Right-sizing keeps a PMO aligned with changing delivery demand by shifting between transformation, consolidation and lean modes. Using governance, resourcing, support, portfolio and technology levers, leaders can scale effort up or down without eroding core capability or confidence in delivery
Key Insights
- Clear signals you’re right-sized: scaled governance, support at team speed, decision-ready insight, bottlenecks unblocked.
- “Too heavy” vs “too lean” symptoms leaders should watch for.
- Essentials that stay in a lean PMO can flex to 1 of 3 modes with demand: transformation, consolidation, lean.
A project management office (PMO) that was the right size for last year’s transformation may now feel heavy. One that operated well in steady-state conditions might struggle when strategic change accelerates. Many leaders understand the value their PMO creates, but the question executives are asking today is whether that value will hold as market conditions tighten, and how the function can be right-sized to stay relevant.
Right-sizing is not the same as cost-cutting. Reducing headcount may achieve a financial outcome, but it often removes capability that is still required. The aim is to ensure the PMO’s scope, staffing and governance align with the real portfolio and the organisation’s current level of delivery activity.
When this alignment exists, work moves more smoothly and decisions become clearer. When it does not, even a capable PMO can begin to look like overhead.
These seven questions help senior leaders assess whether their PMO is positioned appropriately to support delivery, without adding unnecessary weight to the system.
How do we know if our PMO is the right size for the current level of delivery activity?
A PMO is generally right-sized when portfolio outcomes are trending in the right direction, project teams feel supported rather than managed, and executives receive timely, decision-ready insight without unnecessary noise. In practice, the signals are usually straightforward: governance is scaled to match the risk and complexity of the work, support is delivered at the speed teams need, and the PMO can identify and unblock bottlenecks across the portfolio.
The balance between resources and tooling is another indicator. A PMO can collect data manually, but it is labour-intensive and often results in teams spending the bulk of their time building reports, rather than interpreting them. Effective tooling improves data quality and timeliness, allowing fewer people to produce the same output.
However, tools can never replace the human value of interpretation, insight and preventative action. When resourcing and tooling are appropriately balanced, the PMO has enough capacity to move beyond data collection and focus on strengthening project outcomes and overall portfolio performance.
What are the signs that a PMO has become too heavy or too lean?
A PMO usually becomes too heavy when the mechanics of governance start outweighing the value they create. You hear more frustration about approvals, templates and mandatory meetings than you do about progress. Decisions take longer than they should, lead times stretch and delays are caused by process rather than delivery constraints. Reporting often grows in volume while shrinking in usefulness, with attention turning to compliance rather than outcomes.
A PMO that has become too lean shows the opposite symptoms. Ways of working drift apart because there is no time or capacity to maintain guardrails. Teams start solving problems in their own way, sometimes duplicating effort or missing opportunities to reuse insight. The portfolio view weakens, prioritisation becomes reactive and resource clashes intensify because no one is looking across the whole picture. Projects begin to hit the same issues repeatedly because lessons and standards are not being embedded.
What capabilities should always remain in place, even in a lean PMO?
A lean PMO still needs to hold the essentials that protect value. Leaders require a view of the portfolio that helps them direct attention, even if that view is far simpler than in peak activity periods. A light governance layer also needs to remain in play: enough structure to manage risk, scope and change, without returning to heavy process.
Some visibility of skills and capacity is also critical. Even rough tracking lets executives weigh trade-offs before making commitments. And project leads still benefit from coaching in planning, risk management and reporting, regardless of whether they sit in the business or the PMO. With sensible tooling and clear responsibility boundaries, a small team can carry these foundations without feeling stretched.
When should a PMO move between transformation, consolidation and lean modes?
PMOs change mode when the organisation changes gear. Transformation mode is useful during major shifts, such as new digital programs, significant restructuring, mergers, or periods where delivery volume increases dramatically. It provides the structure and guidance needed when everything is moving at once.
Consolidation mode often follows. It becomes necessary when organisations reduce investment, combine delivery functions, or need to simplify how work is managed. It pulls duplicated effort together and stabilises the environment.
