Why Is Project Portfolio Thinking Important?

IV&V

2 minutes

Thanks to the new generation of workers reimagining how PPM is applied, project portfolio thinking is now experiencing a transition. If you are not acquainted, PPM is different from project management. It entails the collective management of an entire portfolio of projects rather than taking on a single project. PPM managers decide the projects to take on, their timelines, profitability, and priority, and the best approach to assign resources to accomplish them. This article at the Association for Project Management by Emma Willson discusses the importance and benefits of project portfolio thinking.

Benefits of Project Portfolio Thinking

Increasingly complex and comprehensive services are expected from government agencies through initiatives like scaling up, net-zero, and decentralization. Therefore, this will likely involve working with several departments, taking a long time to implement, and profoundly impacting society. National Audit Office’s (NAO’s) audit government programs provide insight into how portfolio thinking helps achieve an overarching goal. Benefits of project portfolio thinking include:

A mutual understanding of an objective across decision-makers and stakeholders
A holistic and long-term perspective to achieve an objective
The ability to evaluate your risk appetite and tolerance against the aggregate risk
Information enabling a portfolio manager to compare all the activities within the portfolio and make informed decisions

Portfolio thinking has demonstrated significant value. Hence, government activity offers many opportunities to apply portfolio thinking. Therefore, the need to consider project portfolio thinking will grow as the government moves toward significant, cross-organizational outcomes. It helps:

Collect and structure information for an informed approach to making better decisions and deals
Plan and re-evaluate to understand the required funding and capabilities
Achieve the highest level of governance and assurance by centralizing the function

Project Portfolio Thinking Framework

NAO’s recently released framework for portfolios outlines the benefits of portfolio thinking and research, offering insights and evaluation criteria. With 16 examples drawn from published NAO case studies, it provides questions you can ask yourself to ensure you are heading in the correct direction. Six insights and evaluation criteria: