Once upon a business meeting,
People were feeling down;
Projects were late, costs were up,
And rumours of crises went 'round.

The air was thick with tension,
A Gantt chart was hung on the wall;
Though some tasks were circled and marked in bright red,
Task-shifts from the baseline told it all!

The Chairman cleared his throat loudly,
And signaled for the meeting to start;
Project managers looked at their project reports
And glanced at the massive Gantt chart.

"We seem to be having a problem,
In reaching the dates we'd agreed.
I am keen to hear your explanations,
And to hear how you plan to succeed."

Silence reigned for a moment,
As each hoped the other would go;
Until a senior piped up, "Sir, there's only one way,
What we need is a PMO!"

The Chairman sat back in his seat,
And said: "This had better be good!
What is THAT going to do, to help all of you
Get things running the way that they should?"

The senior decided to stand up,
He took a deep breath and then sighed;
What could he say, to explain this the right way,
What the heck, he decided to try...

"Well for one thing we need some assistance,
Our admin is chaos at best!
We spend too much time at non-value tasks,
That we don't get around to the rest!”

“Then, there's no standardization,
Each team seems to go their own way;
We're not working together, we argue 'forever'
And get little done end of day!"

“Plans are based on estimation,
Because we can't know for sure in advance;
To steer to our goals we need tools and controls,
For our schedules to stand a chance!”

“A PMO makes oversight easier,
Makes issues easier to address;
A central position and one standard for all,
Will greatly speed up the process.”

"Standardization improves communications,
Now everyone 'talks the same talk';
When the process is the same, players play the same game,
Then we all can 'walk the same walk.'"

"Our efforts become much more efficient,
Procedures give direction, as do rules;
The PMO is the Guide, a Trainer and Coach,
Our support with new methods and tools."

The Chairman silently listened,
A frown deeply creased his brow;
"How long will it take, a PMO to make,
And how can we save ourselves NOW?"

By now the rest had found courage,
And the most junior assistant of all;
Jumped up in a flurry of papers and things,
And went over to the Gantt on the wall.

"Sir, we're all doing similar activities,
Perhaps we had better fasttrack;
If we share our resources across all of the work,
Then perhaps we can win some time back."

"But we'll need central co-ordination,
And help with watching the cost;
Oh, and support with reporting, some methods and tools;
And archiving, so nothing gets lost.

The Chairman was thinking it over,
"Hmm...An office to watch and to warn..."
His frown finally relented, he smiled and consented,
And so our new PMO was born

A story by Rochelle Rober