2018 has been the year of the Portfolio, as the gentle murmurs of 2017, about the essential need for effective Portfolio Management inside capital intensive companies and industries, became both acknowledged, and an expected standard for corporations operating large cash projects, and showing moderate maturity.

We’ve reached peak project management, and room for discussion is limited.

Agile vs Waterfall.

On-time and to budget.

Buzzword after buzzword.

It goes without saying, that effective Project Management is vital. To both the success of the individual projects, but also to the company, and therefore to members of the public. If drug makers consistently fail to create new medication, and road builders leave us with unfinished roads, people will suffer. So there’s no denying Project Management is a vital component of the world we live in.

But shouldn’t we now be looking at something new, after all, we’ve drilled down on Project Management, distilled it. Extracted the best methodologies and software products. Turned it into an art – and it’s safe to say we’re pretty good at it.

But that doesn’t mean we should stop there. That doesn’t mean we should stop refining our approach as Project, Programme, and Portfolio Management professionals.

We should all be zooming out. Striving to achieve a birds-eye view of not just one, but all of our projects. Trying to understand how they all operate within the ecosystem of the company or corporation. Understanding how that can work together synergistically to achieve better results across all projects.

You wouldn’t drive your car without first checking the warning lights, so why would you embark on a Project before checking on the Portfolio?

Effective Portfolio Management is about understanding your organisation, and what it’s trying to achieve. Portfolio Managers, using dedicated Portfolio Management Software are able to manage the broader direction and activities of any given organisation, more effectively than a team of Project Managers alone.

The magic of Portfolio Management, is in the deciding of which Projects should go ahead, and which should be canned. Studies suggest around $98M of every $1B spent on projects in 2018 was wasted, or ‘dead’ money. One way to avoid spending money on projects doomed to fail, is to not select them in the first place – something made much easier through the implementation of Portfolio Management – something we do very well here at Hyde Park Solutions.

Furthermore, Projects become unviable at different times. Sometimes it’s clear from the onset certain Projects should not have been started. Other-times Projects only become an issue midway through. It’s vital that poor projects are not forced through the finish line just for the sake of being able to say, ‘we did it!’

Whats important is having tools in place to identify and flag lagging, ineffective, money draining projects that need to be stopped – at all stages of the Project’s lifecycle. Portfolio Management makes this possible.

Remember also, a completed Project that delivers it’s intended benefits is still a failure if the money spent could have been utilised on a different Project with greater returns – whatever they may be.

Here at Hyde Park Solutions, we believe in the power of Projects, and Portfolios. We believe these two principles and crafts should go hand in hand in creating a strong, sustainable company, with longterm ambition.

Hyde Park Solutions are the leaders in Project and Portfolio Management solutions – from conceptual design, to system installation, training, and ongoing 24/7 support.