Manage Your Project Portfolio, 2nd Edition

Using Tools to Manage a Portfolio

When I work with managers and management teams, they want to know what tools they should use to manage the portfolio. When you start with portfolio management, start with stickies on the wall. I have worked with teams who started with index cards on a table.

Starting with tactile tools (stickies or cards) helps people create a shared understanding of the work under discussion. If you pick up an index card and say, “This is part of a program and belongs here,” other people can ask, “What program? Why do you think these two projects are related?”

If you must work as a geographically distributed team, you have several choices:

• Use paper cards or stickies in one location and use a camera to discuss where cards/stickies ...