Project Portfolio Management: A View From The Management Trenches

1.3. THE FIVE QUESTIONS IN BRIEF

Let's take a brief look at the five questions we will explore in depth later.

1.3.1. "Are we investing in the right things?"

Any task, activity, project, or program requires either money, equipment, material, people's time, or some combination of these. And when you look at it, the equipment, material, and even people's time can be readily converted to a common unit of measure: money. Therefore, since PPM is looking at these things as a whole, and they all take money in some form, then it only makes sense to view them as "investments." If our projects are investments, then doesn't it make sense to ask whether we're actually spending our money and time on the right things? And, so, we have the first question: "Are we investing in the right things?"

A sound PPM capability requires, at a minimum, four things: informed managers, involved participants (including the right level of executive sponsorship), good facilitation, and appropriate processes, systems, and tools. (Okay, that may technically be six things—we just view processes, systems, and tools as a single, integrated item—but you get the picture).

Since money is very much a limited resource, we must figure out a way to invest in the right things. This is a balancing act between the desire to fulfill the business strategies, the limited money we have to invest, and knowing when is the right time to start a project. Along with deciding which new projects deserve investment, we need to monitor ...