Project and Portfolio Management for Professionals

This book is intended for graduate and executive MBA students and professionals in any sector responsible for delivering on their organization's strategy. It provides a working knowledge of how strategy is executed through effective project and portfolio management. It addresses the major approaches to planning and managing projects and portfolios, the organizational and analytic issues involved, and reviews tools that support the effort. Many tend to overlook that strategy is comprised of two distinct, but equally important parts, those of formulation and execution While the former is usually center stage in most discussions, it is the latter that brings ideas to fruition. Strategy is executed by a variety of projects within a portfolio. This makes portfolio alignment and effective project management central to the successful growth and evolution of any organization. Managing projects that develop something new or improve on what currently exists is the essence of most organizational activity. As such, we find that project and portfolio management is now becoming increasingly recognized as a fundamental skill-set needed to manage work in the private, public and social sectors globally. In addition, a disciplined approach to managing portfolios and projects is fast becoming critical in a resource constrained environment. This book is based on the established practices in project and portfolio management and supported by real-world examples. The analytic and tools discussion in the book are reinforced by examples and specific to-do lists that help the reader begin applying the methods immediately in their own projects.