Why do PMO's fail?

One of the primary reasons for failure of PMOs has been when the PMO role becomes one of direct management of projects where a PMO assigned project manager reports first to the PMO and secondarily to the project sponsor. Invariably, the internal politics of the organization come into play and the PMO head loses that battle (In which they had no business being involved.) Attempting to let PMOs be responsible for project planning and execution interferes with the responsibility of senior operational management and the PMO will usually lose such conflicts. The answer is that the PMO seconds a project manager to the responsible operational manager who owns the project.

Some PMO's face what we may describe as "normal death" after the purpose behind the PMO creation is achieved.   This could be2-3 years or a little more depending on the number , nature and duration of the projects/programs that this PMO looks after.

There are other cases of PMO death that we may describe as "abonomal" including the "death on arrival" syndrome even if the official death declaration and release of the death certificate takes sometime  ... specially in light of internal politics and power struggles behind the PMO creation and killing !!

Apart from that, there are situations where the PMO becomes an "absolute ongoing business needs" specially for large organizations with ongoing project/program management activity.  This includes big companies, banks, ministries and prime ministries,  major IT providers, solutions providers and system integrators, national/regional development programs, ... etc .. etc.

Generally speaking and from my onservations of what's happning in this topic, I have noticed several reasons for failure and death of PMO including

1. Failure in articulation and concensus among key stakeholders on the sole purpose of the PMO creation and its mission and future vision
2. Failure to position the PMO strategically at the right position in the organization structure, decision making process, and future strategic planning of the organization
3. Failure to assign a suitable powerful and influensive PMO director who can sit and speak at the board of directors level when necessary
4. Failure to ensure proper-level executive management support within the organization, either on ongoing basis , or at ad-hoc depending on the situation
5. Fatal mistakes in the design, planning, implementation, staffing and operation of the PMO
6. Technical failures related to lack of (or wrong selection) of the supporting PPM methodology, technique and software
7. Incompetent people in key positions an/or lack of competency/capacity within the PMO to handle the expected work pressures.
8. Failure of the PMO to show its value  to the corporate management, to the business lines, to the project/program managers and any other entity the PMO deals with
9. The perception of the PMO as an obstacle or show-stopper through restrictive rules/controls and excessive overhead associated in dealing between the PMO and the other people
10. Lack of achievement and specially quick wins within an acceptable window of time following the launch of the PMO !!

I hope I have given a comprehensive coverage of the topic.If you need further assistance, let me know

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