This is **Part 2** of our smaller PMO transformation series. If you haven't read it yet, start with [**Part 1: Smaller PMOs, Better Delivery — The Case for Change**](/insights/smaller-pmo/pmo-transformation-case-for-change) to understand the problem and business case before diving into implementation. Before/After organizational diagram showing traditional PMO structure vs. embedded Modern VRO™ model with delivery teams

Before/After organizational diagram showing traditional PMO structure vs. embedded Modern VRO™ model with delivery teams

## Implementation Overview Ready to transform your PMO from an oversight bottleneck into a delivery accelerator? This guide provides the practical tactics and step-by-step process you need to start seeing results within 90 days. The transformation isn't overly complex, but success requires a disciplined approach and—critically—independent expertise. Let's dive into the proven methods that achieve **1:8 to 1:10 oversight-to-delivery ratios** while maintaining compliance. --- ## Delivery-Focused Transformation Tactics *Note: A detailed implementation plan is beyond the scope of this document. If you're interested in discussing implementation specifics for your program, contact us.* A practical transformation usually includes high-leverage tactics that are often overlooked. Specific percentages and ratios are context-specific and tailored to each organization's unique situation. These proven methods reflect successful applications used to improve delivery and optimize PMO effectiveness. **Tactic #1: Strategic Role Conversion (10-50% of non-delivery roles)** **What We Do:** Move oversight staff from separate PMO functions into embedded delivery team roles where they share accountability for actual delivery outcomes. If your office already runs lean, the focus shifts to sharpening existing roles rather than large-scale conversion. **Why It's Critical & Overlooked:** People in separate oversight roles have zero skin in the game. They can create processes, demand reports, and slow decisions without ever feeling the consequences. When embedded in delivery teams, they suddenly experience the friction their own bureaucracy creates. PMO staff who've never felt the pain of waiting 3 weeks for architectural approval become the strongest advocates for streamlining that process once they're on delivery teams waiting for their own approvals. **Measurable Impact:** This single change can eliminate 15-30% of the documented waste we see, because embedded staff naturally eliminate bureaucracy that doesn't add delivery value. On a 100-person program, that's reclaiming 15-30 people worth of productive capacity. **Tactic #2: Delivery Agent: Strategic Alignment and Value Validation** **What We Do:** Embed a role specifically focused on continuously validating that team work connects to measurable strategic outcomes, not just completed tasks. **Why It's Critical & Overlooked:** Most federal teams stay busy completing features, requirements, and tasks without anyone validating if that work actually drives mission outcomes. Delivery Agents surface when teams are building the wrong things efficiently. Programs gradually drift from strategic intent as teams focus on immediate deliverables. No one has explicit accountability for maintaining strategic alignment day-to-day. **Measurable Impact:** Can eliminate 30-50% of work that doesn't drive strategic value. On large programs, this means redirecting millions of dollars from low-value activities to mission-critical outcomes. **Tactic #3: Framework and Communication Optimization** **What We Do:** Start with the absolute minimum meetings required by your framework (SAFe®, Scrum@Scale®, etc.) and only add meetings that demonstrably improve delivery outcomes. **Why It's Critical & Overlooked:** Organizations add meetings reactively to solve problems, but never remove them when the problems are solved. Most PMOs have 3-5x more recurring meetings than necessary. Leaders think more coordination meetings mean better oversight, but they actually create decision delays and diffusion of accountability. **Measurable Impact:** Can reclaim 25-40% of staff time currently lost to unnecessary coordination. On our client programs, this typically means 2-3 extra productive days per person per week. Leaner ceremonies free 4-6 hours per person each sprint for high-value work. **Tactic #4: Tactical Swarming Approach** **What We Do:** Concentrate intense, cross-functional collaboration on specific delivery challenges for short periods, then scale back as teams build capability. **Why It's Critical & Overlooked:** Most organizations create permanent working groups for temporary problems. Swarming solves problems fast, then dissolves. Intensive collaboration rapidly builds institutional knowledge across