I’ve talked about how to find, assess and prioritise ideas in my last few blog posts, so what comes next…sequencing them, because you can’t do everything at the same time! This is where the art of portfolio management comes in, because this isn’t just a simple matter of scheduling based on priority, you need to work through the balancing act of:
- Dependencies: How does one project/programme impact another, does it need to come before/after, is there a key milestone in one which is required before the other can start, etc.?
- Resources: Are the necessary and right people and assets available when needed or are they busy on something else?
- Budget: Are there enough funds in the period to afford it all?
- Change & Embedding: Can the amount of change happening at any given time be managed, or are you putting teams under too much change load? Is there sufficient time after the activity to provide real embedding time and the initiation of a continuous improvement cycle?
- Risk & Value: Is there a way to sequence activity to minimise the overall risk and increase value realisation of the portfolio?
Consider and balance these factors, and you can build a portfolio that is effectively sequenced to deliver your portfolios and your organisational goals and objectives, maximise value and minimise risk, but you may want to also consider building in some flexibility for when Thing 1 and Thing 2 inevitably come to play!
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