Chapter News

On Tuesday, September 9, more than thirty professionals with an interest in PMO gathered at the Municipality of Eindhoven. The group got an inside look at how the Eindhoven Project and Programme Management Model (EPPM) supports the successful delivery of projects.

Every organization must decide how it wants to approach project-based work. The choice of model is often less important than understanding the organizational consequences. In practice, many models can actually complement each other.

Given the scope and complexity of the municipality’s work, Eindhoven adopted the Rijkswaterstaat organizational model (Integral Project Management, IPM), supported by Prince2-based processes and templates.

So, what does EPPM deliver?
 Project managers and project control managers shared their experiences and highlighted the benefits:

• Managing complexity: Stakeholder landscapes, risks, and variables become more transparent.
• Clear roles: Responsibilities are well-defined, enabling effective workload distribution.
• Balanced decision-making: Each role represents a perspective, creating stronger integrated outcomes.
• Trust and collaboration: Teams build confidence in each other’s contributions.

This session successfully connected perspectives from Business Change PMOs with those in the Public Infrastructure and Physical Domain.

Similarities and differences?
Both approaches aim to keep projects on track. By using the term project control rather than PMO, Eindhoven moves away from the sometimes negative perceptions around PMOs, instead positioning the discipline as a true value-add for project structuring, governance, and accountability.