Portfolio management

1. Bridging The hive: That is
Significant
Nexus between Corporate Strategy and Portfolio Management
- Megha Thakkar, PMP®

2. - Benjamin Franklin
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3. Strategy and Projects
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Strategy Value Risk Compliance Priorities Projects

4. What it needs?
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Project
Prioritization
Portfolio
Plan
Execute, Control
& Monitor
Re-
evaluate
Optimization
Value
Contribution
Project
Approvals,
Completion &
Cancellation
Recalibration
How it works?

5. When do we call for “Project Portfolio Management?”
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Lack of identification
of Strategic projects
Lack of
Responsibility,
Accountability and
Commitment
Projects are out of
Scope
Projects are de-railedLack of Prioritization
Too many small
projects
No focus on
Strategic projects

6. How it works?
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PPM
Identification of
Strategic
projects
Cross-functional
teams for
focused
execution
Defined Scope
Target Timelines
Project
Prioritization
and
recalibration
Cost –benefit
analysis of a
project
Customer
orientation

7. Ideal Project Management
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Identify the
High priority
Project
Define the Project Plan Execute The project Deliver the Project
Is it REAL?

8. What makes it difficult???
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Certainty, Clarity and Focus Responsive, Acrobatic, Dynamic
Versus
How do we make it REAL?
BALANCE

9. Key Challenges
▪ Intensive Data management
▪ Inaccurate & Stale Data
▪ Lack of Organizational Agility
▪ Ignorance of resource constraint
▪ Reactive and Predictive
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10. How do we resolve it?
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Strategy
People
Process
Tools
Pace

11. Strategy
▪ Rational
▪ Objectively Aligned
▪ Need to be challenged in constructive decision
▪ Recognition of people and hence the politics. Politics is not always BAD
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12. Politics
▪ Politics is fundamental to Project Portfolio Management
▪ Influence
▪ Most Common cause of challenges
▪ Most difficult to address
▪ How do we address?
▪ Recognize the politics to be engaged with
▪ Recognize - Politics is the unavoidable factor
▪ All stakeholders need to committed to processes
▪ All decisions should be process driven
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13. Processes
▪ Processes are Important but mostly ignored
▪ Framework brings better alignment
▪ Objectivity, clarity and pre-defined expectations leads to acceptance of process
▪ Solutions are understood and not FOLLOWED – Why?
▪ Process needs to be relevant to environment
▪ Change-management should be smooth enough for people to digest it well
▪ Motivational factor should be aligned
▪ Awareness and acceptance for failure to comply
▪ Adequate and required tools to be implemented to access the success of process
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14. Tools
▪ Why Managing strategy and change is difficult?
▪ Environment changes too FAST
▪ Lack of communication
▪ Lack of target
▪ Misalignment of required resources and skills
▪ Lack of Performance evaluation
▪ How do we solve it?
▪ Integrated view of How goals, projects and actions are inter-related
▪ Understanding the resource and skill requirement
▪ Periodic Evaluation of changes of strategy and direction
▪ Visibility of Portfolio, Projects and Progress
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15. Pace
▪ Annual planning cycle is not enough
▪ Making changes to plan is important
▪ Strategies need to respond in REAL TIME
▪ Clarifying change in
▪ Goal
▪ Objective
▪ Periodic evaluation of What needs to be changed?
▪ Assessing and understanding the impact of CHANGE
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16. How do we achieve this?
▪ Leverage strategies that have been identified at the outset
▪ Strategically important Projects need to be SELECTED
▪ Assess the required SKILL SET and RESOURCE to make it HAPPEN
▪ Define PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT mechanism
▪ Project Portfolio management is a practice of INTEGRATION
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17. What is needed in ME to achieve this?
▪ Be clear about the GOAL
▪ Project Portfolio Management INTEGRATES and aligns
▪ Strategy
▪ Projects
▪ Resources
▪ Results
▪ Be Critical about current progress
▪ How do I make it better?
▪ Commit to Constant and Continuous Improvement
▪ Assess the current results
▪ Look for area of improvements
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18. Parting thoughts… Looking beyond the Horizon
▪ Pace is getting faster and faster
▪ Success is a product of good, accurate and timely decision
▪ Strategy requires clarity of purpose and flexibility of the purpose is
attended
▪ Success depends on
▪ Fact based, Data driven judgement
▪ Ability to assess progress and recognize performance challenges
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19. Megha Thakkar, PMP®
kotak.megha@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/mthakkar

20. ▪ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
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