teams, reducing dependency on subject matter experts. **Measurable Impact:** Can compress 6-month problem-solving cycles into 2-4 weeks. Eliminates 60-80% of the escalation and coordination overhead that typically exists around complex delivery issues. **Tactic #5: AI-Enhanced Delivery Analytics** **What We Do:** Use a lightweight AI dashboard (deployed on two DHS programs) that flags abandoned tasks, duplicated efforts, and cross-team bottlenecks in real time. **Why It's Critical & Overlooked:** Human oversight only catches obvious inefficiencies. AI surfaces patterns of waste that are individually small but collectively massive. Traditional PMO reporting is backward-looking. AI analytics provide real-time course correction before waste compounds. **Measurable Impact:** Typically identifies 15-25% productivity gains hidden in workflow inefficiencies. Can prevent resource waste before it happens rather than documenting it after the fact. **Measurable Results:** Lean PMOs typically operate at a **1:8–1:10** oversight-to-delivery ratio, cutting bureaucracy without sacrificing governance. This shift significantly reduces bureaucratic overhead, improves decision-making speed, and enhances overall mission delivery, all while involving only moderate reductions in total PMO headcount. Questions about implementing these tactics in your agency? [Contact us](/contact?message=Hello,%20I%20was%20reading%20your%20article%20%22Part%202:%20How%20to%20Shrink%20Your%20PMO%22%20about%20implementing%20lean%20tactics%20to%20achieve%201:8-1:10%20oversight-to-delivery%20ratios.%20I'm%20interested%20in%20discussing%20how%20these%20strategies%20could%20be%20applied%20to%20our%20program:%0A%0A[Please%20describe%20your%20agency,%20current%20PMO%20challenges,%20program%20size,%20and%20which%20transformation%20tactics%20interest%20you%20most]) to discuss your situation and we'll recommend solutions. --- ## The Ratio Transformation Process **This Transformation Is Achievable—Even on Large Programs** Fixing oversized PMO ratios isn't overly complex. Significant improvements can be achieved within 90 days, even on very large federal programs. However, success requires a disciplined approach and—critically—independent expertise. **Why Independence Is Essential** Without independent support, PMO transformation rarely succeeds. Internal staff typically face significant conflicts: they must evaluate colleagues they work with daily, challenge leadership decisions they helped implement, and recommend changes that could affect their own career prospects. Independence eliminates these barriers and provides the objective analysis required for meaningful change. **Procurement Considerations** **Independent PMO transformation support is not terribly expensive.** Most programs can achieve benefits for under the $250,000 Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT), enabling direct awards that are both quick and straightforward—perfect for agencies needing rapid improvements under budget pressure. The following three steps help programs get started. This is a starter approach, not a comprehensive transformation plan. Full implementation requires detailed role analysis, stakeholder alignment, and systematic management. ### Step 1: Calculate Your Current Non-Delivery to Delivery Ratio **Quick Assessment:** *Don't know your ratio? Here's a simplified way to calculate it.* **Count Your Hands-on Delivery Staff:** - Software developers, system integrators, data analysts - UX/UI designers, architects, engineers - Product owners, anyone building, configuring, or testing solutions - **Your Delivery Team Count:** _____ **Count Your Non-Delivery Staff:** - Schedule analysts, risk management analysts, EVM analysts - Compliance analysts, process managers, governance staff - Project managers, program coordinators, anyone primarily focused on oversight, reporting, or coordination - **Your Non-Delivery Staff Count:** _____ **Calculate Your Ratio:** - Non-Delivery Staff ÷ Delivery Team = **Your Ratio** - Example: 25 non-delivery staff ÷ 50 delivery staff = **1:2 ratio** **What Your Ratio Means:** - **1:10 or better** = Excellent (proven results) - **1:8 to 1:9** = Fair (solid performance) - **1:6 to 1:7** = Concerning (improvement needed) - **1:5 or worse** = Major impediment to fast, high-quality delivery This is a simplified assessment. A full diagnostic takes under 10 days even for large programs and includes stakeholder interviews, artifact sampling, detailed role mapping, hybrid function analysis, vendor staff categorization, and a rapid-insights workshop for precise optimization. ### Step 2: Map Roles for Embedded Integration **Identify PMO Roles That Can Move to Delivery Teams** Start by mapping which oversight functions can be embedded within delivery teams while maintaining