Project Management ToolBox: Tools and Techniques for the Practicing Project Manager

3

Project Portfolio Mapping

Balance is beautiful.

Miyoko Ohno

Major topics in this chapter are tools for mapping project portfolio:

• Traditional Charts
• Bubble Diagrams

Figure 3.1 The role of portfolio mapping tools in the standardized project management process.

They have a simple purpose: to help companies obtain a balanced portfolio of projects, including existing and newly selected ones (see Figure 3.1). The logic here is that the investment firms are seeking to balance their growth versus income stocks and domestic versus international investments, and spread them out across industries, all in an attempt to acquire a well-diversified portfolio of investments. The analogical use of this concept in project-driven organizations strives for a portfolio of projects that are optimally diversified in terms of a certain number of key dimensions. By supporting such diversification, portfolio planning tools also facilitate the alignment of projects with the organization's strategy while balancing risks involved in projects.

This chapter's goal is to help practicing and prospective project managers

• Learn how to use various project portfolio mapping tools.
• Select those tools that account for their project situation.
• Customize the tools of their choice.

Internalizing these skills has a powerful and positive impact on initiating projects and building a standardized PM process.

Traditional ...