The PMO Whisperer
Do the right projects, right
Make your PMO a
business differentiator
An ex-Gartner and ex-KPMG leader, Liz Martinez is an expert at program rescue as well as aligning portfolio and programs with business strategy. She has built, upskilled and advised PMOs across a wide range of industries and Fortune 500 companies, in addition to many federal agencies and state and local governments.
An experienced Chief of Staff and strategic analyst, she brings her pragmatic approach and deep expertise to improve processes, transparency and structure, aligning your teams to better fulfill your vision.
Columbia Business School MBA
Univ. of Pennsylvania BA, Mathematics, minor CS Engineering
About Us
Your program is going sideways, and you are at your breaking point ... you need professional help to get it on track.
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Get the facts
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Get straight talk
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Get options
You don't need a project coordinator, a project reporter ...
You need a project DRIVER, a project OWNER
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We create realistic, viable options based on your goals
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We create clear schedules with interim kpis
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We manage your teams and set up transparent reporting
Call the PMO Whisperer. We get projects back to green.
Get the expertise you need at the right price point.
Industries & Companies Served
Case Study 1 -
Problem: Failed and Failing Program
Sysco had tried - and failed twice - to unite 100+ subsidiaries onto a single Workday payroll platform. With over 44,000 employees and only 9 months to get this done, they were running out of time and resources.
Solution: Program Rescue
Clarify & Align: We created a foundation for success to ensure we recognize success:
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assessed and clarified the goals and available resources
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created pragmatic goal-aligned schedule details with interim deliverables
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aligned on clear reporting and communication cadences for workstreams and leadership.
Measure Impact & Monitor: We supported workstreams with transparent schedules and metrics:
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communicating clear progress as well as roadblocks - bad news does not age well
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generating options with risk assessments for clear decision making
Adapt: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." When funding cuts were threatened in the final 2 months of the program, the team stepped up to demonstrate the critical value of organization change initiatives to ensure adoption and integration into operations.
Result: Program Rescued!
On-time and on-budget delivery with transparency and leadership alignment throughout. More importantly, Workday was integrated into the day-to-day operations of Sysco.
Case Study 2 -
Problem: Runaway Program
After 2 years of a 3-year program, a global Regulatory Information Management system implementation for over 100 products was already 4 years behind schedule. Yes, from 3 years to 7 years ... and growing. Bespoke and reactive migration by molecule was bogging down the team in a world where perfection was the enemy of progress.
Solution: Program Rescue
Clarify & Align: We clarified and aligned on details of what was needed:
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We collaborated with the in-flight project team to decompose and codify the tasks needed for a sample product. Together, we built planning "legos" with clear dependencies and resourcing requirements for simple, medium, complex, and super complex products that formed the basis for ground up program plan.
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We grouped the roll-out by SME to optimize this scarce resource and created clear interim milestones.
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We created governance and program structure to clarify scope and prioritize products.
Measure Impact & Monitor: With clear metrics, we set up regular leadership and workstream reporting cadences to support escalation and rapid decision making
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We provided realistic and transparent options to leadership for scope management and interim deadlines to support crashing the schedule from 7 years to 5.
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Manage program with transparency and train client staff for 1 year.
Adapt: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." In the late stages of planning, it became clear that organic compounds had been completely left out of the planning cycle. We held emergency steering committee meetings to revalidate, reprioritize, and replan.
Result: Program Rescued!
Within 1 year, this runaway program was fortified and reigned in. We trained the client resources and turned over plan and process to continue cadence. We left the program in capable hands, meeting all interim milestones and on target for completion within 5 years of original start.
