This interview with an attendee from a large service organization took place during the 2017 PMI® PMO Symposium® and was conducted and condensed by Kyle Brownell.

Q. This event focuses on two key topics: Agile transformation and the evolving PMO. Can you speak to the importance of those topics within your PMO?

A. Certainly, especially as it relates to the evolving PMO. I work for a large service organization. Right now, we are literally transforming our EPMO to better reflect not only where we are as an organization, but also to better place our organization within the overall marketplace. In the past 5 or 6 years, our EPMO was more focused on cost-cutting, reducing expenses overall for the organization, and stabilizing the overall company, but as we’re transitioning into a more competitive environment, were are actually moving away from a market dominant product and service offering. This means that we’ve found ourselves transitioning into an EPMO that is more focused on revenue growth. It’s more mid to long term forward thinking.

Q. Could you share some thoughts on the 2017 PMI® PMO Symposium® event so far?

A. The event has been excellent. This is actually the second PMI® PMO Symposium that I’ve attended, and I plan on making it a regular part of my training and development each year. It’s interesting to be able to go to a place where you’re surrounded by other like-minded people experiencing the same challenges as yourself. I appreciate being able to talk about issues and either commiserate together or potentially (hopefully) find solutions for each other.

Q. Are there any specific takeaways from the sessions you have attended that you will bring back to help your PMO or organization?

A. I think the biggest take away for me so far is this: a successful EPMO or PMO is successful because of the people involved. Process is important in terms of having an overall structured approach to solving problems, but it’s the people who are in place that will hopefully be able to execute on solving those problems. Without the investment into those people – making sure that they’re fully equipped to solve those issues – you can have the best process in the world, but it wouldn’t matter.

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