Introduction
This is the first of five articles in our “Shaping the Future of PMO” series, which explores how market-leading organizations are transforming project management from a reactive support function into a strategic execution engine. In this introductory article, we explore why brilliant strategies often fail during execution and introduce the concept of systematic execution infrastructure.
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Does this sound familiar? Your organization creates brilliant strategies but struggles to execute them.
Another board meeting. Another presentation on “strategic priorities” aimed at transforming the business. The vision is compelling, the business case is solid, and everyone nods in agreement.
Fast forward six months. You’re having the same conversation about why the transformation is “still in progress” while your competitors are gaining market share with similar initiatives they’ve already implemented.
This is the organizational execution gap.
It’s not that your strategies are wrong or your people aren’t capable. It’s that most organizations treat execution as if it happens automatically once everyone understands the plan. They fail to establish the systematic infrastructure necessary to translate strategic intentions into measurable results.
The Execution Gap Shows Up As:
✦ Strategic initiatives that never launch: You’re stuck in seemingly endless planning cycles
✦ Projects that consume resources without delivering value: “We’re 90% done” for months
✦ Competing priorities that paralyze decision-making: Everything is urgent, so nothing ever gets finished
✦ Good ideas that die from lack of follow-through: Innovation without implementation
While You’re Struggling, Your Competitors Have Figured It Out
Here’s the good news: this isn’t a talent problem or an intelligence gap. Market leaders don’t execute better because they’re smarter or have bigger budgets. They execute better because they’ve built an execution infrastructure: systematic capabilities that consistently and predictably turn strategy into results.
This infrastructure is called a Strategic Project Management Office (PMO).
What a Strategic PMO Does
Forget the technical definitions you’ve heard. A Strategic PMO is your organization’s execution engine – the infrastructure that ensures strategic initiatives get delivered.
Think of it like this. Your finance department doesn’t just count money – it systematically manages financial resources to drive business outcomes. A Strategic PMO doesn’t just manage projects—it systematically manages execution capacity to drive strategic outcomes.
Three Levels of Execution Infrastructure:
✦ Level 1: Support System – Provides tools and guidance when teams request assistance. Impact: Helpful but inconsistent results
✦ Level 2: Governance System – Ensures projects follow standards and report progress
Impact: Better visibility, but still execution gaps
✦ Level 3: Execution Engine – Directly drives strategic initiatives to completion. Impact: Systematic transformation of strategy into competitive advantage
At each level, the PMO systematically manages portfolio prioritization, resource optimization, and stakeholder alignment; however, the sophistication and business impact increase dramatically as you transition from basic support to a proper execution infrastructure.
The Business Case is Simple
Organizations with Strategic PMOs see 20% improvement in project success rates and 25% faster time-to-market
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Without execution infrastructure: |
With execution infrastructure: |
|
✦ Strategic initiatives take 2-3 times longer than planned ✦ 70% of change efforts fail to deliver expected value ✦ Resources get wasted on competing priorities. ✦ Market opportunities get missed while you’re “still planning” |
✦ Strategic priorities get delivered predictably ✦ Resources focus on the highest-impact initiatives ✦ Decision-making accelerates without sacrificing quality ✦ Competitive advantage through superior execution |
The Question Isn’t Whether You Need This
The real question is: How much longer can you afford to have brilliant strategies without systematic execution?
Mini Case Study
A large international consumer products company realized that it needed to find a better way to make project decisions and execute them with excellence consistently across its businesses around the world. They decided to establish a PMO, starting with a few test businesses and then expanding on the learnings.
They used consultants to help:
✦ Coach them on implementing systems to choose which projects to work on (Portfolio analysis)
✦ Adopt the processes to involve the right level of leadership throughout the life of a project (Stage Gates)
✦ Design dashboard and tracking templates to ensure leadership was looking at the right metrics, and
✦ Looking at what a good PMO structure looks like and then finding the right people to fill the necessary roles.
As they had the people in place, they began developing the processes and systems necessary to manage projects. About 5 years into the journey, they decided this was a function they wanted in all their businesses around the world, so they developed an assessment program to drive consistency across the globe (one of New Oaks Consulting’s founding partners led the development of this work while at the company).
We aimed for a 7.5 out of 10 score for every business worldwide. This helped standardize the language and tools, and we found that business results became more predictable.
Key Learnings
PMO implementation takes time and requires clear leadership commitment, but yields better and more consistent results over time.
Your competitors aren’t necessarily more innovative – they’re just better at execution. And execution can be systematically built.
Next Steps
This is the first article in our five-part series on building execution infrastructure. In our next post, we’ll explore the three levels of PMO maturity and how to assess where your organization stands today.
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