The success of any organization depends on the success of the projects it undertakes. Projects are the focused efforts that lead to the creation or improvement of products and services, new technological processes, organizational structures, increased sales, cost reduction, and improved quality. Successful project implementation leads to greater customer satisfaction, business expansion, and numerous other benefits. Skillful project management is key to maintaining competitiveness in today’s complex and dynamic business environment.
Strategic Planning in Project Management
The art of project management cannot emerge on its own—it requires a foundation in strategic planning. Strategic planning is essential for the survival of any organization because it’s the process through which organizations adapt to constantly changing environments. It applies to all types of organizations and affects all levels of management. While the principles of strategic planning have been known for decades, their relevance to project management has only recently been fully recognized.
Strategic planning in project management involves the development of an internal corporate project management methodology that enables an organization to systematically execute projects aligned with its strategic objectives. Although this does not guarantee quick profits or instant success, it significantly increases the organization’s chances of long-term achievement.
Benefits of Creating a Corporate Methodology
As the number of interconnected functional units involved in projects increases within an organization, so too does the benefit of using a unified corporate project management methodology. One essential condition for strategic planning is to communicate organizational goals and planned changes across all levels of management. This requires establishing both vertical feedback loops and cross-functional communication.
This information-sharing process improves understanding and acceptance of change across all organizational levels, reducing resistance. Employees are far less likely to support change if they don’t understand its purpose.
Strategic planning in project management gives individuals at all levels the opportunity to participate in change, reducing fear of the unknown and significantly lowering resistance.
With the right tools, procedures, and skilled personnel in place, organizations can continually increase their project success rates—leading to lower costs and, ultimately, increased profits.
The Project Management Office (PMO)
One of the most important trends in recent years has been the creation of the Project Management Office (PMO) and its steadily increasing role within organizations. Research by ESI International (a global project management consultancy), the Project Management Institute (PMI), and George Washington University shows that since the late 1990s, organizations have increasingly embraced the opportunities PMOs offer.
The term “project office” is often mistakenly used as a synonym for PMO. However, the difference is significant. A project office is led by a project manager and supports a single project. A PMO, on the other hand, provides support and auxiliary services to multiple projects and typically doesn’t directly manage any one of them. Optimally, it serves both the needs of project teams and senior management—acting as a firewall, offering problem-solving support to project managers while providing upper management with accurate and objective project information and independent assessments.
PMO Maturity Levels
Many international sources describe PMO development as a series of maturity levels, similar to the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) or PMMM, proposed by Harold Kerzner in his book Strategic Planning for Project Management Maturity Model.
| Level | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Support for a single project |
| 2 | Support for multiple projects within one program |
| 3 | Support across a department or division |
| 4 | Support for all organizational projects |
| 5 | Strategic unit influencing enterprise-wide decisions and resource allocation |
Level 1: The PMO supports just one project at a time. Project success relies heavily on individual effort, and the office acts more as a reactive problem-solver, mentor, or temporary staffing agency.
Level 2: Focus shifts to project management tools and methods, although these may still be inconsistently applied. The PMO begins providing templates, consulting, and basic training.
Level 3: Project methodologies are integrated with organizational procedures. The PMO becomes a centralized management center for all projects, providing policies, training, tools, and a shared information system.
Level 4: The PMO aligns itself with the organization’s strategic goals. It oversees project performance, coordinates resources across projects, and focuses on continuous improvement and knowledge management.
Level 5: The PMO drives enterprise-wide continuous improvement, promotes best practices, archives organizational project knowledge, and develops predictive models. It participates in benchmarking efforts and becomes the hub for innovation and strategic development.
Establishing a PMO
A PMO facilitates the creation and refinement of corporate methodology regarding scope, quality, cost, schedules, and customer satisfaction. To effectively lead project management, the PMO must understand corporate vision, strategies, goals, environmental influences, attitudes toward change, and organizational culture.
It then defines the roles and areas of knowledge that best serve those goals. For the PMO to succeed, its actions must align with the company’s project management strategy, and its role must be clearly defined and flawlessly executed.
From both an organizational and customer perspective, the key indicators of project success are cost, time, quality, and client satisfaction. Projects must meet market needs and align with strategic business objectives. The PMO helps optimize all these factors through logically consistent procedures based on organizational specifics, industry best practices, and past project experience.
Spreading Knowledge and Building Capability
Mentorship, consulting, knowledge gathering, employee training, and engagement with new methodologies are all ways to disseminate project management expertise across the organization—ensuring long-term competitiveness.
Mastering the art of project management is not about tools alone—it’s about developing a strategic, organization-wide culture of project excellence.
