The Mario Kart PMO operates within an environment that contains various PMOs. It is the existence of various PMOs that define the need to acknowledge a variety of approaches to delivering beneficial change.
The various PMOs do not tend to work well together, instead creating a matrix-style hierarchy within which collaboration and community do not naturally sit. This situation often causes conflicts across the organisation when it comes to priorities, planning, and reporting.
The Mario Kart PMO is driven and focused on timely delivery of projects and internal improvements allowing them to deliver change quickly and relatively easily within their scope of influence.
Centrally there may be guidance relating to some PPM processes, but they are often not mandated or followed consistently, affording each PMO (and the individuals therein) a degree of autonomy not seen in other types of PMOs.
The team in the Mario Kart PMO does not always play well together as they often have various specialisms and areas of interest. They can often be found in the Storming phase of team development (Tuckman’s stages of group development) due to the varying experiences, preferred approaches, and particular specialist needs of the team members.
This does mean however that internal improvements happen often and with little consultation needed with the rest of the team, allowing the PMO to develop at pace.
Working virtually has helped the individuals in the Mario Kart PMO to focus on their own areas of interest and develop improvements, but has caused a challenge in terms of the collaboration needed to improve the organisational PPM practice as a whole.
For PMOs already working in this way, it is important to focus on how to bring collaboration to the working environment by:
- Defining the nature of the PMO to understand how the different PMOs fit together
- Engaging more with other PMO teams to identify opportunities for alignment
- Developing a roadmap of improvements to balance the speed of delivery with the value that improvements will bring
- Focusing on opportunities for internal teamwork to develop a high-performing team
Be more Mario Kart:
- Acknowledge and get to know other methodologies that might add value to project delivery
- Focus on speed of delivery by reviewing and creating pragmatic processes
- Ensure that each individual in the team has a set of tools that supports their individual journey
- Develop appropriate forums to drive a community culture
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