Chapter 2: Project, Program & Porfolio selection

Question 1

Selecting Projects

Answer 1

-Most of the companies cannot undertake most of the potentiel projects identified because of resources limitations and other constraints
-There are usually more projects that time and resources available to implement them
- An organizational overall business strategy should guide the project selection

Question 2

Strategic Planning

Answer 2

*Involves determining long term objectives by analyzing the strenghts and weaknesses of an organization, studying opportunities and threats in the business environment, predicting future trends and projecting the need for new product and services
* Strategic planning provides important information to help organizations identify and then select potentiel projects
* Strategic plan ususally includes: mission, vision & goals for the next 3-5 years

Question 3

SWOT

Answer 3

Strenghts
Weaknesses
Opportunity
Threats

Question 4

Pyramid for Traditional Project Planing Process (4 steps)

Answer 4

• 4 steps
  -Strategic Planing
  -Business Area Analysis
  -Project Planing
  -Resource Allocation
  *Top Down Planning Approach

Question 5

Agile Approach to Project Planning Process

Answer 5

*Agile planning approach is much more flexible and allows teams to provide feedback to strategy which can influence direction
*Instead of selecting & funding a specific project, the corporation define the strategic direction, fund teams, and entrust them to figure out the best approach to define and deliver the greatest business value
* Instead of annual strategy meetings -> Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

Question 6

Strategy Implementation Circle

Answer 6

• Iterative Approach focussing on value, feedback and benefits
  *Strategy, Objectives, Projects, Products, Value, Feedback, Benefit

Question 7

Product Roadmap

Answer 7

• Important for agile planning
• Tool used to show a high-level summary of the vision and direction of a product or products over time
• Why?
• Needs to be created before the Gantt Chart
• focus on strategy

Question 8

Gantt Chart

Answer 8

*Standard format for displayin project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponsding start and finish dates in a calendar format
* How? & When?
* implemeting the strategy

Question 9

Product Management vs Program Management

Answer 9

*Product Management: the practice of strategically driving the development, market launch and continual supprt and improvement of a company’s products
*Program Management: involves identifying and coordinating the interdependencies among projects, products and other important strategies initiatives across an organization

Question 10

Method for selecting project (7)

Answer 10

• Focus on competitive strategy and broad organizational needs
• Perform net present value analysis or other financial projections
• Use a weighted scoring model
• Implement a balance scorecard
• Address problems, opportunities and directives
• Consider project time frame
• Consider project priority

Question 11

Focus on competitive strategy and broad organizational needs

Answer 11

*Companies have different competitive strategies
-cost leadership: attract customers primarly
because products or services are
inexpensive
-focus: develop products & services for
particular market niche

Question 12

Perform net present value analysis or other financial projections

Answer 12

• Three important financial consideration methods:
• Net present value
• Return on investment
• Payback analysis

Question 13

Use a weighted score model

Question 14

Implement a balance scorecard

Answer 14

*A balanced scorecard is a methodology that converts an organization’s value drivers such as customer service, innovation, operational efficiency, and financial performance - to a series of defined and coherent metrics

Question 15

Adress problems, opportunities and directives

Answer 15

*Problems are undesirable situations that prevent an organization from achieving its goals, can be current or anticipated
* Opportunities are chances to improve the organization
*Directives are new requirements or regulations imposed by management, government, or some external influence

Question 16

Consider project time frame

Answer 16

*Another project to project selection is based on time it will take to complete a project or the date by which it must be done
*For example, some potential projects must be finished within a specific time period. I they cannot be finished by this set date, they are no longer valid projects.
*Some projects can be completed very quickly within a few weeks, days or even mintures. However, even though many projects can be completed quickly, it is still important to prioritize them.

Question 17

Consider project priority

Answer 17

*Many organizations prioritize projects as being high, medium or low priority based on the current business environment
*Organizations should always focus on high-priority projects

Question 18

Program selection

Answer 18

• After deciding which project to pursue, organizations need to decide if it is advantageous to manage several projects together as part of a program.
• There might already be a program that a new project fall would logically fall under, or the organization might initiate a program and then approve projects for it

Question 19

Project Porfolio Selection

Answer 19

• It’s crucial to focus on enterpise success when creating project portfolios
• There may be a need to cancel or put several projects on hold, reassign resources from one project to another, suggest changes in project leadership, or take other actions that might negatively affect individual project or programs to help the organization as a whole