Program, Portfolio, and Project Management
As change becomes a constant, companies and their leadership seek and are pressured to innovate strategies, operations, and practices continuously.
Information technology (IT) is both catalyst and enabler of the persistent change dynamic. Harnessing IT in the achievement of business objectives requires definition, creation or assembly, and integration of a variety of like and unlike moving parts, as well as effective communication, team work, and results: satisfied users; on time, on budget product delivery; realized cost-benefit.
Because the work is complex, essentially a translation - or deciphering - of human requirements into precise instructions a computer can execute, the work to be done must be systematically parsed into a work breakdown structure. In short, a project must be sponsored, organized, and resourced based on an industry or company standard for defining and managing the work, known as a systems development methodology.
Continuous innovation creates a steady stream of projects that that must be managed collectively and individually, giving rise to the need for program portfolio and project management. What they have in common is the need for effective collaboration informed by communication tools and structures appropriate to the challenges of increased management complexity.
Client Scenarios
Client Scenarios that call for these disciplines can include:
- Building effective internal IT governance that reflects pooled, if not common interests and shared, if limited resources.
- Achieving transparent project status within a portfolio based on a common governance framework for better strategy alignment.
- Improving risk-of-failure management for major change initiatives
through program portfolio and project management.
Possible Deliverables
For all these scenarios, the focus is on aligning IT within an organization by applying program, portfolio, and
project management to chartered business innovation goals. Specific charters
can include:
- Building effective, inclusive IT governance support, including formal IT prioritization.
- Portfolio management based on a PMO (Project Management Office) practice.
- Program oversight, including stakeholder status reporting, financial management, and systems integration.
- Technology project management, including project planning, risk and issues management.