Current-state assessment
Documented execution gaps and prioritized improvements ranked by business impact.
Consulting services · Frameworks & governance
Strengthen execution by establishing the governance, decision-making, and management practices needed to deliver organizational priorities.
Context
As organizations grow, execution practices often become inconsistent. One program may use rigorous planning and risk management, while another relies on informal methods. Without shared standards, execution depends too heavily on individual project leaders.
A Program Management Office (PMO) can help address these gaps, but a generic model rarely achieves sustained adoption. The objective is to establish practical governance, planning, and reporting practices proportionate to your organization’s needs, resources, and complexity.
Approach
The engagement progresses through four phases, with each phase building on the decisions and findings of the previous one.
| Phase | Key activities | Intended outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Assess current practices | Assess current planning, tracking, and reporting practices; engage key stakeholders; identify gaps and prioritize improvements against business needs. | A shared understanding of execution gaps and prioritized improvement opportunities. |
| Define purpose, scope & operating model | Define the PMO’s purpose, responsibilities, decision rights, and interfaces with existing teams and functions. | Clear agreement on the PMO’s responsibilities, authority, and boundaries. |
| Establish planning & reporting standards | Establish practical planning methods, reusable templates, status reporting, and review routines proportionate to program complexity. | Consistent, practical standards that teams can adopt and sustain. |
| Launch, pilot & build capability | Pilot the approach on active programs, train project leads, and refine the methods and tools based on practical experience. | An operating model that the organization can maintain and improve independently. |
Deliverables
The engagement provides practical tools, defined responsibilities, and an implementation roadmap your team can apply and sustain.
Documented execution gaps and prioritized improvements ranked by business impact.
A written charter defining the PMO’s purpose, responsibilities, decision authority, and boundaries.
Defined roles, decision rights, and escalation paths agreed upon by key stakeholders.
Standardized planning templates, scheduling methods, and performance dashboards.
A phased implementation plan with clear ownership, milestones, and adoption checkpoints.
A set of performance indicators to assess adoption, execution effectiveness, and business value.
Engagements
Choose the level of support that fits your needs, from an initial assessment and roadmap to full operating model implementation.
Best when you need to understand current execution gaps and prioritize improvements before committing to broader changes.
Best when you are ready to define the operating structure, governance, and standards and validate them before implementation.
Best when you need end-to-end support for implementation, including tools, team preparation, and adoption.
Ways of working
An operating model delivers value only when the organization can sustain it independently.
The scope and level of rigor are tailored to your organization’s size, maturity, and complexity.
The objective is an operating model your team can manage and improve without ongoing external support.
New practices are tested on active programs before being adopted more broadly.
Practices tailored to your organization and informed by applicable U.S. and international regulatory and quality requirements, where relevant.
The goal is to establish sustainable ways of working that improve execution long after the engagement ends.
Next step
Have a program management challenge, a critical initiative, or an opportunity to improve execution? Get in touch to explore how I can help.