How to Create Your PMO Playbook in 5 Steps

The football team is in a huddle at the center of the field. Helmet to helmet, they anxiously wait for the quarterback to lay out the play. Crickets. Awkwardly, the quarterback yells “break” and everyone takes their position on the field with no clue of what is about to happen. 

“Thirty-five, twenty-two, hut!” yells the quarterback. The “team” scatters across the field like cockroaches when a light is turned on. The wide receiver goes short, offensive guards just stand in place, and running backs are all the way down in the touchdown zone. In no time at all, the quarterback is sacked and loses possession of the ball to the other team.

What went wrong? Simply put, there was no plan. There may have been a playbook, but it certainly wasn’t referenced, nor was clear direction given. Each player was left to figure things out themselves, which resulted in chaos and turnover.

Granted, this is an extreme example, but the point is that to be successful, everyone on the team needs to follow the same playbook. Does your PMO operate without a playbook? Are your project managers left to figure out how each project is going to be managed on their own? If so, your PMO may be setting itself up to lose possession of the projects it manages.

What is a PMO Playbook?

A PMO playbook is the collection of processes, procedures, and policies your project managers use when managing projects. It contains your PMO’s explicit knowledge (i.e., how and when you put together a Risk Register) and tacit knowledge (i.e., best practices from past project managers). 

It’s up to you as a PMO Leader to know what to include in your PMO Playbook. At a minimum, it should include a clear description of the phases of managing a project, what activities take place in each phase, the outputs generated from each phase, and how to deal with commonplace issues. Beyond that, you could include company background and principles, team rosters, org charts, and other reference material that would be beneficial to your team managing projects. 

There’s no need to go overboard. The more ‘stuff’ that’s in the playbook, the more there is to maintain. Focus on the major processes and procedures that will get a project from start to finish consistently.

What are the Benefits of a Playbook?

The following are just a few advantages of having a PMO playbook:

• Saves Time - You’ll definitely enjoy this savings if you find yourself asking over and over, “Is this the first time we’ve done this?” even though it’s the hundredth time! It’s a huge time-waster when team members trip over each other because they aren’t clear on what to do next. Employing a PMO Playbook eliminates this wastefulness.
• Increases Productivity and Efficiency - Without clear procedures, some may feel it’s good to go above and beyond with reports, paperwork, meetings or other non-value-added project management activities. Having a PMO Playbook in place and project managers sticking with the plan ensures every blow counts.
• Helps Employee Onboarding and Training - Congratulations, you just hired a new (to you) project manager. Sure, they know how to manage projects, but do they know how to manage projects your way? Rather than subject the new person to a number of ad-hoc and inconsistent training sessions with other project managers, a PMO Playbook is the perfect place to indoctrinate them as to how your PMO operates.
• Produces Consistent Quality Work - If you follow the same recipe each time, you are going to get the same results. Likewise, if you follow the same PMO processes each time, you will produce consistent work. Your PMO Playbook should be assembled to generate consistently excellent project delivery with the primary goal of creating value.

5 Steps to Putting Your PMO Playbook Together

Do you love the benefits of a PMO Playbook but not sure where to begin? The 5 steps below will get you started.

1. Define Your Objective - Start with the “why.” Do you want to capture every level of detail about how your PMO operates or just include the big rocks that are enough to keep everyone on the same page?
2. Assemble a Team - Depending upon the size of your PMO and your objective, assign the right size team to get this work done. Want to get it done quickly? Turn this into someone’s only job and not something to fit in between managing other projects.
3. Assemble the PMO Playbook Outline and Format - Have this team put together an outline of what will be in the PMO Playbook. The best way is to break things down logically by category, phase, role, or whatever you feel is best. Think: Work Breakdown Structure for PMO Playbooks. Then, you’ll want to define the elements to include in each section of your PMO Playbook and choose a consistent format.
4. Compile Existing Process Documentation - You undoubtedly have some documentation already written. Pull that out, see how it maps to the outline, clean it up and put it into the format you’ve defined above. Really think through these old processes to make sure they are current and reflect what you are doing now.
5. Create the Playbook - You now have an outline, a format, and hopefully some gaps filled with existing content that has been refreshed. Methodically work down the outline until you’ve covered everything. There will be adjustments made along the way. Some topics will be added, others removed, and some will be combined.

Finally, you can start using the Playbook. Be sure and use it! After all this effort, do not let it sit on the shelf and collect dust. Use it to train new team members, coach existing team members, and audit how projects are being managed. Review on a quarterly or semi-annual basis to make sure the Playbook reflects reality.

Five steps to putting a Playbook together may sound easy, but it’s not. This is hard, thought-intensive, time-consuming, and collaborative work that will take at the very least, months to complete. Be prepared for this type of time investment. But, also be prepared for the ROI that a PMO Playbook will generate including saving time, increasing productivity, and a higher quality of projects delivered.

Where Should I Store My PMO Playbook?

Good question. It can be whatever works best for you. It could be Word, Excel, Google Docs. At The PMO Squad we are beginning to explore working with Trainual as our Playbook repository. We’ll let you know more about how that is working out in the near future. 

Whatever you choose, make sure that it is searchable, easily-distributed, and has strong version control so everyone knows they are working with the right information.

In the spirit of operating your PMO as a franchise, a Playbook is an essential tool to transform your PMO and get a touchdown every time. Start yours today and see what a difference it makes in your operation!

SOLUTIONS MADE SIMPLE SUMMARY

How to Create a PMO Playbook

Assembling a PMO Playbook for your team will keep everyone on the same page, literally. You’ll save time, reduce waste, increase productivity, and deliver high quality projects that provide value to your organization. Follow these 5 steps: 

1. Define Your Objective - Answer “why” you are putting your Playbook together.
2. Assemble a Team - Assign one or more people to complete this project and manage it like a project.
3. Create an Outline and Format – Develop an outline of the content that needs to be included in the Playbook. Then, create a format (i.e., how the content will be presented) for a consistent look and feel.
4. Compile Existing Documentation - Review and update what you already have documented and start putting it into the new Playbook format.
5. Create the Playbook - Fill in the gaps from the outline above with new content in your new format.

Then, review and update your Playbook biannually or quarterly and make updates to reflect your current processes. This will keep your Playbook fresh, current, and easier to adopt by your team.

Definitions:

PMO Playbook - A reference guide for how your PMO operates. Includes the necessary processes, policies, procedures, and templates that a project manager with reasonable experience could read through and deliver an experience consistent with how your PMO runs.