Abstract Effective sponsorship is a decisive factor for the success of projects and programs. Yet in many organizations this role remains underdeveloped and is often experienced as lonely and complex. 85% of organizations offer no training or support to sponsors. The book The Art of Effective Sponsorship (Portman and Vilain, 2025) [1]emphasizes the importance of role awareness, collaboration, and continuous learning. A Project Management Office (PMO) can play a key role here. This article describes six concrete PMO services that support sponsors in fulfilling their role effectively and shows how these contribute to the success of projects and the wider organization.
[1] At this moment only available in Dutch: De kunst van goed opdrachtgeverschap managementboek.nl
The Impact Engine – Accelerating Strategy Delivery for PMO and Transformation Leaders by Laura Barnard presents a practical approach for building or transforming your PMO into an impact engine that delivers real value to your organization. The book guides you through the process of creating your own impact engine.
It is structured around the six stages of the IMPACT Engine System: Mindset, Assess, Define, Plan, Deliver, and Evolve. Each stage includes real-world examples of organizations that have successfully applied the system.
The IMPACT Engine System is an iterative value delivery framework that helps your team continuously improve its capabilities and services, accelerating the execution of your organization’s strategy. Within just 90 days, you can complete the first full iteration and deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) that provides tangible value to your stakeholders. Each subsequent iteration enhances or expands your services, enabling you to deliver increasing value over time.
Mindset (stage 1, 1 week)
Don’t become a perfectionist of the process. Instead become a driver of business value. You are the impact driver. IMPACT can be seen as an acronym too. I: Instill focus (to set a strong foundation), M: Measure outcomes (not just outputs), P: Perform relentlessly do not fall victim to methodology), A: Adapt to thrive (not just survive), C: Communicate with purpose (to deliver the why). The IMPACT driver mindset provides the mental framework to position you to navigate strategy for your organization. The mindset shift you make and the techniques you apply to align your thinking with the outcomes you need to drive for the organization are woven throughout each of the following stages.
Don’t aim for perfection in process—focus instead on driving business value. You are the impact driver.
IMPACT also serves as an acronym:
I – Instill focus to build a strong foundation
M – Measure outcomes, not just outputs
P – Perform relentlessly without becoming a slave to methodology
A – Adapt to thrive, not merely survive
C – Communicate with purpose to clarify and reinforce the “why”
T – Transform mindset for a high performance culture
The IMPACT driver mindset gives you the mental framework to steer your organization’s strategy. This mindset shift—and the techniques that align your thinking with the outcomes you need to achieve—are integrated into every stage of the system that follows.
Assess (stage 2, assess the organization, 2 weeks)
Start by developing trusted relationships with key individuals across the organization. Evaluate your stakeholders to understand whether they are educated, engaged, or resistant, and use this insight to create a targeted stakeholder engagement plan. Get to know your sponsor well, as their support and alignment are critical. Assess your team’s current capabilities to understand where you stand and gather meaningful input from various sources to enrich your understanding. Conduct a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Use this analysis to uncover your PMO’s highest priorities and pain points. Finally, present your assessment findings clearly and persuasively to ensure alignment and buy-in for the next steps.
Define (stage 3, define high impact services, 3 weeks)
Begin by conducting a root cause analysis of your pain points using the “5 Whys” technique to dig beneath the surface. Define high-impact solutions by applying the 80/20 rule—focus on the 20% of efforts that will deliver 80% of the value. Develop a service register that outlines the services needed to ensure the right people deliver the right projects in the right way. Identify your “worth it factor”—the compelling reason your stakeholders should invest in your PMO or transformation effort. Finally, create a communication framework that consistently reinforces value, fosters engagement, and aligns messaging across all levels of the organization.
When analyzing root causes, consider three potential areas that often contribute to organizational pain points. The first is strategy definition, which includes issues related to the strategy governance framework, portfolio management model, prioritization processes, intake procedures, and the development of strong business cases. The second area is strategy execution, where challenges may stem from unmet talent requirements, gaps in the project delivery framework, or inadequate tools and resources. Finally, strategy realization may reveal weaknesses in benefits tracking, performance metrics, reporting practices, change management, adoption efforts, continuous improvement processes, or the sustainability and handover of benefits.
