Having established the portfolio of projects with a robust annual portfolio planning effort, how do executives make sure they spend their time wisely and effectively, only on projects that need their focus? In many organizations, executives find themselves pulled into projects on a daily basis and end up spending a lot of time on basic issues and decisions that really should have or could have been resolved without them. 

This is the third installment in our series on Project and Portfolio Management.

​In order to set sail, first you have to know where you are going! Set the course for your portfolio of projects with a robust annual portfolio planning process. This process is helpful in setting, agreeing-to, and prioritizing the project goals and objectives for the upcoming year. Most critical to this step is Executive involvement!

As organizations invest increasingly more money & resources into projects, making sure that you have the right projects, managed efficiently, reviewed regularly, and delivering what they promise is the essence of good Portfolio Planning & Management (PPM). Here are some of the key features of a robust and effective PPM process.

There is no such thing as too much knowledge. Project management skills can benefit anyone, even those not in project management. In her article, Forbes writer Dana Brownlee provides 4 project management skills everyone should know.

Our Client was the brand-new CIO of a large organization. She was being bombarded with “feedback” from all directions about what she needed to “fix” in IT. Her gut said that IT needed to regroup and refocus, but how was she to know what the real problems were, what was working well, what was significant, and what was just “noise”?

Surveys can be powerful tools as they can unearth challenges, concerns, and suggestions from respondents. When developing a survey, we often solicit an open-ended response at the beginning before the respondent has had the chance to read about specific topics of the survey. Their feedback is therefore more likely to be spontaneous and unbiased. 

This quote from Peter Drucker is definitely thought provoking. Process and workforce efficiencies will help improve the bottom line, but what if we are making efficient that which will not exist tomorrow?

​Do you find yourself working on things that you know will not make a long-term difference?

Analytical business modeling helps predict business outcomes. However, it also requires an excellent understanding of the organization's processes and data. Building a great model is both science and art, as Wayne Eckerson asserts in his article for Search Business Analytics. 

​How good are your analytical models in predicting future outcomes?

Have you or executives you know doubled down on a strategy in the face of conflicting realities? What some could call self-confidence may be what Harvard Business Review calls "escalation of commitment" and spell doom for your company.

​Do you agree with them?

In his article, Forbes contributor Peter High asks, “Does IT Strategy Matter?"

Do you agree with his answer?