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Module 2

The PMO Operating Model Wheel

In this module you will meet the PMO Operating Model Wheel, the model that underpins the whole course.

Estimated study time: about 50 minutes. Suggested week: 2.

2.1 The core concept

At the centre of the Wheel sits the PMO's purpose: enabling predictable, value-driven delivery.

Predictable means leaders can rely on dates, costs and outcomes. Value-driven means delivery is judged by the benefits it produces, not only by whether tasks were completed.

Putting purpose at the centre gives a test for every PMO service: does it make delivery more predictable or more valuable? If not, question why you provide it.

2.2 The four domains

Around the purpose sit four domains, shown in Figure 2.

  • Governance & Assurance (confidence, consistency, control): who decides what, which standards apply, and how you know they are followed.
  • Planning & Control (structure, visibility, predictability): plans, risks, dependencies and performance reporting.
  • People, Skills & Culture (capability, collaboration, leadership): the skills of PMO and delivery staff, how they learn and how they work together.
  • Value, Strategy & Outcomes (alignment, measurement, improvement): whether work supports strategy and whether the promised benefits are realised and measured.

Each domain is the subject of a later module.

A four-segment wheel around the centre text Predictable Value-Driven Delivery. The segments are Governance and Assurance, Planning and Control, Value, Strategy and Outcomes, and People, Skills and Culture.
Figure 2: The PMO Operating Model Wheel

2.3 How the domains interconnect

The Wheel creates strategic alignment across governance, planning, people and value. The domains depend on one another:

  • Governance without planning produces rules but no visibility.
  • Planning tools without skilled, engaged people produce data nobody uses.
  • Strong delivery that is not aligned to strategy produces outputs that do not matter.

A weakness in one domain undermines the others, so they are developed together.

Key points

  • The Wheel's centre is the PMO's purpose: predictable, value-driven delivery.
  • There are four domains: Governance & Assurance, Planning & Control, People, Skills & Culture, and Value, Strategy & Outcomes.
  • The domains depend on each other, so improve them together.