Danica Michaela MancaoProject Portfolio Management Specialist| Aboitiz Power CorporationLey, Philippines
Is it possible to have a single Project Portfolio Management guideline that can accommodate both waterfall and agile projects?
I find this difficult to do, especially in subjecting projects to a prioritization metrics where a criteria will be Project IRR and the like.
Projects that do not have a planned budget at the initiation phase might not be able to cut the selection and prioritization.
Can anyone please provide advice on this? Much appreciated! Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I am working like program manager, not portfolio manager. But in the programs I am working on we have, in the same program, projects which are running using agile approach and other which are running with other approaches. The key thing is to think with focus in architecture to put abstraction levels to each layer. I mean, what you need at program layer is to receive the needed data to create the information for your program. The way the information is created is "a problem" of the layer or entity which has to generate it. Saving Changes...
Just because a project is following an adaptive life cycle doesn't mean that you can't establish a high-level or ceiling budget up front. Regardless of the life cycle approach, there is sufficient uncertainty during the identification and selection stages of the PPM life cycle that any budgetary amount is at best an educated guess.
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace CorpsYaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Aug 03, 2021 9:49 AM
Replying to Abolfazl Yousefi Darestani
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I agree with Kiron.
I'm joining Abolfazi Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
The project selection should come before the decision is made about the value delivery model. The why and what comes before the how.
It should be preceded by a business case establishing the reason why the project is suggested. The business case normally includes the investment and the returns which mostly come in after the project has delivered, in agile delivery returns may start earlier.
Selection criteria should be more than ROI/IRR. Benefits may be intangible. It may be a compliance need. Or a strategy goal. Or a pet project.
Thomas
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1 reply by Paul Deres
Aug 05, 2021 1:44 PM
Paul Deres
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I agree with Thomas. Make sure a solid business case with connections to your company's business strategy/goals is in place. Also pulse your market to what customers want/need (panels, surveys, interviews, etc.), which is primarily an Agile practice but should be integrated into any type of project. Ultimately the customers will determine what's important and whether the end result is successful.
Saving Changes...
Paul DeresVice President, Operations| AOPA Air Safety InstituteFrederick, Md, United States
Aug 04, 2021 1:50 PM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
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The project selection should come before the decision is made about the value delivery model. The why and what comes before the how.
It should be preceded by a business case establishing the reason why the project is suggested. The business case normally includes the investment and the returns which mostly come in after the project has delivered, in agile delivery returns may start earlier.
Selection criteria should be more than ROI/IRR. Benefits may be intangible. It may be a compliance need. Or a strategy goal. Or a pet project.
Thomas
I agree with Thomas. Make sure a solid business case with connections to your company's business strategy/goals is in place. Also pulse your market to what customers want/need (panels, surveys, interviews, etc.), which is primarily an Agile practice but should be integrated into any type of project. Ultimately the customers will determine what's important and whether the end result is successful. Saving Changes...
Portfolios may contain many dissimilar projects, not all of which may be financially driven. Since different types of projects may not necessarily be compared by the same criteria, you may develop more of a decision tree, rather than a linear way of evaluating each based on the same variables.
For example, when COVID broke out, my employer had severe financial and staffing constraints. We had to evaluate all projects in our portfolio to determine which would continue and which would be deferred or cancelled.
Some projects may be mandatory such as a product safety issue, or a critical item you purchase is discontinued and you must find and qualify an alternate supplier. Those are not compared to the discretionary projects such as cost reduction.
Within the discretionary projects, the decision making criteria may not be the same for all either. Incremental process improvements frequently follow more agile approaches, and are often difficult to estimate using ROI but rather have more subjective criteria.
Although the way you evaluate individual projects may differ, the decision tree itself can still be applied to all, by categorizing projects aligned with organizational strategies and using different criteria for different categories. Some projects might span multiple categories and an agile project with no fixed budget might not have financial data, but it might fit several strategies like error reduction, personnel development, and low risk, making it more attractive than something with a good ROI, but high risk and major investment required. Saving Changes...
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