The second edition of this award-winning reference provides step-by-step instructions for establishing and maturing a project management office (PMO). Concise and easy to read, The Strategic Project Office, Second Edition covers the four primary areas of knowledge and practice regarding the PMO: governance and portfolio management, resource optimization, organizational change, and performance measurement.

Winner of the 2001 David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award from the Project Management Institute, the first edition introduced the concept of PMO as a strategic resource. This second edition adds reporting on cutting-edge research on the status and roles of today’s PMO, highlights best practices, and includes case studies of award-winning PMOs. It explores the various aspects of planning and implementing the strategic PMO and provides readers with an assessment model for measuring PMO practice maturity.

New in the Second Edition:

  • New and updated information on the use of collaborative and social media tools in project management
  • New chapters on Project Portfolio Management and aligning projects and strategy
  • New information on using the Strategic Project Office as a strategy management center
  • Updated content that reflects the latest version of the PMBOK® Guide
  • Downloadable resources with time-saving templates and forms

    The first edition has been the foundation for much of my thinking about initiative management, and the second edition takes thought leadership to a new level. Crawford leverages years of experience to further improve an already excellent resource. The first edition of The Strategic Project Office sits on the top shelf of my bookcase. I’m sure that the second edition will have a similar pride of place … when I haven’t loaned it out to members of my team as homework.—Paul Ritchie, PMP, Director, Global PMO, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Inc.

    Praise for the Award-Winning First Edition:

    … provides a primer that is first-of-a-kind and best-of-class. Read it. Learn its lessons. Apply them. Improve your organization, your projects, and your global competitiveness.
    PM Network, Books in Focus


    Optimizing Human Capital with a Strategic Project Office explores the SPO’s potential to transform an enterprise by making the most of people within an organization. This volume provides an exhaustive review of topics such as the hiring, retention, measurement, training, and professional development of knowledge workers in project management. This book’s chapters summarize the latest thinking regarding these issues and offer a model of how the best aspirations of workers can become reality through the medium of the SPO.

    The authors explore the best practices of project-savvy organizations and offer detailed information on proven models for assessing and developing competency, building inspired teams, and creating a working environment in which motivation thrives. The book includes a set of model role descriptions for staffing the project office--on a divisional or enterprise level--based on original research by the authors.

    The book opens by focusing on the business case for reorganizing companies around the managing-by-projects model, the roles of executives in implementing project management change initiatives, and the nuts-and-bolts topics of project personnel management, such as competency, recruiting, and rewards. The final section reviews current developments and trends, identifying the “people management” issues that generate the greatest organizational changes. Appendices provide examples of tools for establishing project-friendly HR practices under the auspices of a Strategic Project Office.


    Project Management Maturity Model: Providing a Proven Path to Project Management Excellence offers effective strategies for the implementation of efficient project management systems for increased levels of organizational maturity, time and cost conservation, quality assurance, and project success. It details areas critical to organizational improv