Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management
Projects, portfolio, and OCM are the foundation of strong PPM.
- Most companies are struggling to get their project work done. This is due in part to the fact that many prescribed remedies are confusing, disruptive, costly, or ineffective.
- While struggling to find a solution, within the organization, project requests never stop and all projects continue to all be treated the same. Resources are requested for multiple projects without any visibility into their project capacity. Projects lack proper handoffs from closure to ongoing operational work. And the benefits are never tracked.
- If you have too many projects, limited resources, ineffective communications, or low post-project adoption, keep reading. Perhaps you should spend a bit more on project, portfolio, and organizational change management.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Successful project outcomes are not built by rigorous project processes: Projects may be the problem, but project management rigor is not the solution.
- Don’t fall into the common trap of thinking high-rigor project management should be every organization’s end goal.
- Instead, understand that it is better to spend time assessing the portfolio to determine what projects should be prioritized.
Impact and Result
Begin by establishing a few foundational practices that will work to drive project throughput.
- Capacity Estimation: Understand what your capacity is to do projects by determining how much time is allocated to doing other things.
- Book of Record: Establish a basic but sustainable book of record so there is an official list of projects in flight and those waiting in a backlog or funnel.
- Simple Project Management Processes: Align the rigor of your project management process with what is required, not what is prescribed by the PMP designation.
- Impact Assessment: Address the impact of change at the beginning of the project and prepare stakeholders with the right level of communication.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
10.0/10
Overall Impact
$7,599
Average $ Saved
46
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
City of Bloomington, IL
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,599
2
Turlock Irrigation District
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,599
90
Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry
Workshop
9/10
$30,999
50
Best - sorted out the chaos and put into some order, at least to start.
Workshop: Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Project Portfolio Management
The Purpose
- Establish the current state of the portfolio.
- Organize the portfolio requirements.
- Determine how projects are prioritized.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Understand project capacity supply-demand.
- Build a portfolio book of record.
- Create a project value scorecard.
Activities
Outputs
Conduct capacity supply-demand estimation.
- Clear project capacity
Determine requirements for portfolio book of record.
- Draft portfolio book of record
Develop project value criteria.
- Project value scorecard
Module 2: Project Management
The Purpose
- Feed the portfolio with the project status.
- Plan the project work with a sustainable level of granularity.
- Manage the project as conditions change.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Develop a process to inform the portfolio of the project status.
- Create a plan that can be maintained throughout the project lifecycle and manage the scope through a change request process.
Activities
Outputs
Determine necessary reporting metrics.
- Feed the portfolio with the project status
Create a work structure breakdown.
- Plan the project work with a sustainable level of granularity
Document your project change request process.
- Manage the project as conditions change
Module 3: Organizational Change Management
The Purpose
- Discuss change accountability.
- Complete a change impact assessment.
- Create a communication plan for stakeholders.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Complete a change impact assessment.
- Identify the obvious and non-obvious stakeholders and develop a message canvas accordingly.
Activities
Outputs
Discuss change accountability.
- Assign accountability for the change
Complete a change impact assessment.
- Assess the change impact
Create a communication plan for stakeholders.
- Communicate the change
Module 4: Develop an Action Plan
The Purpose
- Summarize current state.
- Determine target state.
- Create a roadmap.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Develop a roadmap for how to move from the current state to the target state.
Activities
Outputs
Summarize current state and target state.
- Stakeholder Communication Deck
Create a roadmap.
- MS Project Wireframe
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
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Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 12 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Project portfolio management
- Call 1: Determine current project capacity.
- Call 2: Develop portfolio book of record.
- Call 3: Evaluate project intake.
Guided Implementation 2: Project management
- Call 1: Determine necessary reporting metrics.
- Call 2: Create a work breakdown structure.
- Call 3: Document your project change request process.
Guided Implementation 3: Organizational change management
- Call 1: Discuss change accountability.
- Call 2: Complete a change impact assessment.
- Call 3: Create a communication plan for stakeholders.
Guided Implementation 4: Develop an action plan
- Call 1: Summarize current state.
- Call 2: Determine target state.
- Call 3: Create a roadmap.
Contributors
Five anonymous contributors
Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy
Measure IT Project Value
Maintain an Organized Portfolio
Optimize IT Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
Refine Your Estimation Practices With Top-Down Allocations
Establish Realistic IT Resource Management Practices
Grow Your Own PPM Solution
Prepare to Successfully Deploy PPM Software
Enhance PPM Dashboards and Reports
Tame the Project Backlog
Select and Implement an IT PPM Solution
Unify a Mixed Methodology Portfolio
Audit the Project Portfolio
Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management
Responsibly Resume IT Operations in the Office
Bring Visibility to Your Day-to-Day Projects
Drive Business Value With a Right-Sized Project Gating Process
Demystify the New PMBOK Guide and PMI Certifications
Make Sense of Strategic Portfolio Management
Maximize the Value of IT Across Enterprise Portfolios