Are you working on the right projects?

Michael Young

By Michael Young, Managing Director, Transformed Pty Ltd

In business, and in particular in Small and Medium sized business, we all face the daily struggle of applying our limited and finite resources in right place at the right time.

As organisations increasingly manage by project, this is a challenge that becomes more predominant across the business world.

As we all strive to execute our business plan or achieve our organisation’s strategy we need to be clear that the projects we commence are not only delivered on time and within budget, but they also acheive the desired outcome.

However, do we know which projects are we doing to achieve our strategic vision and those that are just a good idea?

Enter project portfolio management.

Project portfolio management is a series of techniques focussed on ensuring we are working on the right projects and that these projects are directly linked to our business strategy.  The aim is to ensure we optimise the use of our limited resources and only perform projects when we have the resources to do so, rather than letting our grand plans take over which results in a lot of poorly executed projects, rather than a few that are done well.

For small and medium business, this means that we need to:

1. identify all projects underway

2. determine the key dates (milestones) and what the projects will produce

3. identify what projects contribute to what strategic goal or objective

4. Identify which strategic goals or objectives few or no projects are aligned to

5. Determine our ability to deliver projects and the potential resources required to deliver these projects

6.  Make a trade off decision based on our priorities and available resource pool.

At the end of the day the key to business is applying our finite resources in the right place at the right time. Anything else is just a waste.

To find our more about project portfolio management and how it can help you become more profitable and minimise your business risk, contact Michael Young at Transformed.