Today's top Information Technology (IT) organizations recognize that Project Portfolio Management (PPM—doing the right projects) is a necessary complement to good project management and capability maturity (doing projects right). But most current approaches to PPM are handicapped by one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins of PPM:
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Trying to use fuzzy guidance to make clear decisions. Knowing that your organization wants to be the industry leader is a start, but it is not enough to guide project approval decisions. The lack of clear guidance usually means that key choices are driven as much by corporate politics as by support for the organization's strategic direction.
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Taking a deterministic approach to risk. No single mathematical index can adequately model project risk. The usual outcome of this approach is a portfolio that appears risk-balanced, but that is actually vulnerable to one or two sources of risk.
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Expecting software to solve the problem. Portfolio software is a tool that requires accurate and complete inputs. Garbage in, garbage out.
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Overreaching. Trying to include every one of the organization's IT projects in the initial portfolio can cause indigestion. PPM can be applied to any discrete group of projects (e.g., those of a single business unit or even a single functional unit).
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Treating PPM as a project. Projects are supposed to be over; PPM is an ongoing process. When PPM is treated as a project, the initial iteration may be planned and managed quite effectively, but the real benefits are lost when there is no institutional support.
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Ignoring pipeline projects. Many organization carefully catalog their active projects and create an optimized project portfolio based on an analysis of that information. Then the new portfolio begins to break down as clients and customers try to get previously unfunded projects approved.
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Refusing to actually cancel any projects. Projects may be cancelled outright, or they may be cancelled through attrition or redirection, but some number of projects must invariably be cancelled. Keeping the current portfolio intact will undercut any future attempts at improvement.
This program is designed to teach you how to create and implement a Project Portfolio Management process that overcomes every one of these Seven Deadly Sins. For example, you will learn how to develop simple Business Guidance Templates that translate global strategic concepts into practical decision-making tools. Approximately 70% of class time is devoted to casework and experiential learning.
Upon completion, you will be able to:
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Define key terms such as project portfolio management, project portfolio, and pipeline projects
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Explain how the management of a project portfolio differs from the management of an investment portfolio
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Recognize the weakness in existing corporate business statements and correct these weaknesses in a politically acceptable manner
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Explain why committing 100% of your resources is counterproductive
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Determine which project and resource attributes to inventory and which to ignore
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List three reasons why stage gate reviews are vital to project portfolio management
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Describe the strengths and weaknesses of various project portfolio analysis approaches
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Develop a plan to implement project portfolio management in your organization
Who should attend:
The program is most suitable for:
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IT Program Managers and Development Managers who have to prioritize customer, client, and user demands.
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Project Portfolio Management staff at any level of the organization.
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Project Management Office (PMO) staff who are investigating PPM approaches.
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Project Managers.
Program duration: Three days
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