As organizations strive for greater efficiency and strategic alignment, the Project Management Office (PMO) is often seen as the ultimate solution. Yet, many of these offices struggle to survive in their first few years.
On International Project Management (IPM) Day 2026, Sabrina Poteat, Founder and Principal Consultant at Applied Edge Consulting, goes into the anatomy of PMO failure and provides a pragmatic roadmap for building a PMO that actually delivers.
The Problem: The PMO Paradox
The expectations for a new PMO are almost always high, yet many dissolve into administrative burdens or quietly disappear due to a lack of credibility. According to Sabrina, these failures are rarely the result of bad intentions, but rather common pitfalls such as:
- Unclear Mandates: Not defining what the PMO is (and isn’t) from day one.
- Misaligned Sponsorship: Executive support that is vocal but lacks the necessary depth to drive change.
- Over-Engineered Governance: Introducing complex tools and templates before the organization is ready to handle them.
What to Expect from Sabrina’s Session
In her presentation, Why PMOs Fail: And How to Build One That Delivers Value, Sabrina moves beyond the theory and offers a “look under the hood” at real-world transformation.
You will learn how to:
- Assess Readiness: Is your organization actually ready for a PMO, or are you rushing into a structure you can’t support?
- Identify Early Warning Signs: What are the red flags that suggest a PMO is heading to failure?
- Ask the Right Questions: What critical questions and conversations should happen before creating a single template?
Why This Matters
Building a PMO isn’t just about reporting; it’s about building a strategic asset that improves prioritization and decision clarity. Sabrina’s pragmatic approach helps PMOs build a strong foundation for long-term organizational execution.
Don’t miss Sabrina Poteat at IPM Day 2026! Sabrina is part of a fantastic lineup that includes over 30 expert speakers, all focused on the real-world issues professionals face every day.
Key Dates to Remember:
- Go Live: Join us and colleagues from around the world on November 5, 2026.
- Watch at Your Own Pace: You will have 90 days of on-demand access to go back and watch any sessions you missed or want to watch again.
Sabrina Poteat
Sabrina Poteat is a senior transformation leader with more than 20 years of experience driving enterprise change across IT, healthcare, HR, and staffing organizations. She has led large-scale reorganizations, operating model redesigns, and portfolio governance implementations — and has built and is currently building Project Management Offices to strengthen execution and strategic alignment.
Sabrina partners with executive teams to translate strategy into measurable outcomes by improving prioritization, decision clarity, and accountability. She brings a pragmatic, systems-oriented approach to delivery transformation, focused on building governance models that leaders trust and teams can sustain.
She holds a BS in Business Administration, an Executive MBA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and maintains PMP and CSM certifications.
