#1: Concentrate on Just a Few Things.
Apply this principle both at portfolio level and at project level.
- At the portfolio level, focus on the most important and valuable projects. Avoid “planned overload” at all costs, as it widens the gap between plan and execution.
- At the project level, plan and monitor a few key data points, including expected benefits or revenue, important schedules and deliverables, and the required cost-, resource- and skill-requirements at monthly basis.
#2: Manage projects and portfolios using simple key performance indicators. Right from the start.
Do not build overly complex metric systems. Limit yourself to simple, standardized metrics that are collected automatically for the entire project.
And very importantly: Do not only retrospectively look for the part that lies in the past, but also look forward, with regard to achieving the goals.
Regularly request honest estimates from the project management. And trust them.
Use software that automatically determines the predicted deviations:
- of the project end date and a maximum of a handful of key milestones,
- in resource requirements,
- in expected revenue or benefit.
Use these metrics from the outset.
Provide everyone, especially the project team, with access to these metrics. You will be surprised at the self-healing powers this will unleash within the team.
#3: Start Quickly, Improve Continuously.
By ‘Start Quickly‘ we mean: Begin building a comprehensive overview of your entire portfolio within a maximum of 2-4 weeks.
- Create a comprehensive list of people’s capacity available for project work.
Ask your department managers who in the department can contribute how many hours of project work per month? What skills do these people have? - Create a list of all current projects.
Ask each project manager to describe the key data of their project(s): Start and end, required resources and skills needed per month, most important milestones and deliverables, expected benefit and revenue. Normally they can do this within 30 minutes per project. - With an appropriate tool, capture the total capacity available and the project key data into an appropriate tool.
Now visualize your current multi-project landscape, project key performance indicators (KPIs), portfolio utilization, resource bottlenecks, and the portfolio’s profit/loss.
By ‘Improve Continously‘ we mean regularly performing these two steps:
- Review your KPIs from Principle #2, for example, every four weeks.
- Based on this, quickly implement measures and review the KPIs again in the next review cycle.
Do this, even if you suspect many deficiencies in the current planning and setup of the projects!
Do not wait until your company or department is ‘well-prepared’ for Lean Portfolio Management. That is not efficient. You will lose time unnecessarily.
Get started, even if the current state is not perfect.
#4: Visualize Projects and Portfolio for Common Understanding.
Ensure that all project participants, from steering committee members to project managers and all project staff, have a common understanding of the key data of projects and current portfolio.
Provide all stakeholders and employees with an overview of the entire portfolio and a shared understanding of the key data and KPI’s of the projects. Limit viewing rights only when absolutely necessary.
Minimize access barriers – ideally, everyone should be able to access the data through a simple web browser.
Visualizing the key data of projects and current portfolio creates clarity about the common goals and the current project status. Visualization supports rapid, decentralized decision-making in cross-functional and cross-departmental teams.
#5: Practice Trust and Commitment.
Trust the project management and the team to adhere to the initially agreed key data mentioned above.
Avoid micromanagement at all costs:
In today’s world, it makes little sense to monitor the schedules, sequence and number of detailed tasks. Our experience even suggests that it is counterproductive.
You have your project management and team specifically to respond well and creatively to unforeseen situations – even if the schedules, sequence or number of detailed tasks changes.
As long as the essential key data from Principle #1 are not at risk, don’t require your project manager to ask for consultation or even permission. This saves an enormous amount of time at both the team and management levels.
Of course, all project managers should derive their individual detailed plan from the key data. This is the responsibility of the project management and the team. Provide your employees with assistance, but also the greatest possible freedom to develop this detailed plan with a suitable tool.
In return, regularly obtain the explicit commitment from the project management that the expected key data will be met.
Offer support if this commitment can no longer be given in good conscience by the project management.
Avoid a culture of “melon reporting” (green on the outside, red on the inside) by not punishing honest reporting of difficulties.
#6: Use Cloud Software and AI Support Strategically to Implement the Other Principles.
Provide a cloud solution for high-level planning and estimation of key project and portfolio parameters.
Ensure that all stakeholders have easy access to overviews and visualizations of the entire portfolio, programs, and projects and their key metrics.
Make sure that key metrics, forecasts, and status reports are automatically calculated and generated by your software as soon as the key parameters are updated.
Use AI support to take over complex and time-consuming tasks such as:
- Creating new projects, including typical resource needs, using project templates
- Suggestions for assembling or expanding project teams: Who has the required skills and available capacity?
- Suggestions for the optimal start of a project: When can we start without causing resource bottlenecks in the overall portfolio?
Do not mix high-level systems for portfolio management with tools for detailed planning. Keep them separate.
- On one hand, you need a high-level portfolio management system for all the projects and initiatives you plan to undertake.
- Depending on your requirements, you should also provide suitable project planning tools for detailed planning. Be pragmatic in this approach and focus on actual needs.
