CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices

What You Do For Others: The Approved Portfolio

The review and ultimate approval or rejection of projects and initiatives and categorization of the outcome are critical to the well-being of IT and the CIO for the coming budget year. It is imperative that projects be categorized into buckets. A sample of possible classifications could include the following:

• Approved for current year with budget

• Approved for current year pending clarification (clear mission alignment)

• Hold for current budget year pending clarification

• Hold for future budget year(s)

• Rejected—lack of alignment

• Rejected—poor ROI or other budgetary reasons

• Rejected—other

CIOs must be cautious to not allow the ad hoc bucket to be consumed by projects that hit the reject pile. Nor should the ...