All Things Considered: Break Out of the ROI Stranglehold When Picking Projects

  Governance   PM Network  

With most of the world-economy on the rebound, many organizations are finally ramping up their project lineups—dusting off some long-dormant projects and checking out some promising new ones.

But the recovery remains tenuous for many companies, and executives face some tough choices as they reboot their project portfolios. What projects should be selected? How should they determine a project’s rank within the company’s portfolio? And how can they ensure project prioritization aligns with the organization’s strategic objectives?

“The economic environment, recession or not, plays an important role toward the psychology of executives when selecting projects to include in the organization’s project portfolio,” says Konstantinos Kirytopoulos, PhD, PMP, assistant professor in the financial and management engineering department at the University of the Aegean, Chios, Greece.

Executives feel there’s a lot more at stake when deciding which projects to greenlight, says Dr. Kirytopolous, who is also a project and risk-management consultant. They fear their choices may result in job losses (including their own) or even crash the entire organization. Given the circumstances, executives seem to be focusing on low-risk projects aimed solely at sustaining the business.

Even with so much riding on their decisions, executives …

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