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June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
PPM: Concepts, Tools and Approaches
Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.
Like death and taxes, IT projects are a certainty within an enterprise. Even small companies have formidable project backlogs that run the gamut of size, value, complexity and duration. Add the scarcity of resources, the inability to tackle the entire backlog at once establishes the need for a way to prioritize and oversee which projects get done in what order. Enter the world of IT Project Portfolio Management (ITPPM).
The Sloan Review (an MIT publication) recently published the following in an article entitled “Best Practices in IT Portfolio Management” by Mark Jeffery and Ingmar Leliveld:
“Research at 130 companies, including Harrah’s Entertainment, Waste Management and Blue Cross Blue Shield, shows that only 17% are at the advanced, or synchronized, stage of ITPM (IT Portfolio Management).”
This leaves 83 percent at some other stage in their maturity related to the oversight and governance over their project portfolios. In the absence of an effective ITPPM function, these organizations risk much, including:
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Poor return on investment on their project dollars spent
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Misalignment of projects to business objectives and strategies
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Poor utilization of scarce IT resources
In his article for CIO.com entitled “Portfolio Management - How to Do It Right”, Todd Datz writes:
“…
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