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From Parade to Page: How Disneyland Paris Built a PMO Without Theater
A case study in transforming complex project management into simple, actionable frameworks that teams actually use
Executive Summary
The Challenge
A high-profile project had five sub-teams speaking five different dialects, a deadline everyone knew but couldn't define consistently, and a 30-slide weekly deck that reviewed progress instead of driving decisions.
The Solution
The entire PMO was shrunk to three artifacts people would actually use: a one-page RACI with names, a searchable decision log, and a wall of ten KPIs that forced a sentence by Friday.
The Outcome
Within three weeks, meetings shifted from "reviewing" to "deciding." The room didn't applaud; it exhaled. The new structure made it easy for the team to choose well and defend their choices later.
5
Sub-teams
Each speaking different dialects
30
Slides
In the original weekly deck
3
Artifacts
That replaced the entire system
3
Weeks
To transform the culture
The Challenge: A Gantt Chart with Five Different Dialects
Surface Level
Clean Gantt chart that looked professional and organized
Reality Check
Five sub-teams with five different definitions of "done"
The Problem
PMO heavy on process, poor at driving actual decisions
When I joined the Disneyland Paris project, the situation was common in large enterprises: a clean Gantt chart on the surface, but underneath, five sub-teams had five different definitions of "done". The PMO was heavy on process and performance, centered around a 30-slide weekly meeting that was excellent at reviewing the past but poor at deciding the future.

The Theater Problem: Weekly meetings that felt productive but generated no actionable outcomes - just beautiful slides reviewing what already happened.
The Solution: Shrinking the Orchestra to One Page
My mandate was to inject cadence, risk management, and decision-making into the PMO in a way that people would actually use. I did this by replacing the parade with a single page and three core artifacts:
01
Identify Core Needs
Focus on cadence, risk management, and decision-making capabilities
02
Eliminate Theater
Remove processes that looked good but didn't drive outcomes
03
Design for Usage
Create artifacts people would actually reference and update
04
Test and Refine
Iterate based on real team behavior and decision patterns
"The best PMO framework is the one your team actually uses, not the one that looks most impressive in a presentation."
The Three Core Artifacts
1
A One-Page RACI
We created a simple Responsible/Accountable/Consulted/Informed chart that used actual names, not vague job titles or team names.
2
A Boring (and Lifesaving) Decision Log
All key decisions were logged with a timestamp, rationale, and owner, making them searchable at 00:47 so no one had to argue from memory.
3
Ten Leader-Visible KPIs
The dashboard was simplified to ten metrics, each designed to force a sentence and a decision, not just admiration.

Key Insight: Each artifact was designed to be immediately actionable - no interpretation required, no follow-up meetings needed.
Decision-Making in Action
When a "quick tweak" was proposed two weeks before a milestone, I didn't open a slide. I wrote the two options on one line in the channel:
"Ship today and accept reconciliation for a week, or ship tomorrow after checks with none"
1
The Moment
Silence did the persuading
2
The Choice
The team chose tomorrow
3
The Record
Decision was immediately logged
This example illustrates the power of forcing clarity. Instead of a lengthy discussion about trade-offs, risks, and stakeholder concerns, the choice was presented as a simple binary decision. The team could immediately see the implications and make a call.
The decision log captured not just what was decided, but the context that led to the decision - invaluable for future reference and learning.
The Outcome: A Room That Exhales
1
Week One
Felt thin after the 30-slide deck was gone
2
Week Three
Relief, like breathing clean air
3
Ongoing
People began deciding in meetings, not about meetings
The change was palpable. Week one felt thin after the 30-slide deck was gone. By week three, the feeling was one of relief, like breathing clean air. People began deciding in the meeting, not holding separate meetings about the meeting.
Visible Trade-offs
Framework made difficult choices transparent and discussable
Shame-free Decisions
Clear process removed politics and blame from decision-making
Forward Movement
Teams could choose well and move forward with confidence
The ultimate value I provided wasn't charisma or a complex methodology; it was creating a framework where trade-offs were visible and shame-free, allowing the team to choose well and move forward with confidence.