Portfolio and Program Management: Harmony or Conflict?

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Portfolio and Program Management: Harmony or Conflict?

Andy Jordan

May 26, 2009






When I first started managing projects there were simply project managers. We knew what had to be delivered and we delivered it to the best of our abilities. Soon after, PMOs came along to add structure to the way that our projects were managed, to standardize processes and tools and to centralize reporting. After that, program management recognized that many projects were related and needed to be managed as parts of the whole--not just from an approach and tools standpoint, but effectively as one large scale initiative.
 
Now portfolio management builds on that to take a company-wide view of all the projects that are underway--and to ensure that we leverage organizational resources to maximum efficiency regardless of their specific deliverables. Can that function successfully co-exist with the concept of a program-based organization that requires us to look at our projects in terms of common deliverables? Or is it a recipe for contradictory approaches and perspectives as we struggle to look at the same collection of projects in different groupings?
 
In this article, I’ll try and look at ways that program and portfolio disciplines can successfully co-exist--and in fact complement one another for the overall gain of the organization.
 
Why we need portfolio management
Portfolio management is the closest that we get to a corporate view of our projects.



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