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APM Portfolio Management Interest Network

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Welcome to the APM Portfolio Management Interest Network.

Ready to make a difference? Dive into our network and become part of something truly special. Whether you're passionate about volunteering, seeking valuable resources on Portfolio Management, or eager to network with like minded project professionals at our exciting events, there's a place for you here.

Volunteer opportunities await. Join us to create positive change! From webinars to networking events, there are countless ways you can contribute your time and skills to make a difference.

Discover valuable resources. Empower yourself with knowledge and tools to drive progress forward. Explore our resources below filled with insightful articles, practical guides, and useful tools designed to support your career.

Our purpose? To support everyone interested in Portfolio Management (PfM) by raising awareness of the latest practices, new ideas, developing innovative approaches while sharing experiences and discussing challenges. 

Our goal is to be a key contributor to the future development of PfM by fostering and facilitating cross-professional collaboration worldwide. 

What do we do? Portfolio Management is not just about delivering the "thing"; it's about delivering the "right thing." 

Balancing different business objectives is a huge challenge for any organisation. Portfolio managers ensure that businesses invest in the ‘right’ projects or programmes to support their goals. 

This is achieved by determining what truly matters to the top decision makers. A portfolio manager’s role is to identify the best way to balance the benefits of a project with its costs and risks, ensuring that businesses achieve maximum value. 

What we offer our followers? Each portfolio office operates differently because it caters to a diverse range of stakeholders. Determining the right course of action can be challenging due to the differing needs and expectations. 

We have one of the most comprehensive collections of portfolio management case studies globally. Each year, we host conferences where professionals share their experiences with portfolio management, and we archive every session, creating a repository of practical examples. 

Additionally, we have a strong community of peers with extensive experience and expertise in the field as well as guides and materials covering all aspects of practical portfolio management. 

How to get involved? We host regular dinners where we interview top portfolios managers and turn the results into articles for the community. We also have an annual in-person conference as well as regular webinars and events.  

"We collect, curate, and share best practices in Portfolio Management," says network volunteer Adam Skinner. "We are a well-established community, but we’re truly excited about the possibilities of doing more with a larger group of volunteers.” 

Portfolio management The selection, prioritisation and control of an organisation’s projects and programmes in line with its strategic objectives and capacity to deliver.

Definition from APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition

What is portfolio management?

Portfolio management ensures organisations invest in the ‘right’ projects/programmes to support their strategic objectives.

We aim to support everyone interested in PfM by promoting awareness of latest practices, researching new ideas, developing new approaches, and providing ways to share experiences and debate challenges. Our intention is to be a major contributor to the future development of PfM through encouraging and facilitating cross-professional collaboration.

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Members can now connect with us on the APM Community

APM Members* can now connect directly with other members of the network, discuss network topics, join network events and fulfil their volunteer roles within the APM Community.

Not a member? Explore membership

*Associate, Full and Fellow member types only

🔒 Connect on APM Community
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Apply to be an APM Interest Network Volunteer

This ongoing volunteering opportunity offers a chance to support and facilitate knowledge sharing and production of thought leadership content in the network's area of interest.

Volunteers can be a member or non-member of APM and can apply to join a team at anytime.

View role and apply

Featured resources

How do we grow and retain the portfolio managers and directors of the future?
Analytics versus experience: What’s more critical for the portfolio director?
Making the hard decisions: The challenge of decision making at the portfolio level 
Portfolio Management – A practical guide

This guide illustrates how portfolio management is a key mechanism in enabling an organisation to optimise delivery of its strategic goals, maximising value, and do so in the required time frame.

"The Management Portfolio" series

The 'Managing the Portfolio' series of thought leadership reports, authored by Peter Glynne, provide a brief and practical insight into the journey to implement and embed portfolio management within an organisation. 

Find out more

Events

Future Focused: Transforming Portfolios with data-driven insights conference

15 May 2025

Look at what is currently possible, and what one day might be possible, in the world of data-driven portfolio management.

The first ten years

This document is a short ‘history’ of Association for Project Management’s (APM) Portfolio Management Specific Interest Group (SIG) from its inception in 2010 and what we have achieved during the subsequent 10 years, during which time SIG membership (followers) has grown to more than 4,500.

It’s a snapshot of the events and people associated with its progression up until the end of 2020, and looks at the main achievements and challenges with some thoughts on where the SIG and PfM might go next.

The format consists of, broadly, an overview of each ‘SIG year’ running from annual committee elections at each AGM (usually held early summer) and through to the next AGM. It includes links to all of the SIG publications, major events, SIG conferences (and to most of the presentations) for those wishing to find out more.

Hopefully, this ‘history’ will provide a reference record for past/present/future SIG members, become part of APM’s ‘corporate memory’ and bring back some good memories for all those who have been on this journey, however long or short their participation.

Download now

Related reading

News

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Futureproofing: Successful portfolio leadership and management in uncertain times (SIG conference 2023)
Explored how different organisations are future-proofing their portfolios, and the strategies they’re using to achieve this. The SIG 2023 conference also looked at how leadership styles are evolving to meet current and future challenges.
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Future-proofing portfolios in uncertain times: APM conference to explore how and why
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Driving projects "looking through the windscreen": multi SIG conference 2022
The aim of the conference was to look at refocusing how we plan and execute projects, and we challenged the participants by asking – “If we went on a journey the way we plan and execute projects would we get to our destination, and would we get there on time?” The focus of the day was on driving projects like cars - looking ahead, ‘through the windscreen’.
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Creating value in portfolios: A panel debate podcast
The third podcast video in the "Benefits and value for the portfolio" series.
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APM joint SIG conference 2022: Successful delivery in the midst of rapid change
APM Portfolio Management SIG and Programme Management SIG joint conference 2022 on Thursday 17 March.
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Latest insights and trends in portfolio management
To coincide with the Portfolio Management SIG’s 10th anniversary, a survey of portfolio management (PfM) practitioners was carried out in 2020. The survey highlighted several changes from what was discovered in 2015, and from the survey we were able to show some interesting links between portfolio governance, the organisation’s approach to PfM and alignment of the portfolio to an organisation’s strategies.

Blogs

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Maximising organisational success through benefits management and portfolio prioritisation
In today's fast-paced business environment, organisations face the constant challenge of balancing change initiatives with business-as-usual (BAU) activities. How can we ensure we're investing in the right projects while keeping the lights on? The answer lies in effective benefits management and portfolio prioritisation. 
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Managing portfolios: Optimising strategic contribution
Fourteen years ago, Steve Jenner and Craig Kilford wrote Management of Portfolios for the OGC/Axelos. Now they are back with a new, enhanced and up-dated guidebook: Managing Portfolios. Steve will be outlining some of the key themes of the book at the APM Portfolio Management Conference on May 15th 2025, but in the meantime, what is portfolio management? 
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Future focused: Transforming portfolios with data-driven insights – The Portfolio Management Interest Group Conference
It always strikes me how much has changed in the world of portfolio management, while the principles of what we do and how we do it have never been more important.
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Managing projects across Bath’s UNESCO World Heritage sites
Project management in the heritage sector requires an interesting skillset – one that extends further than the typical toolkit of a project manager with PRINCE2 or similar training to include another set of skills that ensures the conservation of historic buildings is considered, or the heritage of a site / place / collection is understood and managed effectively.  
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What are the barriers to effective governance?
Members of the Governance SIG recently came together to begin the first stage of what will be an ongoing conversation around the barriers to effective governance. Project, programme, portfolio management (P3M) all require some form of coherent decision-making to ensure their success. Effective governance is crucial not only to P3M, but to the wider organisational context in which these initiatives sit.
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Why portfolio management is essential for AI projects
In an era where artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI, is revolutionising industries, organisations face unprecedented opportunities and challenges. AI’s potential to enhance customer experience, operational efficiency and insight generation is immense. However, AI projects are inherently complex and distinct from traditional projects due to their uncertainty, ethical considerations and stakeholder expectations.