Plan (stage 4, plan the impact journey, 2 weeks)
Start by creating a compelling business plan that clearly articulates the value and necessity of your initiative. Align the IMPACT delivery model with your organization’s most pressing challenges to ensure relevance and traction. Use a maturity model – moving through the stages of initiate, accelerate, and elevate – to guide the development of your capabilities over time. Build a comprehensive delivery roadmap that outlines both short-term wins and long-term goals. Support this with an organizational change management plan to drive adoption and minimize resistance. Finally, develop a communications plan that structures key messaging over 30- and 90-day intervals to keep stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the process.
Start by selecting and delivering three prioritized solutions that address your organization’s key challenges. Use a minimum viable product (MVP) approach to launch the first iteration of your IMPACT engine or PMO. Stay focused on outcomes rather than just outputs to ensure meaningful results. Actively manage your team to maintain alignment and momentum. Lead the change using an adaptive management style—shifting between directive, collaborative, empowering, and evolving approaches as needed. Break old habits, drive meaningful change, and establish new, productive behaviors. Follow the marketing playbook: help stakeholders know, like, trust, try, buy into, repeat, and refer your services. Finally, apply a communication framework built on storytelling to inspire engagement and reinforce your message.
Evolve (stage 6, evolve your impact engine, 1 week).
Begin by evaluating your progress—measure what truly matters, communicate the value you’ve delivered, and use those insights to refine and evolve your roadmap. Define a clear focus for the next cycle to maintain momentum and alignment. Strive to become a predictor by anticipating needs and guiding decisions proactively. Balance your time between working in your IMPACT engine – delivering services – and working on it – refining and improving your approach. Embrace iteration as a continuous improvement strategy and remember to pace yourself to ensure sustainable progress over time.
Conclusion
Laura Barnard’s The Impact Engine – Accelerating Strategy Delivery for PMO and Transformation Leaders offers a powerful and actionable roadmap for transforming any PMO into a strategic force that delivers measurable business value. Through its six-stage IMPACT Engine System—Mindset, Assess, Define, Plan, Deliver, and Evolve—the book equips leaders with the mindset, tools, and structure needed to create a continuously improving, outcome-driven PMO.
Each stage builds on the previous one, guiding you from foundational mindset shifts to tangible value delivery and ongoing evolution. The framework not only helps teams launch an initial minimum viable product within 90 days but also fosters a culture of iteration, adaptability, and stakeholder engagement. By aligning services with strategic priorities, emphasizing outcomes over outputs, and maintaining a disciplined yet flexible delivery rhythm, PMO and transformation leaders can drive lasting impact across the organization.
Ultimately, the IMPACT Engine System empowers leaders to move beyond process management and become catalysts of strategic execution—building PMOs that matter, that deliver, and that lead. A must read for business and PMO leaders.
These two books can be enjoyed independently, yet they share a significant connection through their central theme of principles and the fact that a PMO is part of the broader PPM environment too. It’s intriguing to explore the extent to which they also align with each other in terms of consistency.
PMO Principles and PMO Services Principles
In “PMO Principles and PMO Services Principles – How to Build a Principle-based PMO,” Robert Joslin presents principles as a toolkit for designing, implementing, and operating a PMO that is customized to the unique needs and circumstances of each organization. This book is part of a series, some of which are still in development.
The series will include the following upcoming volumes:
PMO Principles and PMO Services Principles
Organizational, Portfolio, Program, and Project Principles
From Single to Enterprise-wide PMOs (under development)
Developing and Applying Project, Program, Portfolio and PMO Competence Frameworks (under development)
PMO Management Body of Knowledge (under development).
The book unfolds across three primary sections. It begins with an in-depth exploration of the fundamental PMO principles, enriched with descriptions, insights, and illustrative examples. The subsequent part focuses on the PMO service principles, specifically designed to align with the PMO services lifecycle framework. Concluding the book is an overview of the PMO service domain principles, demonstrating their application within the service domain.
A principle is a natural law, fundamental truth, or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or a chain of reasoning.
I appreciate the concept of applying the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition to the realms of procedure- and principle-based services. The model suggests that the lower levels—novice, advanced beginner, and competent—benefit from procedural services, while the higher levels—competent, proficient, and expert—present an opportunity for principle-based services. This approach could also prove beneficial for maturity models, especially when transitioning from level 3 to 4, shifting from standard to adaptive processes.
The PMO principles
Principles are elucidated with definitions, tips, and examples provided. The seven PMO principles, along with their specific areas of focus, are detailed as follows:
Sponsorship. Senior management sponsorship and engagement.
