Introduction

Project Portfolio Management is about prioritizing technology-related demands and plans and then allocating financial and human resources to investment initiatives. Through Project Portfolio Management, the organization integrates governance-oriented collaboration with business stakeholders, delivers expected results from investments, and provides reports to stakeholders for decision-making and for communicating investment status. Last year our focus was more generic; this year we will focus on Project Portfolio Selection and Analysis methods and Case Studies.

Event as Opportunity

• Simona Bonghez (Romania)
• Randall L. Englund (US)
• Jim De Piante (US)
• Michel Thiry (UK)
• Jack Duggal (US)
• Alfonso Bucero (Spain)

Who Should Attend?

• IT Professional Services Firms
• Internal IT Departments in Financial, Utility, and other Service Oriented Businesses
• Construction and Engineering firms
• New Product Development Organizations

Event Purpose

• Embrace project, program, and portfolio management as the means to recover from turbulent times
• Focus on Project Portfolio Selection and Analysis steps—identify criteria for success
• Learn how Project Portfolio Management can help executives make better business decisions
• Share Project Portfolio international best practices
• Identify the executive role in Project Portfolio Selection and Analysis
• Reap benefits from effective stakeholder communications
• Understand that Project Portfolio Management implementation is a cultural change
• Identify how to involve executives and upper managers in the Project Portfolio Management process

Material

• Program Guide
• Presenters Bio and References
• PPM Articles and more...

Event Agenda

The "Managing Portfolios in Turbulent Times" event happens over two days. Here is the agenda for days 15th and 16th of November.

Day 1 (Nov 15th)

Registration and Coffee (8:00-8:45)

Welcome (9:00-9:15)

Randall L. Englund (9:15-10:30)

Creating Excellence through Project Portfolio Management

A process for project portfolio management is relatively straightforward and logically clear. It is not for lack of process that defining, estimating, prioritizing, tracking, and optimizing resources for a portfolio of projects at most organizations remains in a dismal state. The challenges are behavioral, organizational, cultural, and political. Significant factors are complexity, lack of strategy, and quality of leadership. A series of recommendations, based on experience and case studies, focus on understanding the dynamics of how people interact, especially around which projects to select or continue—subjects of intense interest to all. Identify action oriented steps that impact the ability to implement project portfolio management...realizing all along that, while process, tools, and logic are helpful, success requires creating an environment that engages people who see that cooperating brings greater value than resisting.

Table discussions (10:30-10:45)

Coffee Break (10:45-11:15)

Jim De Piante (11:15-12:30)

Con-artists, Swindlers and Project Managers

It's not enough to say that a project is "like" an investment. We have to say a project really is, in fact, an investment. It has all of the characteristics of any investment. A project produces an asset. It has a price. It has a return, and it has risk associated with it. In fact, risk is the thing that makes a project particularly interesting as an investment. It's not enough to say that the business case for a project is "like" an investment prospectus. We have to say that the business case must serve exactly the same purpose as a prospectus – and more. The business case really is, in fact, the prospectus for the project as investment. It is the only tool the investor has to evaluate one project investment against all other project investments, real and potential. It's not enough to say that a portfolio of projects is "like" an investment portfolio. We have to say that a portfolio of projects really is, in fact, an investment portfolio. The holder of a portfolio of projects (sponsor, program manager, business owner…) is an investor like any other investor. He holds a portfolio of investments – projects – and must evaluate one against the other using the prospectus to understand the characteristics of each in order to deal with the realities of price, performance and risk in the face of constrained resources. The project portfolio holder often must also deal with another reality: a certain lack of objectivity owing to the fact that the project is often his own brainchild, which he would like to see the light of day. Furthermore, projects tend to take on a life of their own, and often survive long after the time when they should have been pruned. Successful project portfolio management – optimizing risk versus return – requires the same rigor and more that any portfolio holder must exercise, and this implies normalization of the characteristics of each (in the business case) and ongoing assessment of risk and return as well as the objectivity and courage to prune investments that are not performing adequately. As with any investment portfolio, the project portfolio must serve both tactical and strategic needs. The portfolio manager must manage the portfolio with a mind toward achieving both near in and long term objectives in order to implement the organization’s overall strategic objectives and thus ensuring competitiveness in markets served. Organizations that develop project and portfolio management as core competencies will be better positioned to achieve tactical and strategic objectives and thus better positioned to survive in an increasingly competitive and difficult business climate.

Table discussions (12:30-12:45)

Lunch (12:45-14:00)

Jack Duggal (14:00-15:15)

Cultivating a Portfolio Mindset

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Table discussions (15:15-15:30)

Coffee Break (15:30-16:00)

Networking Session (16:00-17:30)

End of day 1 (17:30)

Day 2 (Nov 16th)

Coffee (8:00-8:45)

Welcome (9:00-9:15)

Michel Thiry (9:15-10:30)

Integrating PPM in the PBO's Governance

Establishing effective project portfolios entails organizational design challenges. Project portfolios need to be configured to serve the specific needs of the organization and to allow strategic goals to be converted into action. For example, project portfolios geared to support new product development efforts face different challenges than those geared to support infrastructure-maintenance efforts. This presentation looks at how different organizational environments can be served by different approaches to configuring project portfolios. It also examines how mixed portfolios can be established to address different organizational needs.

Table discussions (10:30-10:45)

Coffee Break (10:45-11:15)

Simona Bonghez (11:15-12:30)

Competencies for Project Portfolio Management

Table discussions (12:30-12:45)

Lunch (12:45-14:00)

Alfonso Bucero (14:00-15:15)

The Role of PPM in a Savings Bank

The difference from one organization to another, in terms of strategic execution, is the discipline of engaging the strategy with the tailored portfolio of projects and programs that will bring it to life. In a saving bank organization, with limited resources and not very mature in project management, it is as much about choosing what not to do as about deciding which strategic projects and programs to invest in. The organizational success or failure rests on how an organization governs its project portfolio.

This presentation is about a real case of a Spanish savings bank who decided to implement a project portfolio process in their IT organization. The PMO manager from the Savings bank led the project, with the help of a PM consulting company. They worked on team with the saving bank professionals to sell the Executives the need of a project portfolio process, and the added value of this process implementation for their organization and for their customers. This presentation deals with the problems and difficulties found and also with the lessons learned from this challenging project.

Table discussions (15:15-15:30)

Coffee Break (15:30-16:00)

Panel discussion (16:00-17:30)

Closing (17:30)

The Sponsors

Refer to the table below to check the different sponsorship levels:

A la Carte Sponsor Program

If any organization wants to contribute to this event with gifts for the attendees, pencils, bags or whatever they think may be interesting, please contact us.

(*)Every attendee receives a high quality bag containing essential information and event materials upon a registration. The bag's practical design will ensure its continued use after the event is over. There will be up to two logos on the bag: BUCERO PM Consulting and the Platinum Sponsor.

Location

(...view map)

GRAN HOTEL LAS ROZAS
Madrid
C/ Chile, 2
28230 Madrid
Spain