The One-Person PMO

The One-Person PMO is a reality for more companies than you would think.

In our experience, many small financial institutions have someone "doing project management" but no formal structure around it. Without any methods or mentoring the person juggling projects gets overwhelmed, stakeholders don't know what's happening, and leadership loses visibility into progress.

Often they were the one who happened to be the most organized person when a major initiative needed a leader. Years, and hopefully a promotion or two later, they are still the go-to person for every major project.

If you are heading towards a one-person PMO, here's what we recommend:

 𝟭. 𝗔 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 - Nothing complex, just enough to capture scope and priority, This ensures your sole PM understands what the project priorities are.

 𝟮. 𝗔 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁- Same format every time so people know what to expect. Consistent reporting answers your leadership’s questions before they even ask, and cuts down on the amount of individual status updates required

 𝟯. 𝗔 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗗 𝗹𝗼𝗴 - Track your risks, actions, issues, and decisions in one place. Your team should know exactly what they need to focus on to be successful that day. A four tab Excel doc stored in Teams works perfectly for this at the start.

 𝟰. 𝗔 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 - Pick a day, stick to it. This is the alignment meeting for your project team. Once you get good at running these you can combine this with your RAID log updates to cut down on your admin overhead.

The goal isn't bureaucracy - it's visibility and predictability. When stakeholders know what to expect and when to expect it, half your project management problems disappear.

Start with these four pieces and use them consistently for three months before adding anything else. Fight that urge to build the perfect system right away.

I have a lot of respect for the sole PMs running things today. I've been there, I have used these methods, and they are a great starting point to prove your value and the value of having a PMO overall.