Get on Track

How to Build, Run, and Level Up Your Program Management Office

Paula Dieli

Don’t let your company run off the rails.

A company spread across multiple internal organizations, projects, and time zones can be a little like a train without a conductor— moving, but prone to confusion, communication gaps, and at risk of veering off the rails.

If your organization is beset by competing deadlines, inexpert strategies, and missed milestones, it’s time to invest in your own business conductor: a program management office. In this essential field guide to building, staffing, and running a top-notch PMO, software industry executive and program management specialist Paula Dieli shares essential tools, insights, and real-life case studies from major companies such as Zendesk, Adobe, and Macromedia.

Aimed at both business leaders and program managers, you’ll learn everything you need to know about setting up a PMO—from creating schedules and managing issues, to running effective meetings, to building relationships and people skills.

If you’re serious about meeting corporate objectives and creating an environment of continued success and achievement, a PMO isn’t just a no-brainer: it’s a critical component in ensuring you stay on track and hit your strategic goals—reliably, on time, and with finesse.


Reviews

“Paula Dieli brings years of practical wisdom to life in Get on Track, leveraging her experience in successfully building Zendesk’s PMO from scratch and making it a key ingredient in Zendesk’s unprecedented growth and success. Paula provides deep insights and a guidebook on what any fast-growing company needs to put in place to be successful—you simply have to follow it.”

“A great program manager doesn’t run boring status meetings—rather, they add real value to the business. Paula Dieli has built and scaled teams that excel at program management. Get on Track is an insightful reflection from all of her experience.”

“Paula Dieli has written a must-read primer for anyone running a fast-growing organization. Chaos and failure are too often the parents of a program management function. This delightful guide, filled with experience and best practices from a proven authority, deftly captures the essentials of PMO creation, execution, and success.”

Get on Track presents the qualities of program management done right. Like designing software, elegantly implementing program management processes requires skill, empathy and patience. Follow Paula Dieli’s lead, and you’ll be able to run your program management office with care and efficiency.”

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Paula Dieli is a software industry executive who has spent decades building software products in both Silicon Valley and Europe. Her career has encompassed roles in engineering, product management, program management, technical support, and localization. This experience has given her a rich understanding of how software is designed, developed, localized, deployed, and supported—a blend of skillsets that gives her a unique edge in creating and running program management teams.

Paula’s educational background includes two bachelor’s degrees in computer science and French—skills she combined in her work as a software engineer in France. She also earned an MA in French Translation.

Paula created this book for the business leaders she advises who want to build a top-notch PMO and for program managers who want to excel at their craft. It represents the cumulative experience she has gained in developing the best practices that she still uses today. Paula consults with companies on their PMO journey and mentors many professionals in the software industry.


ISBN 978-1-77458-044-8
$24.00 CAD $19.95 USD
Published March 16, 2021
5.5 × 8.5 262 Pages
Paperback, ebook