Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook

10.

Selecting and Prioritizing Projects

Managing Your Project Portfolio

Prioritization helps organizations allocate their resources—especially the scarce resources of time, money, management, and employee attention. It allows them to balance their big bets with smaller bets. Effective prioritization sets the agenda for organizations, reflects the organization’s short- and long-term strategy, and communicates to managers and employees what really matters to leadership.

Projects that are designated top priorities always have a better chance of being delivered successfully. Most successful companies clearly know what their top projects are and are extremely disciplined in those projects’ execution. Take, for example, projects relating to the introduction ...