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Strategic PMOs are Still a Work in Progress #PMO

We recently collected some data on the focus and scope of Project Management Offices (PMOs) that I would like to share. The data was collected as part of the registration process for next week's live Webinar entitled: The Ultimate Guide to Business-Driven PMO Success. The data has not been cross-tabulated with PMO size, industry, tenure or other important PMO attributes, and there is no baseline to understand which way this data is trending. As a result, it's difficult to extrapolate too much from the poll results. However, given that 325 responses have been collected so far, what we do have is a statistically significant snapshot of the current state of affairs for PMOs in general.

The specific question and the results are summarized in the graphic below:

Which statement best describes your PMO currently?

If you wanted to make the case that PMOs have (or have not) become strategic and enterprisewide in scope depends on whether or not you're a glass half-full or half-empty type of person. A clear majority of respondents still view their PMO as tactically focused. But, that still leaves a healthy 42% that view themself as strategic. At the same time, a clear majority of PMOs operate in a cross-departmental or cross-functional environment.

If there is anything that jumps out at you (and I use that phrase in a relative sense), is that only 14% of respondents whose PMO is aligned with a single business unit, see themselves as strategic. A PPM industry analyst I recently discussed this with said that this result is the most surprising because most of the customers he consults to are in that quadrant (perhaps that client group is a bit self-selected in that they are turning to consultants to help them become more strategic). Getting back to the glass half/full empty metaphor, you can argue that it should be easier to be strategically focused (at least from your BU's perspective) if your scope is limited to one BU. On the other hand, you can ask yourself 'how can a PMO see themselves as truly strategic (from an enterprise perspective) if their influence doesn't extend beyond a single BU.'

In sum, if the goal for most PMOs is to become more strategic and to expand their field of influence beyond IT or a single business unit, than based on this data I know only one thing for sure. PMOs are well on their way, but they are not there yet. What if any meaning do you extract from this data?