Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Today

Chief Project Officer Dispute

An article worth reading in Chief Project Officer on the notion of a job title called....Chief Project Officer!  Check out the heated discussion at the bottom of the article to see the back and forth on Dinsmore's basic premise: "upper management needs to have overall control of how projects are handled"

My take:

“I have a hard time disagreeing with Paul Dinsmore's argument for a "CPO." While it may not resolve to a particular title held by a single individual, it is now crystal clear that organizations need project governance relative to goals and strategies. Projects are the management control function for any new initiative, and organizations have a lot of room to improve how they "manage projects." Having implemented over 100 PMO/PPM systems, there is little doubt at this point of the huge benefits. Even Joe Ingersol's rebuttal essentially argues against itself by suggesting that Porche, Goldman Sachs and Boston brewing don't want to do things "better." While they may not focus on cheaper and faster, I suggest Joe might be missing the point here. This bigger issue appears to me to be the failure of chain-of-command management to establish cross departmental coordination toward goals for products, services and customers. This appears to be the major hurdle at this point.”

Future States: Section 1a. Projects as Isolated Efforts

Within the context of an organization, projects have traditionally been conceived as isolated efforts.  Projects appear and disappear almost at random, and they operate both within, and beyond, the visibility of senior management.  They are created as a result of conversations, meetings, customer requests, management demands, and many other means.  How projects are approved varies depending on the unique individuals who are in the room at the time of approval.  Projects are spawned by other projects, and projects often stop because they are ignored or lost.

Profitability & PPM

A white paper on how PPM impacts profitability.

"The ultimate goal of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is to improve the profitability of project investments across the organization. PPM improves profitability by creating a foundation of efficiency and effectiveness in projects and resources that leads to higher orders of profitability from products and services, customers, and lines of business. Whether organizations are focused on alignment of projects with goals or improving the margins of revenue-generating projects, all roads lead to profitability."

Future States: Section 1.0

Organizations create their future states through projects & project clusters – the emerging term for this discipline is Project Portfolio Management

Organizations cannot remain content with their current capabilities, products and services.  If they do not continue to innovate, improve, and invest in their core of products and services, the market will demand new leadership.  "Innovate or die" goes the now popular saying.  There are those who will say that innovation can lead to dead ends, but that is the very nature of innovation and does not offer a compelling reason to remain satisfied with the status quo.  New ideas do not always work, but they often lead to other new ideas that do work.

Lean IT Governance

Here is a white paper that discusses what I call a lean approach to IT Governance.

"The most realistic and attainable approach to IT Governance is a “lean” approach via Project Portfolio Management (PPM). The lean approach requires a light-footprint lifecycle, rapid implementation of proven practices, and centralized data. The lean approach is based on simplicity and achieve-ability, building on what works while establishing headroom for continuous improvement."

Two Models for PPM

This paper outlines two models for evaluating how to set up and run a PPM implementation:

There are two models for implementing a PPM system:

o The engagement profitability model

o The budget alignment model

Future States & Project Portfolio Managment

Why Project Portfolio Management Changes the Game…

"You cannot step into the same river twice, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you." – Heraclitus

1. Organizations create their future states through projects & project clusters – the emerging term for this discipline is Project Portfolio Management .
   1. Historically, projects have been managed as stand-alone, temporary entities rather than a steady flow of connected investments in an unfolding future state – this is changing right now.

   2. Significant undertakings demand projects that cross different skill sets and company boundaries - these projects are intened to achieve a common vision of a desired future state.

   3. Organizations struggle with understanding project fundamentals, such as “what is a project?” and “what does a successful project look like?”

   4. Projects form temporary investments in skilled disciplines, financial resources and imagined future states.

Introducing...PPM Today

PPM Today will cover what I consider to be important topics related to Project Portfolio Management (PPM).  I will approach each topic with an attitude of discovery and questioning.  While I will take a provocative tone, I will focus on forward looking perspectives and ideas that can be put to actual use. Wherever possible, I will write from actual experience and not from conceptual studies by other people. 

The first installment will include the unfolding of a White Paper called The Future State.  I’ll post the outline first and then fill in the content with subequent posts.  Stop by and participate through comments, questions and recoomendations.  If you don’t see a topic you think should be covered, let me know.

About the author - Demian Entrekin

Demian is the founder and CEO of Project Arena, an on demand software company focused on helping organizations take a project portfolio management approach to improving the performance and alignment of projects and resources.

Prior to Project Arena, he co-founded Convoy Corporation and was the Chief Architect of its initial products. Convoy made Software Magazine's 1998 list of the top 500 software companies and led the 1998 middleware market with an annual growth rate of 670 percent. New Era of Networks (NEON) purchased Convoy in June 1999. Demian worked in the trenches as a software engineer developing core business applications from 1988 through 1993 at Transamerica and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. During his 15 year career, Demian has assumed leadership roles as a consultant and as an entrepreneur delivering commercial and corporate database applications.

Demian’s latest thoughts on critical PPM issues facing business today can be found over at Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Today. Here he describes the current and future states of PPM and elicits meaningful conversations while providing practical insights to making PPM a competitive advantage.