Project Portfolio Management Services

Project portfolio management solutions: Not just about IT anymore

While project portfolio management services began as a set of tools and approaches in support of the IT organization, business executives—under pressure to deliver results in a more agile and seamless manner—realized that many of PPM’s methods could be applied more broadly across the enterprise.

As a result, PPM’s popularity has grown, and it is now used to improve governance in areas as diverse as capital projects, research and development (R&D) efforts, post–merger and acquisition (M&A) integrations, and even Six Sigma initiatives within plants and factories.

Some organizations are even establishing project portfolio management solutions to govern the enterprise portfolio, tasking enterprise portfolio management offices (EPMOs) with providing governance and visibility into work being conducted across the entire enterprise. EPMOs or their equivalents have adopted PPM tools to establish organization-wide standards and reporting, allowing executives to view the real-time status of a wide range of work activities at both the enterprise and functional level.

Core capabilities for PPM

Portfolios are about more than projects

What, exactly, do we mean when we talk about a portfolio? In fact, thinking in terms of a portfolio of projects is fast becoming too restrictive and needs to be reframed. What PPM is increasingly overseeing is multiple ways of delivering and managing work. In other words, rather than envisioning its remit as a series of projects delivered independently over time, each with a beginning and an end, PPM has started to think in terms of products for which solutions are continually delivered to modify and enhance the product over time.

Nevertheless, not every workstream is a product or business solution, so PPM needs to be able to adapt to different types of work: A portfolio can, and should, include projects, products, services, and any other investment that realizes business outcomes and generates organizational value.

Agile delivery is becoming the norm

Perhaps one of the biggest impacts of digitization is the increase in expectations regarding the speed at which things get done—whether it’s closing the books or delivering a new product. This in turn has put pressure on organizations to find new ways of working more efficiently and effectively. When it comes to delivery speed, it’s the business that is looking to PPM for ideas.

Traditionally, project portfolio management services used a waterfall, or sequential, approach to executing projects, with business involvement occurring at the project’s outset for requirements-gathering and at the end, during testing and rollout. But as IT and the business have become more closely intertwined, this has started to change. Using agile methods and cross-functional teams, PPM began turning to a more iterative approach focused on fine-tuning its deliverables to the needs of the business.

We are increasingly seeing the use of agile methods outside of IT, particularly where there is a benefit to understanding the user or customer experience and continually improving the product. Despite the emphasis on agile, other forms of delivering work are not going away.

Looking ahead: Project portfolio management services of the future

Like other disciplines, digital forces are changing the nature of PPM and forcing it to adapt. Understanding and planning for these digital forces and trends is critical to ensuring PPM continues to deliver business value. As digital continues to affect PPM, newly emerging trends that are likely to grow and expand include the use of robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, and the changing nature of work.

As digital and other factors change the nature of work, organizations are focusing on managing their talent while striving for operational excellence and continuous innovation. In order to deliver on their priorities, leaders must not only strategically develop their talent, but also leverage partners. This will continue to lead to closer interactions with partners, vendors, and sometimes even competitors, with the goal of achieving joint value creation.

The movement to execute PPM across organizations consistently and simply, however, is not changing. Neither is the core question “Am I doing the right things?” What is changing is the question “Am I doing the right things right?” As PPM continues its course in the digital age, mastering new technologies and ways of working will be central to answering that latter question in the affirmative.