I was thinking about doing this in a Blog, but I wanted interaction and to see how others feel.  Last night at the Seattle PMO Roundtable, we had a very engaging discussion about the Value of the PMO in today's environment. With the downturn of the economy, many PMOs are being looked at very carefully for their value.

I am of the opinion if you were to change a word to the Project/Program Delivery Office, the company would look at this function very differently and have no question to the value provided.  If the main focus were one of delivery instead of management and the metrics, personnel, and output of the office were focused on project delivery; your value would be solid.

I also believe the failure of some Project Offices is a failure to understand how to communicate up, down, and sideways.  A good Project Office will have a Communications Plan to know who, what, when, what format, and how often information need to be managed and delivered.  Many PMOs look down, but don't look up or sideways.  The Project Delivery Office is providing results for decision making, project initiation, project planning/execution, and project value post-deployment. 

What are your thoughts?