Four Organizational Problems Project Portfolio Management Can Solve

If everything’s a priority, nothing is.

That’s an adaptation of a famous line from the movie The Incredibles. It’s also an explanation for why many organizations struggle to meet strategic objectives. When companies treat too many projects as urgent priorities, they dilute focus—as well as human and financial resources. That often means missed deadlines, stalled momentum, and too little progress.

What’s the solution? One is project portfolio management (PPM), or the process of ensuring that your organization pursues the right projects at the right time and with the resources needed to ensure their success.

Here are four problems PPM can help you solve and set your organization up to approve and complete projects that consistently deliver value.

Problem: People Don’t Know What to Work on First

In most organizations, there’s no shortage of promising project ideas. What’s missing is a mechanism for choosing between them. PPM provides that framework by evaluating potential projects on multiple dimensions ranging from their strategic importance to their risk factors, time to market, and resource demands. As a result, decision-makers have the information to identify the most important projects and plan them. For example, they can ensure they properly resource projects and that concurrent projects won’t strain overall capacity.

This objective, data-driven process helps ensure that resources are flowing to the right projects. It also diffuses frustration from leaders whose projects aren’t approved when they hoped. And it serves as a single source of truth, keeping everyone on the same page on priorities and progress.

Problem: You’re Not Accomplishing Your Most Important Initiatives

Similarly, many companies have a well-focused vision and solid strategic plan. Where it gets murky—and they lose momentum—is translating those plans into action. PPM fixes that by providing a framework that enables companies to convert these plans into aligned and actionable projects and programs.

It sounds intuitive, yet many companies skip this step and proceed directly from the top-level vision to a cacophony of disjointed projects. PPM is the essential middle layer between vision and execution. Companies use PPM to evaluate potential projects based on their strategic relevance and required resources and create project delivery roadmaps. This ensures that approved projects deliver strategic value and can be completed successfully and on time.

Problem: Every Project Is a Massive Effort

When an organization makes project decisions based on strategic positioning and operational context, it can ensure the combination of active projects fits its budget and risk tolerance. If a company’s project portfolio is balanced, it’s likely pursuing a range of projects—some massive, some modest, some with quick turnarounds, and others on years-long timetables. And all of them have the resources to set their teams up for success.

There’s also a cultural component to this. When team members pour themselves into under-resourced projects that deliver under-performing results despite their best efforts, it depresses morale. Smart choices at the project portfolio level translate to employees who are invested and excited to contribute to important initiatives.

Problem: Nobody Has a Macro View of Progress

Most PPM frameworks include some variation of a stage-gate process with well-defined criteria used both for project intake and to evaluate progress at each gate. These governance systems, which often include reporting dashboards, enable organizations to keep tabs on the health of each project in their portfolio. This adds accountability, creates opportunities to intervene when helpful, and streamlines decision-making.

PPM addresses many organizational challenges by providing a structured approach to selecting and overseeing projects that deliver value. It’s the key to managing project overload, aligning projects with strategy, and ensuring adequate resourcing and transparency.