Goodbye PMO and hello Value Management Office?
- Sally-Anne Baxter
- Aug 29
- 2 min read
I've been reading about the rise of the Value Management Office (VMO), apparently the next evolution on from the traditional PMO.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐕𝐌𝐎 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐰
There's a growing need to track what truly moves the needle for businesses, not just on-time delivery but measurable ROI, customer impact and strategic alignment.
Sounds eminently sensible but how does it work?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐌𝐎'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞:
➡️ 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: VMOs empower teams to focus on outcomes that create business value, not just adherence to project plans.
➡️ 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: Every project is mapped to company objectives, ensuring resources go where they drive the most impact.
➡️ 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬: VMOs use dashboards and analytics to track value delivery, such as ROI, cost avoidance, customer satisfaction, and portfolio performance.
➡️ 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭:By operating as agile teams, VMOs facilitate rapid pivots and continuous improvement, keeping the business competitive.
According to Mirorim, organisations using VMO principles saw 20% faster pivot to strategic priorities and a 25% improvement in benefits realisation over legacy PMO models.
𝐄𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐌𝐎 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬
VMOs prioritise the tracking of impact-centric KPIs, such as:
➡️ ROI per project/programme
➡️ Customer Net Promoter Score at completion
➡️ Cost avoidance realised
➡️ Percentage of strategic goals advanced
𝐕𝐌𝐎 𝐯𝐬 𝐏𝐌𝐎: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝?
I'd argue that all projects and programmes should be tracking this anyway, so how is a VMO different?
According to Mirorim, traditional PMOs track scope, schedule and budget, BUT VMOs take it further with lean budgeting, value stream mapping and adaptive governance - so decisions are driven by what creates tangible benefit.
Links to articles on the topic from Epicflow Multi-Project Resource Management Software, Mirorim and Benneconsult:
What are your thoughts on this? Is VMO just a PMO rebrand?
Shouldn't/wouldn't a good PMO be focused on KPI tracking too?
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