This interview with James Keller, ITPMO Manager of a large telecommunications firm, took place during the 2017 PMI® PMO Symposium® and was conducted and condensed by Kyle Brownell.

Q. This particular event focused on two key topics: Agile transformation and the evolving PMO. We’re curious if you could speak to the importance of one or both of those topics with regards to your PMO.

A. Our PMO has undergone a fairly significant transformation in the last six years. More and more of our internal development teams in the IT space, especially in the software area, are adopting an Agile philosophy. Couple that with the desire by our executive leadership to become more agile, (with a small a) not relating to methodology or philosophy, but being more nimble and reducing time to market, increasing the ability to deliver faster and more often. That is the driving tenant of everything that we’re doing now.

Did you have any favorite sessions that stood out to you?

I really enjoyed the keynote presentations. I thought they were very timely and informative especially for someone running a rather large PMO. The breakout sessions have been good. I’ve been to several sessions related to helping the PMO drive organization strategy, the transient nature of competitive advantage, and managing hybrid organizations – that is where I think that everybody is, whether you started a transformation or not.

Are there any specific takeaways from this event or the sessions you attended that you’ll be able to bring back to help your PMO (or others)?

There are a lot of takeaways. I’ve got a notebook with almost 10 pages of notes taken just the attendees. I think this event has been exceptionally valuable in the ability to network with people doing similar things. I like to pay cheap tuition! I’ve been able to learn from other’s experiences and apply that to my current situation, and I think that’s very valuable for my organization.

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