How Project Planners Should Deal with a Difficult Client PMO

Ten ways to keep your client happy, protect your construction programme and build stronger working relationships.

Every construction planner knows that keeping the client happy matters. But what happens when the client's Project Management Office (PMO) becomes harder to manage than the construction programme itself?

We've all encountered the PMO that wants endless reports, insists every milestone stays green or questions the critical path without understanding the construction sequence. Then there's the PMO perfectionist, who can spot a missing P6 activity code from fifty paces but somehow overlooks the six-month delay heading straight towards practical completion. Of course, a good client-side PMO is worth its weight in gold. It provides governance, assurance and visibility, helping the client make informed decisions and avoid expensive surprises. And let's not forget that the PMO represents the organisation paying for the project. Its members need confidence that the contractor understands the programme, manages risks and knows how to deliver.

So, how do you keep a demanding client PMO happy without compromising your professional judgement?

The answer isn't to agree with everything. It's to anticipate questions, provide reliable evidence, offer practical solutions and make the PMO's job easier. Here are my ten practical approaches, using examples from major construction projects:

1. Streamline reporting

You're the senior Primavera P6 planner on a £200 million hospital construction project. Every Friday, you submit the updated programme, four-week lookahead, milestone report and critical path analysis. Then the client's PMO requests another spreadsheet containing much the same information, followed by a dashboard and a PowerPoint presentation explaining the spreadsheet.

Suddenly, you're spending more time reporting progress than analysing it. Before complaining about bureaucracy, remember that the PMO has its own reporting obligations to senior management, funders and the project board. Ask what information it genuinely needs and propose one consistent reporting pack generated from P6. For example: "We already produce most of this information. Could we agree on a reporting pack that meets your board's requirements and avoids duplication?"

Find out which milestones matter most to the client, such as operating theatre completion, medical equipment installation or commissioning readiness, and make them prominent.

The golden rule: Understand what the PMO needs and why. Provide one clear, reliable reporting pack that makes its job easier.

1. Be honest about delays

You're planning a new railway station at one of the busiest city trainlines. The contractual completion date is 30 June, but signalling equipment delays and restricted access have pushed the P6 forecast six weeks beyond that date. Unfortunately, the client's PMO would prefer the completion milestone to remain green for its monthly executive report. Rather than simply announcing a six-week delay, explain the difference between the contractual completion date and the current forecast.

"Our contractual completion date remains 30 June, but the latest programme indicates a potential six-week delay. We're reviewing opportunities to resequencing signalling activities and recover lost time."

Show the affected critical activities, dependencies, remaining durations and recovery options. Ensure contractual notices and programme submissions follow the agreed procedures.

The golden rule: Give the client an accurate forecast, explain the impact and present recovery options. Never, ever try to disguise a delay to keep a milestone green.

1. Explain the critical path

Picture a £500 million Data Centre construction project involving civil engineering, structural steelwork, electrical installations, cooling systems and commissioning. During a programme review, the client's PMO questions why several activities have negative float. Instead of becoming defensive, explain the schedule's data date, calendars, logic, constraints and contractual milestones.

For example, a constrained completion milestone of 1 December may show negative float because the unconstrained forecast has moved to 15 December. That could indicate a genuine delivery problem rather than defective scheduling. Equally, the PMO might have identified missing procurement logic or an incorrect commissioning dependency. If so, acknowledge it and correct the programme.

Invite the PMO to a focused technical review, a deep dive, rather than debating scheduling calculations during a crowded progress meeting.

The golden rule: Be transparent about programme logic, calendars and constraints. Use PMO challenges as opportunities to validate the programme and build confidence.

1. Manage changing standards

You're six months into an airport terminal construction programme when the client's PMO introduces new P6 activity codes, WBS classifications and milestone reporting requirements. Wonderful. Except your integrated programme contains 35,000 activities across multiple contractors. Before making changes, establish the business benefit. Perhaps the client needs consistent reporting across its entire construction portfolio.

Explain the implementation implications and recommend testing the new requirements on one construction package before applying them programme-wide. Agree responsibilities, quality checks and any contractual implications. Above all, protect the approved baseline and historical reporting.

The golden rule: Understand the benefits, agree a practical implementation plan and protect the approved baseline.

1. Set realistic expectations

It's Monday morning on a major motorway construction programme. The client's PMO director announces that a fully integrated Level 3 P6 programme must be ready for Friday's steering committee. There's just one small complication. Subcontractor programmes are missing, utility diversion dates remain unconfirmed and the traffic management strategy hasn't been finalised. You could produce an impressive Gantt chart containing thousands of activities. But would anyone trust the dates?

Instead, propose a staged solution:

"By Friday, we can provide a preliminary integrated programme showing construction phases, key interfaces, contractual milestones and outstanding assumptions. We'll then complete the detailed logic validation once the remaining information is available."

