Portfolio optimisation - more than just prioritisation? 25th April 2013

Over 40 enthusiastic SIG members took part in an evening of lively discussions on a key aspect of portfolio management. The event, held at a fine venue near Paddington Basin in London, combined two speakers, an open forum debate, an overview of the SIGs strategy and plans and a short committee meeting which was opened for attendees to see how it worked and ask questions.

Achilleas Mavrellis, Performance, Panel and Portfolio Management Lead, Defra, started proceedings with an excellent outline of the Defra capital prioritisation approach and the complexity and challenges involved in applying PfM in such a diverse government department. His presentation can be seen here:

David Dunning, Director at Corporate Project Solutions (CPS) with more than 15 years experience implementing portfolio, programme and project management organisation, processes, technology and training, highlighted some of the techniques which can help prioritise a portfolio and illustrated how these can be used to maintain a balanced portfolio through to delivery. His presentation can be seen here:

Christine Rigby, New Supply Establishment Director, AstraZeneca directed an Open Mic session which attracted a wide range of views on the presentations heard and the practical issues practitioners face.

There was lots of audience participation on the night with many more questions, discussion and views around the following topics:

-What's the optimum size of a manageable portfolio?
-How is the success of a portfolio measured?
-How do you successfully stop projects?
-How many projects within a portfolio reach completion successfully?
-What's the investment size of different types of portfolios?
-What are the resource limitations?
-Do organisations use entry levels of which projects feature in a portfolio?

Stephen Parrett, Chair of the APM Portfolio Management SIG and a PfM practitioner for over 20 years, talked through the latest SIG strategy & plans. He emphasised the potential opportunities for the SIG to influence how PfM is shaped in future and asked SIG members to give their views on how best the SIG could do this (see slides below). He also invited those SIG members who wanted to be at the forefront to consider joining or helping the SIG committee. His presentation is below, including an update to the committee meeting agenda reflecting actions agreed:

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