Michael HanfordMany times, in speaking with clients, about the subject of project portfolio management, the discussion turns to the idea of the “value” inherent in one initiative; and, as compared to other initiatives within the portfolio.
There is no (or at least very little) disagreement, that a consideration for the approval of new initiatives, and for ranking or prioritizing them against existing initiatives is their relative value.
However, for most folks value is seen as a one-time discussion, associated with review and approval of new initiatives
If you are in this majority, let me pose a question to you. For initiatives, is value a constant or a variable? And, to add one more question, how persistent is the value quantification?
Let’s take a project example. We have a project, for a major customer, to add a feature to a software application which they use. It is important. Why? Because, we might lose them as a customer (and this is a noticeable part of total revenue) if we don’t quickly provide the feature. And, our competition would just love for that to happen!
About one-third of the way through the project, one of the project team members waves an article at us which says that our client has just been acquired! And, the company which acquired them is a big customer of that same competition.
How important is the project, now, whose new features may no longer be wanted by our major customer? And, will they be required to use the software applications of the acquiring company? We need to find out! And, to return to my question: “Is value a constant or a variable?” Time’s Up! The answer is…. it depends; but, for the most part it is a variable.
Value can change over the life of an initiative (and most likely will). Events, both internal, and external can cause it to change. What this means for us, is, that the initially quantified value proposition, associated with a project or initiative, must be subject to periodic monitoring, and re-calculation using fresh input data. The corollary to this rule, is, that the continuation of an initiative, as an organizational investment, is dependent upon re-visiting the value proposition on a regular basis.
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