Portfolio Management

Catalyst can help your firm develop an approach to portfolio management.

• As an objective, external party, Catalyst probes to analyze current practices and problems on NPD strategies, functional strategies, project prioritization, gating criteria, and execution
• Develop preliminary metrics for completion and success

• Achieving a broad cross-functional view of the issues
• Improving buy in and support
• Avoiding pitfalls and remove barriers
• Educating the organization on the principles of portfolio management, program management, and project management
• Understanding the organization's needed performance

• Define boundaries
• Clarify roles and responsibilities of individuals
• Develop a more detailed understanding of the requirements of an effective portfolio management capability in specific to the client's organization
• Consider a  Project Acceleration and Requirements Workshop

• Define the existing portfolio and review for fit with current strategies
• Define internal process
• Define metrics
• Evaluate a selected few past projects for lessons learned
• Many firms have well developed and successful portfolio management and new product development processes
• The goal is to adapt to the company's methods and culture, not adopt supposedly "best" practices that won't work

• Keep initial cut simple focusing on the control needs of key stakeholder groups
• Pilot a project and or portfolio, adapt and learn
• Focus on key enablers and cross functional decision making
• Fit to gating process and project life cycle method

• Begin testing and communications with organization
• Work through objections
• Additional benchmarking
• Develop performance metrics

• Refine process and business strategies
• Establish communications program
• Support the behaviors that make the portfolio management process as part of the culture
• Catalyst can provide you a database tool, called BigPicture