Alignment. Governance alignment.
Transparency. Consistent, accurate, timely, and transparent information.
Challenge. Trusted challenge partner to drive value.
Adjustment. Adaptive services and capabilities.
Exemplar. Leads by example.
Improvement. Continuous improvement mindset
When choosing a set of principles, it’s crucial to perform an assurance check to verify that the selected principles deliver the anticipated impact. The book introduces a distinctive method for selecting the most appropriate principles for each PMO. For each principle, you assess whether its impact on the PMO objectives, the challenges faced by the PMO, and the systemic organizational issues is high, medium, or low. Principles that demonstrate the highest impact are then selected.
The significance of PMO principles and the extent to which they are integrated and maintained should be directly proportional to the PMO’s impact factor, acknowledging that other elements also contribute to the PMO’s overall impact.
PMO services principles
Part II elaborates on the PMO services principles, categorizing them according to each phase of the PMO services lifecycle. These phases include service strategy, service design, service pilot and implementation, service operation, and service transformation or retirement.
For each phase, you are presented with a collection of principles accompanied by their descriptions. To identify the most crucial principles, the same selection method used for the PMO principles is applied.
PMO service domain principles
The final section outlines all 22 PMO service domain principles, which are organized into four clusters: conceptualization, planning, execution, and safeguarding the future. For each service domain, you receive tips to master it.
In the appendix, you will find an overview of AIPMO’s PMO Strategic Lifecycle Framework, along with a list of acronyms, a glossary, and lists of the PMO, PMO service lifecycle, and PMO service domain principles.
Organizational, Portfolio, Program, and Project Principles
The book “Organizational, Portfolio, Program, and Project Principles – How to Build a Principle-based PPM Environment,” authored by Robert Joslin and Rälf Müller, offers a comprehensive overview of principles, illustrating their pivotal role within an organization. It delves into how principles govern the organization and lay the groundwork for portfolio, program, and project management, providing a holistic perspective on the subject.
The book begins by introducing principles, ethics, and values, exploring the causal relationships between principles, values, and behavior. It distinguishes between management and governance principles and discusses how principles can be applied throughout the organization.
Governance principles
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has outlined five key principles for effective governance: transparency, accountability, responsibility, fairness, and sustainability.
Shared principles across a portfolio, program, and project
Shared principles, which are applied across portfolio, program, and project management, come with an explanation, definitions, tips, and a case study for each. The principles discussed and their respective focuses include:
Sponsorship. The effectiveness of every initiative is linked to the degree of senior management interest and engagement.
Governance alignment. The portfolio, program, and project governance structures are aligned within and to organizational governance.
Strategic alignment. Ensuring the right initiatives are selected, and checked against the then and current strategy throughout their respective lifecycles.
Leadership. Demonstrate a balance of leadership and management to embed and uphold the PPM principles to maximize situational impact.
Insight. Reflective learning and insight.
Improvement. Continuous improvement mindset.
PMO alignment. Aligned portfolio, program, and project PMOs.
Sustainability. Taking decisions based on the three pillars of sustainability, that is, economic, environmental, and social.
Portfolio management principles
A range of principles applicable to portfolio management is thoroughly explained, complete with tips and examples on their application. These principles are designed to tackle the primary challenges encountered in portfolio management. Additional principles can be incorporated to meet the specific needs of a portfolio. The principles discussed and their respective focuses include:
Value orientation. Value creation within an organization is to exploit opportunities to create value.
Selection. Select the right projects for the right reasons.
Adjustment. Continuous adjustments to optimize cost/value, resources, work type, and schedule.
Kill early, kill fast. A clinical non-biased approach of a component deselection.
Program management principles
A variety of principles relevant to program management are comprehensively detailed, accompanied by practical tips and illustrative examples for their implementation. These principles are crafted to address the core challenges faced in program management. To cater to the unique requirements of a specific program, additional principles can be integrated. The principles discussed, along with their specific areas of focus, include:
Benefits orientation. Leading change to create sustainable benefits, as a direct and indirect result of the program.
Balance expectation/impact. Balancing the management of stakeholders and management forstakeholders to adjust expectations and impact.
Risk optimization. Develop and execute risk strategies to maximize the probability of delivering the expected benefits.
Capability. Design, build, and deliver a sustainable program capability.
Project management principles
A selection of principles pertinent to project management is elaborately presented, along with actionable tips and vivid examples for their application. These principles are designed to confront the fundamental challenges inherent in project management. To accommodate the distinct demands of a particular project, extra principles may be added. The principles discussed, each with its dedicated focus, include:
Feasibility. The continuous validation of the feasibility of project objectives and their potential adjustment.
Guidance. Guidance through management and leadership.
Be prepared. Planning and risk management as one.
The vital few (success factors). Determine what makes the difference in achieving the project goals.
Tailoring. Tailor the methodology and approach to increase the likelihood of project success.
Customer/client orientation. Providing value to your customer/client while balancing the interests of your organization and your customer/client.
International principle-based methodologies
In a dedicated chapter, we receive a comprehensive overview of the principles from various international principle-based methodologies, including PMBOK (PMI), IPMA ICB, PRINCE2 (Axelos), Agile principles, ISO principles, Half Double principles, and AIPMO PMO Principles.
Selecting principles
Considering the array of principles, it’s essential to determine which are the most crucial. Begin with the five OECD principles as a foundation, outline the entity’s objectives, major problems or challenges, and systemic issues. Compile a list of potential principles and evaluate them based on their effectiveness in supporting the objectives and mitigating the challenges and systemic issues faced by the entity. Finally, conduct tests on the selected principles to ensure their efficacy.
Decision-making
The final chapter provides insights on how to apply principles to minimize the risk of suboptimal decision-making. It addresses the following risks: bias, incomplete and/or ambiguous information, inexperience or lack of competence, self-interest, and ill-fitting or poorly designed governance structures.
Conclusion
I can highly recommend these books. The two books offer a thorough overview of principle-based PMO and PPM environments. The binding, though acceptable, has flaws affecting durability. This is likely a result of using Amazon. Adequate typography is marred by occasional inconsistencies hindering readability (e.g. the table titles are difficult to read). Effective use of color enhances visual appeal. The text is generally clear. Language usage is engaging, but occasional dull moments occur. The content is highly relevant, delivering actionable guidance that enhances practical utility and substantially enriches professional practice with innovative solutions. It also aids decision-making with clear, applicable advice and provides robust solutions for relevant problems. It presents a new perspective e.g. how to build a PMO based on principles, the usage of shared principles and the method to select the right principles, with relevant examples. Case studies vary in relevance and integration, with some offering deep insight while others lack relevance. The highly qualified authors engage with the community, demonstrating significant impact. While the book provides insight, it lacks depth and thorough coverage in certain areas, limiting its effectiveness, especially in personal growth advice. But as stated this book is part of a family of PMO related books.
Upon reviewing the chapter on international principle-based methodologies, it seems to me that agile methodologies are somewhat underrated. With over 100 different agile frameworks and approaches available, the initial explanation of the Agile Manifesto and its twelve underlying principles appears somewhat cursory. This is referred to as Agile 1, noting that there is a revised version, Agile 2. However, to my knowledge, Agile 2 is not widely recognized internationally. It’s curious why the chapter does not consider the frameworks from the Agile Business Consortium, which include AgilePfM (with 5 principles), AgilePgM (with 5 principles), and AgilePM (with 5 principles), or other well-established frameworks like SAFe or LeSS with their own principles.
On the flip side, it’s acknowledged that agile methodologies, much like prescriptive methods, are not a one-size-fits-all solution. A more hybrid approach, favoring a blend of frameworks and techniques tailored to the project’s specific needs, is often more advantageous. This adaptability underscores the benefits of adopting a principles-based approach, allowing for flexibility and customization in project management practices.
Consistency
Both books employ a consistent methodology. Each principle is succinctly defined, typically in one or two words, along with a focused explanation. This same method underlies the selection of the appropriate principles.
The book Projects: Methods: Outcomes – The new PMO Model for True Project and Change Success by Peter Talor offers the author’s view of building a global PMO he is running. His Global PMO is build around three teams:
Projects Team focused on onboarding, education, certification, support, community, and project manager career.
Methods Team focused on the “how”, the framework for common project delivery whilst offering flexibility on approach, depending on project scale, partnership, and service offering.
Outcomes Team focused on being the direct project management and service management interaction and support. The bridge between the projects and method teams and the users of the output from those teams. The bridge between the projects and methods teams and the users of the output from those teams. A proactive, two-way communications channel to share the PMO strategy and to listen to, and react to, local tactical needs.
