From the Caribbean to Canada: A Real-Life Lesson in Corporate Thinking

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Change Management   Portfolio Management  

I must be developing a bit of a rebellious streak in my old age. In one of my articles for this month’s theme of real-world project management, I drifted into the volunteering arena, and in this one I am going to be ignoring project management entirely and looking at real-world portfolio management. (Apologies in advance to the editor!)

One of the things that I hear a lot from PMs and teams is that they find it hard to relate to some of the more strategic processes and approaches in their organization. They aren’t given foundational training in how strategic planning occurs, or what drives a prioritization process, and they can’t always relate to the decision-making and logic. That makes it harder for them to ensure that the work of the project remains aligned with the needs of the business.

It's one of the reasons why I often try and use non-work examples in my webinars and writing. I figure that if I give an example that people find it easier to relate to, and then connect that to the corporate environment, it may help people with their understanding.

That’s what I am going to do this time with the idea of portfolio management. And it’s an example from my own real world this year (sorry, another article all about me—my ego is out of control).

A home-life portfolio
My wife and I moved back to Canada this year and bought a …

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