Companies are evolving from ad hoc project adoption to a more rational approach of project gatekeeping - project portfolio management - as a growing number of stakeholders try to secure costly resources to deliver often esoteric and misaligned efforts.
The finite and costly resource pool, and growing frustration at less than satisfactory project delivery, is prompting an increasing number of companies to rationalise and try to achieve greater transparency at the executive level of project spend and benefit.
As with an investment portfolio (which is, in fact, exactly what a project portfolio is), the project portfolio needs to be actively managed to ensure a balance across risk and return. Taking the project = asset approach leads to a less cavalier attitude in which investments to pursue.
Simply put, project portfolio management involves the strategic and ongoing assessment of all proposed projects. Ideally, a company`s strategic plan would address short-, medium- and long-range objectives. From there can be positioned the specific projects designed to position the company exactly where its captains wish to steer it over its journey toward its long-term goals.
A project portfolio should comprise the range of projects that will contribute to a company`s strategy, its growth and viability, going beyond simply responding to current and short-term circumstances. Every project in a portfolio should be assessed for its strategic alignment, both before and after launch, to weed out the reactive from proactive or the misaligned.
The fact that the terms "project manager" and "project leader" are being used interchangeably speaks volumes for the expectations surrounding the role. The role requires, among others:
* A leader who can stand before an executive committee or a team of developers;
* A communicator capable of interacting across the technical to lay spectrum;
* A nurturer who is sensitive to team morale and can respond to shifts with constructive empathy; and
* An eagle who keeps a constant eye to movement on the ground, when necessary, swooping down to inspire some of that movement.
Business involvement in the systems delivery process is crucial. A project manager or leader needs to involve the full spectrum of stakeholders in the planning process. For a project manager to try to go it alone is arrogant, and for stakeholders to believe that any project manager can be a silver bullet is foolhardy.
A project manager should have the authority to conduct a project autonomously, while remaining faithful to the structures governing the company, insofar as these are constructive.
Where existing structures are restrictive, the project manager needs to propose new standards and methods, involving top management to secure a better delivery cycle.
Examples of where a project manager needs to be aware of and obey environmental constraints are the areas of legal compliance and IT governance, where these guarantee system and data integrity.
Different organisations have different environments that are more or less conducive to project work. Where companies are structured to have projects as the poor relative, they will see the fruits in frustrating project deliveries.
Business involvement, from the top down, is vital for successful delivery of the project portfolio as well as for any single project. It is incumbent on the project manager to involve business and raise a flag where resistance puts a project at risk. Honest communication throughout the project lifecycle is key to building and holding trust.
While there are many methodologies available, slavish devotion to a particular brand can result in a less than perfect fit with a given company`s culture. An eclectic approach gives greater scope for leveraging the most pertinent aspects to the situation at hand.
Above all, we need to beware of thinking of "agile" as meaning devoid of method or process. One needs to be acutely aware of the environment in order to decide what elements of one or more methodologies to apply.
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