if we already have a PMO?
We focus on decision rights, cadence, and reporting reliability, then tune the service catalog.