Skip to Content
Executive's Guide to Project Management: Organizational Processes and Practices for Supporting Complex Projects
book

Executive's Guide to Project Management: Organizational Processes and Practices for Supporting Complex Projects

by Robert K. Wysocki
July 2011
Intermediate to advanced
240 pages
6h 37m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Executive's Guide to Project Management: Organizational Processes and Practices for Supporting Complex Projects

Chapter 8

Agile Project Portfolio Management Process

Complex projects introduce uncertainty and high risk into the organization. A particular idea and its estimated business value may place it at the top of the priority list today but that is no guarantee that it will be there tomorrow. Priority among complex projects is volatile and can render the best decisions meaningless. In the past you had a hard time killing projects even though it didn't seem like they were going to deliver the originally estimated business value. If you suggested that a particular project be terminated or significantly reduced in scope, it would certainly upset the sponsor who campaigned so vigorously for it. You might be hesitant to put yourself in the position of project killer for fear of repercussions later on. If you were the sponsor and are now recommending termination or scope reduction the client might not be too happy about your decision. Then there is the reaction of other senior management team (SMT) members to your recommendation. They might have good reason to continue with the project. There is a way to resolve this seeming dilemma and that is the topic of this chapter.

To succeed in today's complex business environment requires a very different approach than you might be used to. Every project portfolio reflects an investment strategy and should be viewed from that perspective. Every project in the portfolio is an investment with an expected return on investment (ROI) contribution to the ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Mastering Project Management Strategy and Processes: Proven Methods to Meet Organizational Goals

Mastering Project Management Strategy and Processes: Proven Methods to Meet Organizational Goals

Randal Wilson

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781118089248Purchase book