Setting up a PMO

[Andy Rosengard]

Good day, 

I have been tasked with setting up a PMO and I was looking to use Jira to accomplish this. Has anyone set up a PMO before and what are your recommendations for establishing governance, roles and responsibilities and other aspects of delivering a PMO? 

[Arvind]

Hello @Andy Rosengard 

If you are looking for Project management tool, should go with JIRA.

Have lots of opportunity and project template which can be used for project management and reporting.

However will be good if you can share the use case for your specific requirement.

Thanks

Arvind Singh

[Karen]

Some thoughts:

1.  Keep it lean - there is no need for a heavy process.

2.  First step in the flow for large Epics (not to be confused with work tasks or BAU) is the value step or lean business case, which should be established by the Epic owner.  This will drive your go/no-go, prioritization and capacity conflicts.  Some use WSJF: I prefer the combination of WSJF and a categorization of (must do, should do and no do).  The must do's are the cost of running a business and the should do's are the cost of getting business.  Because... if you cannot run your business then there is no need to get more.

3.  For the remaining structure and flow

• Create issue types in Jira based on what makes sense for your organization.  Jira recommends the structure be Epic -> Story -> Subtask.  I believe this works nicely to assign and track work (completion %)
• Some organization use an approval step after the lean business case (value statement) so the value case can be "vetted" by other individuals than the Epic Owner.

4.  Lastly, but very important!  The company's organizational structure should have "Product Owners", which are responsible for Epic value statements, backlog management and overall strategy.

Hope this helps!

[Heather Ronnebeck]

Hi Andy, 

Thank you for sharing your post with the community. 

Setting up a PMO within Jira itself is fairly simple on the tooling side. The challenge is actually within how you want to structure your team, and the projects they are managing. You also have to consider other factors like:

• the other teams you're interacting with to complete these projects,
• how those other teams work,
• what information you need for your reporting,
• how your projects are structured, 
• What kind of PMO model are you going to set up? 
• Who in your PMO will be working on these items? Would they be internal or external? 

Once the process and people sides are figured out, then you can start setting up JIRA based on those decisions, processes, and needs. 

This is something I do quite regularly for my clients, and am happy to lend a hand.

I hope this helps guide you in the right direction.

[Antonio Valle (G2)]

Hi Andy, 

first of all, good luck!! :-)

I agree with @Heather Ronnebeck . The term "PMO" is huge, and you should go step by step; it is not a tooling matter. it is more a governance, process, roles or responsibilities matter.

I would recommend to have a look at the PMI documentation, for example this: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/roadmap-pmo-excellence-13084

And, as @Karen said, keep it lean.

Antonio