The author states that this book is likely his last on PMOs and that we shouldn’t hold it against him for frequently referring to his other books. With its structure of nine chapters and many short paragraphs containing references or text copied from his own books, it has become quite a superficial book in which the common thread is hard to discern. However, I must make an exception for some paragraphs written by others, which do provide more depth.
I would also expect a portfolio management function. There is only mention of a portfolio dashboard and a few KPIs. You can have the best project managers, the best method, the best support but if your organization is running too many projects in parallel the result is dramatic! You can finish fantastic projects but if they aren’t delivering value to your strategic objectives, it is of no use.
I wonder if this superficial book really adds value to the PMO community.
To order Projects: Methods: Outcomes: bol., Amazon
The book PMO Services and Capabilities – Including an overview of AIPMO’s competence framework – Competences per PMO service – Techniques and tools per PMO service is written by Robert Joslin. This book is unique as it addresses in a systematic and structured way for each PMO service including the associated attributes how to implement service to provide the right service to the right people at the right moment.
Each organizational unit is unique, each organizational unit needs its own set of PMO services.
The book is divided into two parts:
The first small part contains a high level overview of AIPMO’s services lifecycle framework (service strategy, service design, service pilot and implementation, service operations, service transform or retire) as part of AIPMO’s methodology on how to build and implement a PMO services and capabilities catalog
The second main part lists the PMO services that are in service groups and listed under the 22 service domains.
There are over 220 PMO services described in this book. The book is based on a three-level categorization system that allowed services to be grouped (service groups) with a service domain. A service domain is related to an area of experience. There are 22 service domains explained.
Each service domain is broken down into one to three service groups (in total approximately 60). A service group is related to one of the three main activity types that the PMO is expected to do:
Design – a PMO can provide the standards, tools, templates, processes, procedures, help, guidance, framework that defines how work will operate within that particular service domain
Operate – a PMO can operate (or perform) some of the work on behalf of other people within the project (program or portfolio) team. If the PMO does not perform this service then, if this is performed at all, then this will be done by another member of the project (program or portfolio) team
Monitor – a PMO can review the work done by others and provide and independent quality assessment and check. They can provide reporting across the service domain and highlight items that require escalation.
Not all of the PMO activities fall neatly into the 3 groupings. For some of the services activities are categorized in a more relevant way. This has been done for ease of comprehension as it fits more naturally into how the service domain operates.
The 22 service domains explained in the book are: integration management, stakeholder management, communications management, governance, frameworks and methodologies management, PPM tools management, consultancy, portfolio management, benefits management, financial management, schedule management, risk management, quality management, supplier management, capability and capacity management, configuration management, change management, issue management, administrative management, innovation management, knowledge management and PMO self-development.
To give an example for the portfolio management service domain, its domain services and services.
Within each service group there are one or more services. A service is the lowest level of offering that a PMO can provide. The service domains are grouped into four clusters (conceptualization, planning, execution and safeguarding the future).
Each service has 2 audiences:
The PMO How the service should be performed and some hints and tips that the PMO should consider when performing the service.
The customer Why do you want to get this service, what would you expect to be delivered from this service, and why would you benefit.
For each service you get a description, what it provides for the customer, why is it being offered to the customer, SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output and Customer), demand triggers, measurement indicators, tips and tricks, needed capabilities (organizational enabler capabilities, personal capabilities, service domain capabilities, techniques, tools) and references to related services. Each service ends with suggestions for further reading.
Conclusion: I have never seen such a complete overview of PMO services for a single PMO. 1,7 kg heavy, 22 service domains with in total 60 service groups and more than 220 services. On the other hand, it isn’t complete. For sure there will be PMO’s offering services that are not explained in this book. New developments take place. E.g. the rise of Value Management Offices with their own specific services. But this is something the author mentions too and solutions to cover this will be offered in the near future. The book is structured as a reference work and will bring a lot of value for those involved in PMO’s. If you are involved in a PMO setting this is definitely a must have.
The only struggle I have is to find the place where a service is explained. Table 2.1 shows the service group mapping, but the services themselves aren’t mentioned. I would suggest replacing the domain number with the chapter number used in part 2 where all the services are explained. See also my example regarding portfolio management.
I am looking forward to some other titles AIPMO is preparing. E.g. Project, Program, Portfolio, and PMO Competences Frameworks: Designing for Successful Outcomes.
To order PMO Services and capabilities: bol.com, amazon
Henny Portman's Blog