Proof in the Portfolio

  Governance   Portfolio Management  

The numbers were pretty staggering. During the second day of Gartner's Project and Portfolio Management summit in Boston at the end of June, Robert A. Handler noted that $1 to $2 trillion is invested in IT deployments annually in North America alone. And 30 percent of it, between $300 to $600 billion, is wasted annually.

 

"The increasing complexity and ubiquity of IT requires that careful investment decisions be made in context," said Handler, a research VP for Gartner. "It seems hard. It doesn't have to be hard. Those that succeed do it pragmatically."

 

And in a day and age where projects get approved based on who screams the loudest, the portfolio management approach highlights which ones shouldn't be approved. In an ever-changing landscape full of evolving and varied definitions, Handler defined PPM as "a mechanism for allocating resources optimally toward an organization's objectives, factoring in risk, desired returns, scarce resources and the inter-relationships between the investments."

 

It may seem like common knowledge, but as the Gartner research has shown, plenty of companies still need to be convinced of the usefulness of portfolio management. Of the many lessons shared over the three days, some of the most important advice focused on defining and tracking project progress and benefits.

 

"The reason I think it's so important has to do with the evolution…