Managing project portfolios

OVERVIEW: The day-to-day management of a new product project portfolio is critical to its success. The management practices that are effective, however, depend on your objectives. Portfolios that best meet their objectives include a higher proportion of uncertain projects. Their managers allocate a higher proportion of core team members to those more uncertain projects, are more likely to leave some slack capacity when loading their portfolios, and empty the portfolio pipeline faster. Managers whose portfolios have a higher percentage of projects that succeed in the marketplace review their portfolios more frequently, are less tolerant of schedule slips, and increase resources to projects rather than let them slip. This study also shows that some practices are destructive no matter what the goals are, including switching team leaders and members in the course of a project, and stretching people and financial resources across too many projects.