Don’t confuse an urgent Project with an important one
When working under pressure, every request seems like a priority, especially when a client is insisting or an executive is asking about progress, possibly at the expense of a strategic initiative.
It creates the impression that things are getting done, without any guarantee that value is being created.
Prioritizing a portfolio means comparing projects according to common criteria:
- their contribution to business objectives
- the expected benefits
- the associated risks
- dependencies between initiatives
- the critical resources required, including at the portfolio level
- the organization’s actual capacity
- the cost of delaying or abandoning a project.
This moves the discussion away from opinions and makes decision-making, even when decisions are difficult, more transparent and easier to explain.
The real test: being able to say No
Prioritization also means postponing a project supported by an executive, reducing the scope of a promising initiative or stopping a project already underway. In such cases, improvisation is not advisable.
Without shared criteria, stopping a project may be perceived as a failure. With a portfolio management approach, the decision can instead be presented as a responsible management choice: resources are being reassigned to an initiative that offers greater value, involves less risk or addresses a more pressing strategic priority.
Imagine a small or medium-sized business that wants to carry out three projects simultaneously:
- implement a new management tool
- automate an administrative task
- develop a new offering for a priority market
All three projects are relevant, but they all depend on the same analyst and the same operations manager. Launching them in parallel increases delays and interruptions, and puts the company at risk of completing none of the projects on time.
A portfolio analysis could reveal that:
- the automation requires little effort and quickly frees up time
- the new offering directly supports the growth objective
- implementing the tool involves dependencies that make starting it prematurely unwise.
The decision could therefore be to complete the automation first, protect the capacity needed to develop the offering, and then sequence the technology implementation.
As you can see, it is about organizing investments in an order that increases the likelihood of overall success.
Don’t count your Employees as though they were 100% available
Another common pitfall is planning projects based on theoretical capacity.
A resource is available five days a week, so they are assigned five days of project work.
In reality, that person must also respond to day-to-day requests, attend meetings, resolve operational issues, take vacation and manage unexpected events. Their actual capacity is much more limited.
It is up to the project manager to distinguish between two dimensions: capacity and skills:
- nominal capacity
- actual available capacity
- essential skills
- resources that represent bottlenecks
- conflicts between projects.
This visibility makes it possible to demonstrate to senior management why, for example, a timeline is unrealistic. The ability to turn an availability issue into a recommendation also strengthens the project manager’s credibility.
What You will be able to do after the training
The Project Management: Plan and monitor your portfolios training course will help you guide your decision-making by drawing on PMI portfolio management practices.
In particular, you will be able to:
- compare projects using common criteria
- assess their alignment with strategic objectives
- identify resource conflicts and dependencies
- determine what should be launched, sequenced, delayed or stopped
- organize monitoring using indicators and dashboards
- present senior management with a clear prioritization recommendation, supporting its decision-making authority.
You will be able to move from scattered timeline tracking to a more complete view of the situation: which projects are moving forward, which are consuming too much capacity, which benefits are actually being achieved compared with the baselines, and which decisions need to be made now.
A Portfolio must evolve with the Organization’s priorities
A project that was a priority in January is not necessarily still one in September. Conversely, an initiative that was put on hold may become essential following a change in the market or strategy.
Monitoring makes it possible to verify whether projects remain feasible and aligned with business objectives. It also gives senior management the information needed to intervene before delays or cost overruns become irreversible.
For a project manager, the role is no longer limited to tracking a timeline or following up with team members. It also means helping determine where the organization should invest its energy—and where it should stop.
