Organizational project management, practice continuum!

In this episode of the 4PM Podcast, host Mounir Ajam unpacks the Organizational Project Management Practice Continuum—a roadmap showing how organizations mature in managing projects, programs, and portfolios.

You’ll hear insights on the PMO debate, the different forms PMOs can take, and why some organizations succeed (or struggle) without structured project management practices.

Mounir also introduces the concept of a Project Management Division (PMD) as a step toward institutionalizing project management as a core function.

If you’re curious about where your organization stands and how to move forward with purpose, this episode is for you!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Podcast Introduction
• 1:31 The PMO Debate
• 3:20 Current Project Management Practices
• 4:43 Project Management Division Concept
• 5:30 Episode Closing and Call-to-Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the 4 pm podcast, where ideas take shape and strategies find purpose. I am Mounir Ajam, founder and CEO of Rook Project Management, and I have a deep-seated passion for project management and community development, growing on decades of global experience across diverse industries and roles. I am here to guide you through the transformative power of the 4PMs project program, product and portfolio management and our focus on business integrated project management. Let's explore how integration unlocks unparalleled value for you and your organization. Unparalleled value for you and your organization. Good day, welcome back to the 4PM Podcast. I am Munir Ajam, your host, and I'm delighted you're here with me today. In this episode, we'll explore an important concept in the world of project management the organizational project management practice continuum. At first, that phrase may sound technical, but it really speaks to how organizations mature in managing projects, programs and portfolios. We'll walk through the different stages of the continuum, why they matter and how you can assess where your organization currently stands.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Part one the PMO debate. I've recently seen many posts discussing PMOs project management offices. Many of these posts try to sell a desirable image of a PMO or what a PMO should be. However, they fail to offer the recommended view and make a recommendation on the idea's merit. Instead, they seem to lack enough persuasion, so they need a villain. It is the agile waterfall argument. Again and again, they cannot promote Agile on its own merits, so they invented the waterfall villain. Back to the PMO. It is like a memo came out instructing many people or maybe it is AI that value is good, so anything else is bad. So we hear statements like the following I am rephrasing A PMO is much more than reporting. People are making a mistake by thinking PMOs are about process. Pmos are not about compliance and reporting. The CEO thinks that our PMO is overhead. They do not understand what we do. They do not know that the PMO is strategic in nature. Pmos are about value generation, etc. The problem with these statements is that they try to create a bad image of a PMO in order to promote a rebrand value management office, bmo or value delivery offices or something similar.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Part two current practice. Some organizations do not have a BMO or a structured way to manage projects. In these organizations, projects are likely managed using ad hoc approaches. In these organizations, projects are likely managed using ad hoc approaches or every person manages projects according to their common sense. Maybe they do not even have project managers. It depends on the organization and the type of work they do. Whether this is a good or poor practice, which is another subject. Other organizations might have a basic PMO or a PMO focused on reporting. Again, whether these PMOs and the practice are good or bad is outside our scope today. We only want to stress that such PMOs exist. So when someone claims a PMO is much more than reporting, they are ignoring or not accepting that these PMOs exist.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Some organization might also have a department, division or business unit PMO. Once again, let us not discuss whether this is good or poor practice or whether it is enough. Then we might have a CPMO or a PMO. We might have temporary PMOs for a single project or program. We could have PMOs acting as internal consultancy, etc. Part three project management division. On the right-hand side of the spectrum, at Uruk, we promote the idea of Project Management Division, department or business unit, a function of organization size and culture. This is a form of institutional project management. For more information about this PMD, please take a look at the blog article we wrote a while ago urukpmcom slash beyond the project management office, institutionalizing project management as a core function slash. If this episode helped shift your perspective, I invite you to subscribe, leave a review and share it with your teams. For more episodes, tools and templates, visit urukpmcom or connect with me directly on LinkedIn. This is Munir Ajam for the 4PM Podcast. Until next time, keep learning, keep leading and always deliver with purpose.