What Is Portfolio Management?
In a world of ever increasing complexity and competing demands the ability to prioritise an institution's activities is key. In the education sector in particular we suffer from 'initiative overload' and it can often be difficult to decide what really matters most if we are to achieve our stated goals. The Portfolio Management infoKit is aimed at senior managers who have overall responsibility for giving strategic direction across a range of schools, departments or programme areas.
Information and Learning Technologies are mission critical tools that support our strategic goals but it can often be difficult for senior managers from a non-technical background to understand how to make best use of their potential.
A tongue-in-cheek look at how the misalignment of IT and strategic goals may manifest itself
A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago but I don't know where I am.'
The woman below replied, 'You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.'
'You must be in Information Technology,' said the balloonist.
'I am,' replied the woman, 'how did you know?'
'Well,' answered the balloonist, 'everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip.'
The woman below responded, 'You must be in Management.'
'I am,' replied the balloonist, 'but how did you know?'
'Well,' said the woman, 'you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault!'
Portfolio Management is about making sure your organisation makes the right investments and gets the returns it needs for organisational growth and delivery of its Mission. In our definition Portfolio Management is about deciding which programmes and projects to run in order to support your strategic objectives (and therefore which ones not to run). Without this layer of management, projects and programmes can run for the wrong reasons - typically 'there's some funding available' - and such activities can end up using resource needed for more strategic work.
The Gartner Group identifies Portfolio Management as a field that currently has a low level of definition and organisational maturity in all areas of industry yet one that carries a high level of risk and requires a high level of executive attention and inventiveness. You may have Performance Indicators, Balanced Scorecards or Executive Dashboards but no amount of tools can help unless you:
are clear about what you want to achieve
understand the culture in which you are operating
are prepared to prioritise, take decisions and make them stick
are prepared to learn lessons from past projects and programmes
In other words although you need data, metrics and evaluation criteria in order to inform your investment decisions, you ignore the 'softer' issues at your peril. Introducing change by agreeing and then carrying out a portfolio of projects is a complex undertaking requiring; creativity, management capability, leadership, flexibility, robustness, courage, the ability to accept setbacks calmly and the willingness to undertake risks. It requires the understanding that neither you as an individual, nor any single project manager, can alone hope to achieve anything without being willing to place trust in those to whom tasks are delegated.
