The Chief Project Officer
So it is that we must add to the cadre of "chiefs" to which we entrust
the success of the enterprise. We must add a Chief Project Officer (CPO), to
support all of the functions discussed above, and to lead the organization in
meeting its project portfolio objectives.
As we closed the 20th century, we saw the spread of the "chief" philosophy
to the centralization of corporate technology. Recently, in a survey of Chief
Technology Officers, the CTO's were asked: "What keeps you awake at night?".
At the top of the list was "completing projects on time."
Call it a Project Office. Call it a Project Management Competency Center. Call
it Project Mentoring, call what you will. The name really doesn't matter. But
development of a separate, recognized, structured organization with personnel
skilled in project management, is essential if you want to have a successful
project management function and to bring your projects to a successful completion.
For most of us, project success equates to success of the enterprise. Can we
afford to do less?
Harvey Levine
June, 2000
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What Project Managers Do