Strategic Project Office

J. Kent Crawford, PMP, is the founder and CEO of Project Management Solutions, Inc. (PM Solutions), a management consulting and training firm headquartered in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. The company specializes in applying the project management discipline throughout organizations to improve enterprise business performance. Prior to establishing PM Solutions, Crawford served as president and chairman of the Project Management Institute (PMI®). Crawford is a recipient of the PMI Fellow Award and the award-winning author of The Strategic Project Office: A Guide to Improving Organizational Performance (for which he won the 2002 David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award from PMI), Project Management Maturity Model: Providing a Proven Path to Project Management Excellence, and Optimizing Human Capital with a Strategic Project Office. His latest book, Seven Steps to Strategy Execution, provides the framework for organizations to execute and deliver corporate strategy through the use of Strategy Performance Management.Jeannette Cabanis Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions.

The first edition has been the foundation for much of my thinking about initiative management, and the second edition takes thought leadership to a new level. Crawford leverages years of experience to further improve an already excellent resource. The first edition of The Strategic Project Office sits on the top shelf of my bookcase. I’m sure that the second edition will have a similar pride of place … when I haven’t loaned it out to members of my team as homework.—Paul Ritchie, PMP, Director, Global PMO, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Inc.Written for project managers, project office directors, their managers, and executives, this volume outlines the creation of a project management center and the four primary areas of knowledge and practice regarding the project management office (PMO): governance and portfolio management, resource optimization, organizational change, and performance measurement. This edition addresses research on the status and roles of today's PMO and best practices, along with new and updated information on the use of collaborative and social media tools in project management and human resources aspects of managing project personnel; new chapters on project portfolio management and aligning projects and strategy; new information on using the strategic project office as a strategy management center; and updated content reflecting the latest standards of the Project Management Institute. A CD-ROM is included.—In Research Book News, booknews.com, February 2011Praise for the Award-Winning First Edition:… provides a primer that is first-of-a-kind and best-of-class. Read it. Learn its lessons. Apply them. Improve your organization, your projects, and your global competitiveness.—PM Network, Books in Focus, Sept. 2003

• The Strategic PMO: Aligning Projects and Strategy. PMO Business Case, Organization Structure, and Functions. The Starting Gate: Assessing Your Current Condition. PMO Planning, Preparation, and Strategy. Establishing a Project Management Methodology and PMO Governance. Project Portfolio Management and the Strategic PMO. The Strategic People Management Office: Human Capital and the PMO. The Technical Infrastructure: Using IT to Facilitate Project Collaboration and Performance Measurement. Changing Organizational Culture. Knowledge Management and the PMO: Tracking Benefits and Learning from Experience. Appendices: The State of the PMO 2007 to 2008. Selected PMO of the Year Winners (2007 and 2008). Project Management Assessment and Recommendation Report.