Manage Your Project Portfolio

Killing a Senior Manager’s Pet Project

If a senior manager has a pet project that you think should be killed and you think that senior manager is making this decision based on personal values or feelings, you have several options:

• Ask about the strategic importance of this project. This is a good time to meet with that manager, prepared with a list of all the projects, possibly already ranked. Now you can ask, “Is this project more important than this one?” as you walk down the list. If the senior manager says yes, you can ask, “Tell me about its importance and for how long you expect it to be more important. Can we phase releases and reevaluate its strategic importance at a particular time?” If you are lucky, you can move the project to the ...