Lean mode suits quieter periods or cost-constrained environments. The portfolio is smaller or more predictable, and the focus turns to preserving the essentials while trimming anything that adds weight without adding value.
In these lean periods, delivery success becomes even more important. With fewer initiatives in play, each one needs to land well. That is why a lean PMO cannot remove critical delivery and governance capability; the organisation has less room for failure.
To read more about the three modes, see The Right-Sized PMO: Aligning the Operating Model with Delivery Demand.
What does a right-sized PMO look like day-to-day?
A right-sized PMO should feel like a partner in delivery rather than a checkpoint. Portfolio forums focus on the information that actually matter: risks that need attention, resourcing fluctuations, changes in benefit outlook and where decisions will unblock progress. Delivery frameworks give teams support without forcing them into a rigid mould.
PMO staff join the conversations that shape work, rather than waiting for reports to arrive. They help sponsors and project managers get ahead of risks and dependencies, and they remove friction where possible. From the perspective of stakeholders, the PMO makes their work easier to navigate, not harder.
How is right-sizing different from cutting budget or headcount?
Right-sizing is about the value returned for the investment made, not simply the size of the line item. Cuts remove cost but often remove the very capability required to protect delivery. Right-sizing can lead to a smaller PMO, a larger one, or a differently configured one. What matters most is that it is aligned closely with the organisation’s current realities.
It may mean introducing a PMO-as-a-service model when budgets cannot sustain a full in-house team. It may mean investing in tooling or AI to reduce manual effort and redirect people toward interpretation and guidance. Or it may mean moving the focus of the PMO entirely: strengthening sponsorship capability, improving benefit practices, or creating better insight into portfolio choices.
The underlying principle is simple: change the mix so capability matches need. Sometimes that involves cost reduction; sometimes it requires targeted investment.
How can we communicate right-sizing so it is seen as value, not overhead?
Most executives will support right-sizing when it is framed around the organisational challenges they already feel, such as slow decisions, unclear priorities, inconsistent delivery outcomes, or lack of visibility. Start there. Explain how the PMO will help ease those points of friction, not simply how the structure will change.
Build the narrative with sponsors and delivery leaders rather than presenting a plan in isolation. Show what will become simpler or faster for them as the PMO changes modes. Use a roadmap to illustrate how services will evolve, especially around consolidation or tooling changes.
Finally, report value in a way that connects directly to outcomes. Highlight avoided risks, accelerated decisions, or benefits brought forward. When stakeholders can see tangible improvement, the PMO is understood as an enabler rather than an overhead.
To read more about the diminishing visibility of PMO value, see Evolving the PMO: How Capability Grows from Foundation to Strategic Partner.
Moving from assessment to action
The PMOs that remain relevant are the ones that move in step with the organisation. Right-sizing is a way of staying in step, by matching capability to demand, removing effort from the system and keeping attention focused on what drives outcomes.
If you’re unsure whether your current configuration suits the environment ahead, these seven questions give you a practical starting point. They will help reveal whether the PMO needs to build capability, refocus effort or simplify its model. What matters is acting before the perception gap grows too wide.
Quay Consulting supports organisations to assess PMO maturity and design operating models that evolve over time. Our maturity assessments and leadership roundtables provide a clear view of what to refine and what to preserve.
Join us at the next Quay Roundtable or reach out to discuss how we can support your PMO’s next step.
Five practical ways to measure PMO impact
- Keep the top-level view simple. Focus on the indicators executives use to make decisions, not every metric the PMO can produce.
- Watch how performance moves over time. Trends in timing, variance or throughput tell you more about delivery health than a single snapshot.
- Make value visible. Highlight realised benefits, avoided costs or risks prevented so stakeholders can see the impact of PMO intervention.
- Check stakeholder experience. Short surveys or conversations with sponsors and project leads reveal whether the PMO feels like a partner.
- Make information easy to act on. Use simple visuals and short notes that draw attention to decisions that need to be made.
Quay Consulting is a professional services business specialising in the project landscape, transforming strategy into fit-for-purpose delivery. Meet our team or reach out to have a discussion today.