independence. From your Step 1 assessment, target these specific roles for integration: - Architecture review staff - IV&V analysts - Risk management analysts - Schedule analysts - Compliance analysts - EVM analysts **Implement the Delivery Agent Role** The delivery agent role addresses many functions traditionally scattered across PMO organizations. This expanded role combines traditional team support (like scrum masters) with strategic responsibilities that drive mission outcomes. Many teams today view scrum masters as expendable because they don't add substantial value—we've expanded this role significantly. **Key delivery agent responsibilities:** - Strategic alignment validation (ensures work connects to mission outcomes) - Team facilitation and impediment removal - Delivery process optimization - Risk identification and mitigation within the team context - Performance measurement and improvement **Maintain Independence Through Contract Structure** The delivery agent role must remain organizationally independent from the primary delivery contractor. Since most programs already have separate PMO and system integration contracts, a separate contract for delivery agents isn't unusual. We can provide training for existing staff transitioning to this role or supply pre-trained delivery agents who understand this expanded scope. ### Step 3: Test and Optimize **The Lean Testing Approach** - **Test by elimination** - In areas with relatively low risk, try moving forward without certain positions to see what actually happens - Be prepared to add people back if genuinely needed, but be very careful about adding until it's proven necessary - Only add back roles when you have concrete evidence that the work cannot be absorbed by existing delivery teams **Identify Automation Opportunities** - **Administrative task automation** - What routine reporting, status updates, or coordination tasks can be automated? - **Workflow optimization** - Where can embedded delivery agents handle work that currently requires dedicated oversight staff? - **Tool consolidation** - What manual processes can be streamlined through better tooling or integration? **Leverage Embedded Delivery Capacity** - Remember: embedded delivery agent staff on each team can handle the majority of administrative requirements - Focus on what delivery teams can absorb rather than what oversight teams must retain --- ## Conclusion: From Oversight to Outcomes 1:2 and 1:3 non-delivery to delivery staff ratios are relics from when more oversight seemed like better governance. Right-sizing isn't about randomly cutting positions—it's about redirecting effort toward mission delivery instead of bureaucratic overhead. We've seen agencies achieve improvements through relatively simple changes: - **1:8 to 1:10 sustainable ratios** that balance compliance with delivery effectiveness - **20% - 50% PMO cost reductions** with measurably better mission outcomes - **Dramatically improved** team morale and stakeholder satisfaction Most program leaders already know their PMOs are large and their delivery isn't as effective as it could be. The challenge is having the objective analysis and political cover to address it systematically. That's typically where independent expertise becomes essential, not because the solutions are complex, but because internal staff can't make the hard decisions about colleagues. The opportunity is massive: redirect millions of dollars from bureaucratic overhead to mission-critical delivery while dramatically improving results. The question isn't whether to act—it's how quickly you can start. --- ## Continue Learning **Part 1:** [**Smaller PMOs, Better Delivery — The Case for Change**](/insights/smaller-pmo/pmo-transformation-case-for-change) *Understanding the problem, mathematical reality, and business case for transformation* **Part 2:** [**How to Shrink Your PMO — A Practical Implementation Guide**](/insights/smaller-pmo/pmo-shrink-guide) *(This Article)* *Step-by-step tactics, proven methodologies, and 3-step transformation process* --- ## References **1.** According to 18F's Federal Field Guide, only 13% of large government software projects are successful. **2.** GAO reports indicate that many federal IT modernization efforts experience significant schedule delays, often exceeding 18 months. **3.** Self-reported waste based on calendar analyses and feedback from hundreds of Government and contractor staff on large-scale federal programs. **4.** The "communication channels" formula and the importance of small teams for effective coordination are discussed in Fred Brooks' "The Mythical Man-Month" and supported by modern research. See also Harvard Business Review.

Posts tagged "delivery-optimization"

Part 2: How to Shrink Your PMO — A Practical Implementation Guide