PPM and CMM: Kindred Spirits?

  Portfolio Management  

When considering advances in IT management in the last 30 years, several concepts come to mind. Rapid development opened the doors to faster development cycles. Global development organizations allowed for software and hardware to be created at any time in any location. Flat management structures and smaller teams allowed organizations to be more flexible and adaptive as the market changed.

Two concepts that have also changed the way organizations manage IT projects came into being during this time. Both grew out of different arenas but both have complementary goals--that of improving IT organizations. Taken separately, project portfolio management (PPM) and the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) provide frameworks for evaluating different aspects of a company's IT projects. Together, however, the two form a unique alliance for maximizing returns on a company's investments.

Growing Up In Different Ways

No two ideas could come from such different origins than PPM and CMM. Project Portfolio Management arose from the research of Dr. Harry Markowitz and the application of financial portfolio management. Twenty years ago in the Harvard Business Review article "A Portfolio Approach to Information Technology Projects," Dr. F. Warren McFarland proposed the treatment of projects as financial investments, and thus should be measured by the company as …

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