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1 Introduction

People have been talking about programmes and projects for many years, and there arelots of books, guidance, qualifications, software packages and training courses to choosefrom. However, just as the saying goes that behind every great man there is a betterwoman, equally behind every great programme there is a better Programme Office.

The reason for this introductory thought is because Portfolio, Programme and ProjectOffices (P3O) have been somewhat hidden in the overwhelming shadows cast byportfolios, programmes and projects.

Until now, that is: P3O is the newest addition to the Office of Government Commerce(OGC) suite of best practice guidance in the field of portfolio, programme and projectmanagement. This publication, Think P3O, is the supplementary publication to the mainP3O guidance.

Think P3O summarizes the key elements of the P3O guidance with a view to providingreaders with a relatively quick understanding of what a P3O is, the value it should add, anidea of the shapes and sizes to consider, together with an overview of the key functions,services, tools and techniques.

P3O backgroundProject and Programme Offices have been in existence in some form, and under manydifferent names, since the introduction of project management as a disciplined approachto managing change. With the advent of PRINCE2™ in 1996 and the shift of emphasis toprogrammes and projects based on business change, Project Offices expanded their remitfrom the disciplines of planning, risk, issue and change support, and administration, toinclude more focus on a standards and assurance role.

In the 2000s the shift to Portfolio Offices has been driven by senior management asking,‘Are we doing the right things?’ and ‘Are we getting the benefits from our investment?’This has been supported by the increasing maturity levels of the portfolio, programme,project and risk management tools market, providing software that enables improvedstrategic analysis and decision-making.

Think P3O: who should read this?Think P3O allows you to gain a quick understanding to get you started before reading thewhole P3O guidance. The P3O main guidance will take you through everything you needto know about the subject with practical examples and case studies.

A key theme throughout Think P3O and the main P3O guidance is the focus on flexibilityand your organization. It is very rare that an organization will have no P3O processes or

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governance structures in place already; some probably exist but they are just nameddifferently. As you read through the P3O guidance and Think P3O, please bear this inmind and constantly ask yourself, ‘How does this fit in with what we do already?’

It is recommended that readers of this guidance have a basic understanding of portfolio,programme and project management principles. The intended audience is not restrictedsolely to those already working in a P3O environment. The concepts and practicalexplanations will be appreciated by anyone who is impacted by P3O or has aninterest/involvement in business change management.

Think P3O: the structureChapter 2 looks at how P3O fits into the wider context of an organization as a whole. Itdescribes what P3O is and how it fits with other OGC best practice guidance of portfolio,programme and project management. Following this it answers the question, ‘Why botherwith P3O?’, and then discusses P3O maturity and what happens if you do not use theguidelines.

Chapter 3 is all about the design for your P3O. Key elements of the P3O design arediscussed including your P3O model, the functions and the services, and key roles arepresented for tailoring to your organization. The chapter closes by highlighting some ofthe barriers you are likely to face, and how to overcome them.

Chapter 4 introduces the P3O lifecycle. Everything has a lifecycle, and the key steps andactivities within the P3O lifecycle are discussed, all of which can be used to implement orre-energize a P3O.

For each of the key stages in the P3O lifecycle the following questions are answered toprovide greater understanding of the purpose and the benefits at each point.

� What is the purpose?

� What are the benefits?

� Do I have to do this?

� What happens if I don’t do this?

� How do I get to the next step in the process?

� What questions should I ask to get to the next step?

� Who is involved?

Within the P3O lifecycle there are some key activities and products produced, such as P3Ovision and Business Case; Chapter 4 discusses these and provides hints and tips for each.

Chapter 5 focuses on the tools and techniques that you would expect to find in any P3O.The tools and techniques are discussed in detail within the main P3O guidance, thereforein Think P3O they are summarized although once again for each technique the ‘whybother’ question is answered.

Throughout the publication you will come across boxes called ‘A lesson learned’ and

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‘Hints and tips’ – these are based on real-life encounters (both good and bad) ofexperienced P3O teams.

Finally, the appendices contain key information that you can use today, including anoverview of the key roles and responsibilities in a P3O, a template P3O Business Case,example P3O Vision Statements and finally an example P3O Blueprint.

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