Custom Programs
Why PMO Strategies?
Our training programs are informed by practical real-world experience and taught by instructors with extensive experience in their respective fields eager to bring their knowledge and insights into the classroom. We know how important it is to your organization’s success that your people not only know what to do but how to do it so that they can help you achieve the critical business results necessary for your organization to thrive.
What Sets Us Apart
Our Practical, Business-Minded Approach
PMO Strategies’ custom programs are designed to distill down from the complex mix of methods the core essentials that enable product- and project-centric leaders and managers to deliver the desired business results.
Training & Coaching Experience
We have decades of experience as leaders, managers, and team members in product/project-centric environments and know what it’s like to serve in all these roles. This enables us to show empathy and build rapport at all levels while helping leaders smoothly transition to a higher level of performance faster than the executives will think possible. We’ve also spent the last decade focused specifically on coaching our clients’ people serving in all of those roles and know intimately how to meet them where they are, and train and coach them to achieve big things.
High-Caliber Thought Leaders
We’ve designed and run the most successful PMO and strategy delivery leadership coaching program in the world, the most popular podcast for PMOs, and the largest PMO-specific conference designed to elevate the PMO globally. Our team includes many high-powered changemakers helping us elevate the industry, led by our Founder Laura Barnard who is a recognized industry thought leader, 2021 World PMO Influencer of the Year, and international keynote speaker at major industry conferences and events.
Foundational Training
Our project management training programs take a comprehensive and adaptive approach to delivering projects, with a focus on driving a higher return on investment for every project so it’s clear that the organization is achieving its strategic goals. Unlike traditional project management approaches, our IMPACT Accelerator Institute™ programs focus on measurable desired outcomes and practical techniques your teams can apply long after the training has completed.
These programs include workbooks, templates, and detailed guidebook for applying the concepts in the real world to all projects long after the classroom training is complete.
Project Portfolio Management Accelerators
Building upon the foundational layers described above, we have designed a second stage of programs that we recommend all project leaders complete to further enhance their ability to drive IMPACT. This second stage is comprised of the half-day courses outlined below:
How much iterative work is likely to be optimal for my project?
This program teaches participants how to apply some “rules of thumb” to know when to apply highly iterative techniques, and when to apply highly predictive techniques — sometimes on the same project.
How do I drive an accelerated, sustainable cadence of value delivery for my project?
This program teaches participants techniques that promote “full kitting” (starting tasks only when all inputs are in place) and single-task focus, managed with clear priorities in a visible manner, while allowing teams to evaluate their cadence of value delivery, and brainstorm ways to accelerate that cadence.
When my project’s value proposition is highly sensitive to achieving a given target date, how do I drive high due-date performance?
This program teaches participants techniques to manage the variability that is always present in every project, in a way that protects high-value due dates.
How do I know when re-baselining my project will yield a higher-ROI outcome?
This program teaches participants techniques to proactively re-baseline whenever we have reason to believe that higher project ROIs can be attained by doing so.
How do I keep things synchronized with other projects?
This program teaches participants how to set and maintain the right rhythm of product releases that are timed to build on, complement, or retire previous products. This includes how to build staggered flow models, run what-if scenarios on them, and then execute the chosen stagger.
Organizations have long struggled with the challenge of synchronizing projects to drive maximum business impact, whether within a single program or across a portfolio. For your organization to thrive in the future, there must be the right rhythm of product releases that are timed to build on, complement, or retire previous products. Two examples of companies that do this well are Apple and Tesla, and the result is that they both went from almost out of business to ranking among the most valuable companies in the world. The key ingredient to achieving such synchronicity is the discipline of staggering project starts based on “pace-setting” resources — such as a team of great product designers — and then ensuring that downstream work is set up to be run like a relay race.
PMO and Strategy Delivery Development
Comprehensive solutions designed to create a successful PMO, transformation, or strategy delivery office so you can deliver on your organization’s strategy easier, faster, and with much better results.
This is the only program of its kind that shows you exactly how to build, run, or elevate your PMO, transformation, or strategy delivery team so to ensure that projects are set up for success, aligned with strategy, and driving the best possible outcomes for the organization as quickly as possible. Our team has been in the IMPACT-making business for 25 years now, and over that time, we’ve developed a proven system that always delivers. This program is a comprehensive on-demand implementation program complete with videos, guidance, workbooks, templates, and everything you need to create, elevate, or rescue any strategy delivery team.
This Coaching and Mastermind Program is designed to help PMO and strategy delivery professionals accelerate their leadership journey and become strategic business assets for their organizations. Led by top industry thought leaders, this comprehensive program provides hands-on support and targeted training to help students build and elevate their leadership skills and get that seat at the table to help the organization drive real sustainable change.
Collaborating with like-minded leaders/students from around the world in a virtual format, participants can avoid overwhelm and receive real-time feedback from experts and thought leaders. In addition, the program includes a private forum where students can learn how their peers are applying techniques and addressing roadblocks and get feedback and support from coaches.
Through regular video calls with the coaching team and their peers, participants can build confidence in their progress and have all of their toughest. Plus, the program includes the new IMPACT Engine Leader and Consultant Certifications, which are available exclusively to coaching students who apply the included IMPACT Engine System™ Program in their organization.
By earning this certification, participants can differentiate themselves from their peers and demonstrate applied knowledge and leadership proficiency. They can also stay one step ahead in their careers with a certification that is exclusively given to students who have demonstrated their ability to apply the IMPACT Engine System™ in a real-world scenario.
Training Delivery Formats
The way we approach delivering training is designed to ensure that project management capability is developed in an effective and sustainable way so that the organization can achieve the desired strategic impact. This includes a combination of hands-on project management knowledge development in a live classroom setting, as well as ongoing access to targeted training programs to further develop project management capability over time.
