Here is where I share upcoming events, highlights from those I’ve attended and links to posts with my key takeaways.

Plus you can join the wider conversation with other practitioners in the PMO Break Out Area on Facebook and the weekly #PMChat on Twitter.

The PMO Unconference

Last week in Manchester was Stand Up for PMO – what looks like the first of many judging by the positive feedback I’ve seen across social media since then!  Take a look at the highlights video here.

I was up first with a session on “Setting Up a PMO”, which took inspiration from Bill Dow’s excellent book The PMO Lifecycle and was structured around his “12 Key Steps” poster, available from his website.

The evening before was the PMO Manager’s Dinner – where we explored the metrics and measures in place to demonstrate PMO value. Look out for the next edition of Inside PMO in early 2019, which will be created from the contributions to this discussion and the conclusions we drew.

“Wominspiration” at the BCS Kent branch meeting

I’m proud to have been invited to speak at this event on 22nd November, part of a series by the British Computer Society for all those wanting to know more about gender diversity and equal opportunities in IT.

I shared my own personal journey, from how having a supportive and forward-thinking Computer Studies teacher helped to convince my school headmistress to offer a GCSE course – which gave me a head start in the working world just as PCs arrived on desks everywhere, through to my recent tenure as Interim Head of IT Programme Management for a leading global transport provider.

My key piece of advice? “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything”.

More about the initiative can be found in this video, from an event earlier this year which took place on International Women’s Day.