Clearly identify provisional dates and agree a realistic timetable for completing the detailed programme, consistent with contractual submission requirements.

The golden rule: When the PMO expects the impossible, propose a staged approach with clear assumptions, deliverables and next steps.

1. Agree progress control

You're managing the integrated programme for a railway station redevelopment. The client's PMO begins contacting subcontractors directly and requesting progress updates without involving the main contractor's planning team. By Friday, the steelwork subcontractor reports 80% completion, the contractor's report shows 65% and the PMO dashboard confidently announces 90%. Everybody has a number. Nobody has an agreed position. Rather than accusing the PMO of interference, establish a transparent progress verification process.

Invite client representatives to agreed site walks and progress reviews. Define consistent measurement rules, such as installed and accepted steel tonnage rather than subjective percentages, and agree the reporting cut-off date. The client retains visibility and assurance, while the contractor maintains control of its programme updates.

The golden rule: Establish clear update RACI with responsibilities, consistent progress measurement rules and one controlled P6 programme.

1. Focus on what matters

Some PMO professionals possess an extraordinary talent for finding administrative imperfections. Your 2,000-activity construction programme has passed its logic checks, the critical path is validated and commissioning arrangements are agreed. Yet the assurance meeting spends forty minutes discussing three missing activity codes and a spelling mistake. Of course, schedule quality matters. But not every defect presents the same risk. A missing predecessor affecting practical completion deserves immediate attention. An incorrect calendar on a critical activity could distort the forecast. A minor naming inconsistency can usually wait until the next quality review.

Acknowledge the findings, agree corrective actions and politely redirect attention towards delivery risks.

"Thank you for identifying those items. We'll correct them. Could we also review the commissioning dependencies that may affect practical completion?"

The golden rule: Address minor errors efficiently, but keep the conversation focused on the real risks to construction delivery.

1. Confirm the facts

You're planning a major bridge construction project when a specialist steel supplier announces a three-week delivery delay. Before you've completed the impact assessment, the client's PMO reports a three-week delay to bridge completion. There's just one problem: the affected delivery has four weeks of available float. Your P6 analysis indicates that the delay can currently be absorbed without moving the completion milestone, provided the remaining assumptions hold.

Rather than criticising the PMO, present the evidence.

"The steel delivery is three weeks late, but our current programme indicates sufficient float to absorb the delay. We'll continue monitoring the supplier and the affected installation activities."

Explain the dependencies, remaining float and any commercial or resource implications. Offer a concise impact assessment that the PMO can use to correct its executive report.

The golden rule: Provide evidence before issues are escalated. Explain the actual programme impact and what it means for completion.

1. Present credible recovery plans

A commercial construction programme is eight weeks behind schedule following structural steel delivery delays. You've developed three P6 recovery scenarios. The first maintains the current sequence and forecasts an eight-week delay. The second introduces additional installation crews and potentially reduces the delay to four weeks. The third combines resequencing, extended working hours and revised access arrangements, potentially recovering the contractual completion date. The client's PMO wants one confirmed recovery date. But a recovery programme without agreed resources, costs, assumptions and construction methodology is little more than wishful thinking.

Rather than presenting three competing Gantt charts, recommend the most credible option, supported by programme logic, resource availability, costs and risks. P6 Reflection projects can help test alternative scenarios before agreed changes are incorporated into the live programme. For example, additional steel erection crews may accelerate installation, but only if crane availability, site access and safety arrangements support the proposed sequence.

The golden rule: Show realistic recovery options with resources, costs and risks. Recommend the most credible way forward.

1. Remember it's about people

Imagine a new hospital construction programme involving architects, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical contractors, equipment suppliers and clinical representatives. The client's PMO has excellent dashboards, comprehensive governance procedures and beautifully formatted reports. Unfortunately, nobody has confirmed whether the hospital's operational teams will be available for commissioning. The P6 programme shows clinical equipment testing beginning on Monday. However, several rooms remain inaccessible, specialist equipment hasn't been installed and the client hasn't arranged representatives to witness testing. The programme may look organised, but the work isn't ready.

Bring the relevant people together. Confirm equipment deliveries, access arrangements, commissioning readiness and witness-testing availability. Make those dependencies visible in P6. Ask the PMO to help secure the client-side approvals, decisions and resources that the contractor cannot control.

The golden rule: Highlight dependencies on client approvals, access and operational teams. Work with the PMO to remove obstacles before they delay delivery.

Secrets to keeping a difficult client PMO happy are many, as stated above. Which one do you prefer? What would you add? Which one can you realistically implement on your projects?

Sunchana Johnston, Master P6 Planner FAPM CHPP MSc (Strathclyde)