PMFORUM Breaking News
Breaking News in the Project Management World
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Report from Clearwater Beach - Advanced Project Portfolio Management Workshop
Reported by A Matt Piazza in Florida
The launch of the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida included a Workshop on 25 February 2008 by Samantha Dunbar of Wachovia and Peter Iovino of UMT Consulting. The workshop was titled “Advancing Project Portfolio Management: Project Portfolio Selection.”
According to these instructors, real world management experience shows that without project portfolio optimization, 60% of business potential is realized, leaving 40% lost. Samantha Dunbar described the ongoing process of evolving the Wachovia project portfolio culture over the last three years. This journey has really only just begun, but significant business savings are already realized. For example, the recent financial industry downturn required immediate reduction in planned project expenditures. In days instead of weeks and most importantly with management understanding, the project cutback selection process was completed. This achievement was possible only because management time and effort had been incorporated to pursue a project portfolio process.
The Wachovia project portfolio team also avoided the typical pitfall of focusing on a tool. Instead, their efforts were focused on one business unit and the following approach. To achieve optimization, the team (1) defined the business drivers no fewer than five and no more than ten; (2) prioritized these drivers; (3) assessed all business unit projects in regards to these drivers; (4) applied identified constraints such as total available funding; (5) conducted advanced optimization analysis; and (6) continued advanced selection analysis.
This team’s success depended on the “C” level corporate sponsorship and the above approach. The timing was important due to the “burning platform” environment that motivated cultural change by the business unit management. Project Portfolio Management is a form of change management and requires behavioral changes. This practice takes away the opportunity for heroes and opens up each executive’s area of business to the other executives, an unpopular business condition.
Ultimately, the project portfolio selection practice involves making judgment evaluations. A technique called “pair wise” is used to establish relative importance among the business drivers. These evaluations are the foundation of other measurements used to prioritize all projects and facilitate project selection. While no technique is perfect, this one produces favorable results. This technique also requires periodic repetitions throughout the year, usually quarterly to reflect business and marketplace changes.
In summary, the investment made by Wachovia in project portfolio management has paid off and is an ongoing technique. The approach is based on management culture changes with the assistance of an automation tool (approach: 90% process 10% tool). Periodic evaluations are conducted to reflect possible business driver changes that impact project portfolio selections. The strategy to implement this technique with one business unit enabled the success-to-date by avoiding “attempting to do too much, too fast.”
The Corporate Portfolio Management Conferences is organized by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and IIR, a division of SRA International. Information about the conference can be found at:
http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.
The launch of the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida included a Workshop on 25 February 2008 by Samantha Dunbar of Wachovia and Peter Iovino of UMT Consulting. The workshop was titled “Advancing Project Portfolio Management: Project Portfolio Selection.”
The Wachovia project portfolio team also avoided the typical pitfall of focusing on a tool. Instead, their efforts were focused on one business unit and the following approach. To achieve optimization, the team (1) defined the business drivers no fewer than five and no more than ten; (2) prioritized these drivers; (3) assessed all business unit projects in regards to these drivers; (4) applied identified constraints such as total available funding; (5) conducted advanced optimization analysis; and (6) continued advanced selection analysis.
This team’s success depended on the “C” level corporate sponsorship and the above approach. The timing was important due to the “burning platform” environment that motivated cultural change by the business unit management. Project Portfolio Management is a form of change management and requires behavioral changes. This practice takes away the opportunity for heroes and opens up each executive’s area of business to the other executives, an unpopular business condition.
Ultimately, the project portfolio selection practice involves making judgment evaluations. A technique called “pair wise” is used to establish relative importance among the business drivers. These evaluations are the foundation of other measurements used to prioritize all projects and facilitate project selection. While no technique is perfect, this one produces favorable results. This technique also requires periodic repetitions throughout the year, usually quarterly to reflect business and marketplace changes.
In summary, the investment made by Wachovia in project portfolio management has paid off and is an ongoing technique. The approach is based on management culture changes with the assistance of an automation tool (approach: 90% process 10% tool). Periodic evaluations are conducted to reflect possible business driver changes that impact project portfolio selections. The strategy to implement this technique with one business unit enabled the success-to-date by avoiding “attempting to do too much, too fast.”
The Corporate Portfolio Management Conferences is organized by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and IIR, a division of SRA International. Information about the conference can be found at:
http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.
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