Project Portfolio Management: A View From The Management Trenches

10.6. DRAWING "THE LINE" IN THE PORTFOLIO

One of the strengths of PPM is the ability to judge and manage resource capacity within the portfolio of projects. Once the projects are prioritized in the portfolio, then the pertinent people, machines, facilities, and so on can be applied to the projects in priority order until the resource pools are exhausted. We have found that it is particularly important to pay attention to key resources used in the execution of projects. These key resources may take the form of a subject matter expert (SME), a computing system manager, enterprise architect, design engineer, or even project manager.

The main point here is that once the resources are exhausted (not literally, we hope), then "the Line" can be drawn on the portfolio of projects. All the projects above the line are given the authorization to implement. All the projects below the line may be approved to be in the portfolio, but since resource constraints now exist, these projects must be put on hold until resources become available. It is also at this time when the project managers, PPM manager, and business leaders can examine the results of the application of resources to the projects as prioritized and see if this really makes good business sense. These folks can then work together to reorder projects as needed and adjust resources according to the final project priorities.

It's at this point in the process where PPM really pays dividends. All too often, before PPM is implemented in ...