In the summer, I presented on the overlap between the organisational needs of portfolio and earned value (EV) management at EVA16.My points were:We can be parochial setting up EV procedures by project, but if the organisation is coordinated to use common tools, data sources and reports, the EV process and analysis should be more reliable and ‘cheaper’. However – while some organisations have taken the plunge to set up well, many do not buy into the benefit for the cost / difficulty and shun the techniques.The proposition I made was that for effective portfolio management, we need good...
DateTuesday 21st February 2012Time6.30pm Networking and buffet7.15pm Presentation8.30pm CloseVenueMarshall Aerospace Ltd, Airport House, The Airport, Cambridge, CB5 8RXPresented byNigel BellCPDUp to 2 hours (find out more about CPD)CostAPM members:Employees of APM Corporate Members:Non members:FreeFree£10 In launching the Office of Government Commerce’s Guide to Portfolio Management, OGC’s then Chief Executive described Portfolio Management (PfM) as "a discipline whose time has come. This presentation will suit project professionals with any level of experience".Nigel Bell will argue...
Richard E. RenshawThursday, December 8, 2011 - 18:28
I should appreciate members viewpoint if there would be a benefit for creation or update where such exist of a PM Taxonomy which would also if you see appropriate to include PM methodology (most popular on a global basis is PRINCE2), PM organizational maturity model (I suggest P3M3) and Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O). From my perspective what makes a taxonomy more useful than a mere term list or glossary is the presence of relationships between its terms. Relationships between pairs of terms are bidirectional (reciprocal). Broadly speaking there are three kinds of...
Writing in the latest issue of Project, portfolio and benefits expert Stephen Jenner said the profession was still someway short of meeting the ‘Gershon challenge’ and projects were still failing for the same boringly repetitive reasons as a result.Sir Peter Gershon, from the government’s Efficiency Reform Group, challenged the profession to stand up and be counted at last year’s APM Conference, reasoning that projects should fail for novel reasons only.However, 12 months on, Jenner makes the point that the ‘knowing-doing’ gap still shows no sign of narrowing. “The solution isn’t acquiring...
Scott WalkinshawWednesday, August 24, 2011 - 16:48
Project magazine is looking for new contributors to its monthly Critical Path column. 250-300 words to let off steam about something in the profession. In the past the column has questioned everything from the value of PMOs to banning the term ‘best practice’.So do you think the invention of strands such as programme and portfolio management is just the sign that the profession not confident in its own skin? Is agile project management just an excuse not to plan? Is it time to accept that the ‘iron triangle’ of time, cost and performance, can’t be improved? Let us know if you want to get...
A search on Google for “portfolio manager” provided me with 9.2 million results (1.3 million when limited to UK only). From a brief analysis of the 1st 100, more than 90% related to financial portfolios (e.g. investment, insurance, pensions).Those connected explicitly with the world of projects were very hard to find. Maybe that is not surprising, given that the discipline of portfolio management is relatively new to organisations. It may also highlight that portfolio management is performed in many organisations in a wide variety of forms, often by those with other dominant roles for whom...
An initial consultation on the proposed structure for the APM Body of Knowledge 6th edition was held in summer 2010. The consultation was sent out to nearly 200 industry experts, the findings and recommendations from the consultation can be found in the high level report. One key topic for discussion was the role of portfolio management and whether it can be incorporated within the structure. Opinions remain divided as to whether portfolio management is mature enough to be treated in the Body of Knowledge the same way as project and programme management. The Body of Knowledge...
The APM Board approved the introduction of the PMOSIG as APM's 13th specific interest group at their meeting on 12th of July. The SIG has been operating as an independent group for some time now and the existing committee felt that the group had reached a stage of maturity where they needed to be involved with a large organisation to help them achieve their goals. After some consideration they approached APM to be this organisation. After a comprehensive governance process that involved gaining the approval of existing APM SIGs and the SIG Steering Group, a recommendation for adopting the SIG...
The East of England branch enjoyed a useful talk on managing risk at portfolio, programme and project levels, given by Peter Campbell, a highly experienced risk management consultant and recent Chairman of the APM Risk Specific Interest Group.Peter highlighted that often risk management is not done very well within organisations, and that risks should be considered at an early stage (business case) of all projects. There should be a risk management plan at all levels of an organisation (the portfolio level equates to the strategic or board level) and there should be clear escalation and...
On Tuesday 14th June the East of England branch enjoyed a useful talk on Managing risk at portfolio, programme and project levels, given by Peter Campbell, a highly experienced risk management consultant and recent chairman of the Risk SIG.Peter highlighted that often risk management is not done very well within organisations, and that risks should be considered at an early stage (business case) of all projects. There should be a risk management plan at all levels of an organisation (the portfolio level equates to the strategic or board level) and there should be clear escalation and...
