Category: Project Management Articles

Portfolio – Project Selection and Prioritisation

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Portfolio – Project Selection and Prioritisation

As Portfolio / Program Manager, you will have lot of projects in your project backlog. As an effective Portfolio/Program Manager, you should prioritise the right project and select it for further planning and execution.

You need to prioritise projects by scoring/ranking projects on different prioritisation criteria. Some of prioritisation criterias that I recommend portfolio/program managers to prioritise projects are listed below :

  1. Strategic Alignment – You need to see if your projects is aligned to your organisation/department strategic goals and score it accordingly
  2. Financial Criteria – You need to see your projects ROI , Savings and Cost vs Benefit. Based on this , you can score the projects
  3. Risk Criteria – You need to also check how much risk is involved.

You can give different weightage and score for each of the above criteria and then prioritise your projects based on final scores.

This exercise will help convert your project list to prioritised project list. You can start planning and executing projects based on projects ranking in prioritised project list

Also, it is important to revisit the prioritised project backlog on monthly or quarterly basis to make sure you are working right projects which are high value to your organisation at that point of time

Author : Santosh Kumar Singh – Program & Product Management Professional

Difference between Program and Project

Difference between Program and Project

Criteria Program Project
Time Program can span over a number of years Project’s timeline is shorter
Outcome Outcomes of program may take years to show like process changes etc. Projects are meant to produce output which can be used immediately
Aim Program focuses on organization’s strategic objective Project focuses on management and coordination

What is Business Analysis

Business Analysis is skill to speak to people or stakeholders or business and finding out what they want. Then capturing these as requirement and verify the requirements and make sure we actually achieve it. Also use the captured requirement to come up with different solutions using various tool and techniques. Business analysis helps organization to make better decision .It also involves improving business process and removing business process ineffieciencies

How to define “Business Problem”

How to define “Business Problem”

§A problem statement describes the unfavorable condition that prevents the goal or objective from being achieved


§Quote by Albert Einstein
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

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§Questions to be Answered when defining “Business Problem”

§Who is affected
§Whatare the negative impacts
§Whereis it happening ?
§When does it happen
§Note : We should not look for answers for below question :
§Whyis it happening
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At minimum, a business problem statement should include :

§Whatis problem or defect
§Magnitudeof the problem ( events , how often )
§Whereis the problem ?
§Whyis it important to work on this problem
§Note: Problem Statement should have impact

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Writing the Business Problem Statement

§Describe the current unsatisfactory condition
§Keep it Simple
§Ensure it has impact
§Make it understandable
§Compose wording that is engaging
§Formatted as a bulleted list or paragraph

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Examples – Paragraph or Bulleted list

Paragraph
Assembly Line #1 is producing defects at the rate of 4.5% of production (based on the number of returns we are receiving from customers). Reducing defects is critical to improving customer satisfaction.
Bulleted List
•What is problem : High rate of defects
•Magnitude of the problem : 4.5% of production
•Where is the problem : Assembly Line #1
•Why is it important : Reducing defects is critical to improving customer satisfaction

Knowledge Area and Process Group Grid

Initiating Planning Executing Controlling Closing
0
Integration 1 Develop Project Charter Develop Project Management Plan Direct and Manage Project Execution Monitor and Control Project Work Close Project or Phase
1 Perform Integrated Change Control
1
Scope 2 Collect Requirements Verify Scope
2 Define Scope Control Scope
2 Create WBS
2
Time 3 Define Activities Control Schedule
3 Sequence Activities
3 Estimate Activity Resources
3 Estimate Activity Durations
3 Develop Schedule
3
Cost 4 Estimate Costs Control Costs
4 Determine Budget
4
Quality 5 Plan Quality Perform Quality Assurance Perform Quality Control
5
Human Resources 6 Develop Human Resource Plan Acquire Project Team
6 Develop Project Team
6 Manage Project Team
6
Communications 7 Identify Stakeholders Plan Communications Distribute Information Report Performance
7 Manage Stakeholder Expectations
7
Risk 8 Plan Risk Management Monitor and Control Risks
8 Identify Risks
8 Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
8 Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
8 Plan Risk Responses
8
Procurement 9 Plan Procurements Conduct Procurements Administer Procurements Close Procurements
9

Difference Between Risk and Issue

Difference Between Risk and Issue

1. Risk is uncertain event that has no effect at the present time and it has not happened. Issue is uncertain event that has happened.
2. A risk has no effect in its current state, while an issue may be problematic.
3. A risk may be absorbed into a project with no effect at all, while an issue usually has effects, mainly negative.

Cost of Quality

Cost of Quality

 Cost of Quality is money spent during and after the project to avoid failures or because of failures.

Cost of Quality consists of two part

  1. Cost of Conformance
  2. Cost of Nonconformance

Cost of Conformance

Money spent during project to avoid failures. Cost of Conformance are listed below :

  1. Prevention costs – to build quality product . Example : Training , Document processes etc
  2. Appraisal costs – to access the quality. Example :Testing , Inspections

Cost of Nonconformance

Money spent during and after project because of failures. Cost of Nononformance are listed below :

  1. Internal Failure Costs – Cost due to failures found by project. Example : Rework , Scrap
  2. External Failure Costs -Cost due to failures found by customer. Example : Liabilities , Warranty work , Lost business