Project Management Offices come in all shapes and sizes, and in my experience, are often established in a non-deliberate, and misguided manner. Through certain experiences in my career, presented here as two case studies, I describe how I discovered the concept of PMOs by design, and how this discovery ignited my late career entry into academic research which has also added to my knowledge on PMO establishment, improvement and performance measurement. I summarise my findings supported by sharing some of the research I have undertaken in project management education, competencies, knowledge, organisational project management and management theory.