Project, program and portfolio Selection

Question 1

Selecting project in most organization

Answer 1

Most organizations cannot undertake most of the potential projects identified because of resource limitations and other constraints: there are usually more projects than time and resources available to implement them

Question 2

Overal business strategy

Answer 2

guide the project selection process and management of those projects (“purpose”)

Question 3

What went wrong with the project ?

Answer 3

-The project was completed over budget and behind schedule –> caused “collateral damage”

Question 4

Strategic planning

Answer 4

-long term objectives
-analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization
-opportunities and threats in the business environment
-provides important information to help organizations identify and then select potential projects
-includes the organization’s mission, vision, and goals for the next 3-5 years

Question 5

Pyramid of a Traditional Project planning process ( 4 steps)

Answer 5

1. Strategic Planning: Senior executives develop the strategic plan and tie it to the mission and vision of the organization and identify key business areas.
2. Business area analysis: Directors and department managers analyze needs in their areas and document key business processes that are required.
3. project planning: Various managers and stakeholders propose potential projects and define their scope, benefits, and constraints
4. Resource allocation: Authorized managers allocate resources to selected projects.

voir image page 15

Question 6

Agile project planning

Answer 6

-more flexible
-allows the team to provide feedback to strategy –> can influence a change of direction
-defines the strategic direction, funds team –> define the best approach and deliver the greatest business value
-less hierarchical, more organized as “tribes”

Question 7

traditional project planning

Answer 7

-top down planning
-selecting and funding a specific project
-annual strategy meeting

Question 8

Strategy implementation circle (slide 17)

Answer 8

Interactive approach focusing on value, feedback, and benefits
benefit –> strategy –> objectives –> projects –> products –> value –> feed back (in cercle)

Question 9

Product roadmap

Answer 9

-for agile planning
- is a tool used to show a high-level visual summary of the vision
and direction of a product or products over time.
-can show one product, or it can show many products

Question 10

Gantt chart

Answer 10

-is a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format.

Question 11

Why company use the road map

Answer 11

helps to define the why behind the project (or program)

Question 12

Why company use Gantt chart

Answer 12

helps to define the how and when the project should be establish

Question 13

Product management

Answer 13

is the practice of strategically driving the development, market launch, and continual support and improvement of a company’s products.

Question 14

Product manager

Answer 14

are responsible not for a specific project or team, but rather for one or more of a company’s products

Question 15

Methods for selecting Projects

Answer 15

1.Focus on competitive strategy and broad organizational needs
2. Perform net present value analysis or other financial projections
3. Use a weighted scoring model
4. Implement a balanced scorecard
5. Address problems, opportunities and directives
6. Consider project time frame
7. Consider project priority

Question 16

Focusing on a competitive Strategy

Answer 16

-cost leadership: Attract customer –> product and service are inexpensive
-Develop products and services for a particular market niche

Question 17

Broad Organizational needs

Answer 17

People agree there is a need for a project, they will make funds available, and there is a strong will to make the project succeed

Question 18

Financial projection methods

Answer 18

-Net present value analysis
-Return on investement
-Payback analysis

Question 19

why financial projections are important?

Answer 19

important aspects of the project selection

Question 20

Net present value (NPV)

Answer 20

is a method of calculating the expected net monetary gain or loss from a project by discounting all expected future cash inflows and outflows to the present point in time
–> the return from a project exceeds the opportunity cost of capital- the return available by investing the capital elsewhere

Question 21

Project with a positive NPV

Answer 21

should be considered if financial value is a key criterion
–> Projects with higher NPVs are preferred to projects with lower NPVs if all other factors are equal

Question 22

NPV consideration

Answer 22

Determine estimate cost and benefits for the life of the project and the produce it produces

Question 23

Return on investement (ROI)

Answer 23

is calculated by subtracting the project costs from the benefits and then dividing by the costs

Question 24

ROI calculation

Answer 24

ROI = (total discounted benefits - total discounted costs) / discounted costs

Question 25

ROI in an organization

Answer 25

have a required rate of return or minimum acceptable rate of return on investment for projects
–> The higher the ROI, the better

Question 26

internal rate of return (IRR)

Answer 26

can by calculated by finding the discount rate that makes the NPV equal to zero

Question 27

Payback analysis

Answer 27

determines how much time will lapse before accrued benefits
overtake accrued and continuing costs

Question 28

Payback period

Answer 28

is the amount of time it will take to recoup, in the form of net
cash inflows, the total dollars invested in a project
–> The shorter the payback period, the better

Question 29

When payback occurs?

Answer 29

in the year when the cumulative benefits minus costs reach zero

Question 30

Weighted Scoring Model

Answer 30

is a tool that provides a systematic process for selecting projects based on many criteria

Question 31

How does it work the Weighted Scoring model?

Answer 31

-Identify criteria important to the project selection process
-Assign weights (percentages) to each criterion so they add up to 100%
-Assign scores to each criterion for each project
-Multiply the scores by the weights and get the total weighted scores

Question 32

What is better in a Weighted Scoring model?

Answer 32

The higher the weighted score, the better

Question 33

Balance scorecard

Answer 33

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 34

Problems

Answer 34

are undesirable situations that prevent an organization from achieving its goals - can be current or anticipated

Question 35

Opportunities

Answer 35

are chances to improve the organization

Question 36

Directives

Answer 36

are new requirements or regulations imposed by management,
government, or some external influence

Question 37

Project Time Frame

Answer 37

to select project selection is the time it will take to complete a project or the date by which it must be done

Question 38

Project priority

Answer 38

Many organizations prioritize projects as being high, medium, or low priority based on the current business environment
–> always focus on high-priority project

Question 39

Program selection

Answer 39

Recall that a program is a group of related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually

Question 40

After deciding which projects to pursue

Answer 40

organizations need to decide if it is advantageous to manage several projects together as part of a program

Question 41

Project Portfolio Selection

Answer 41

-to focus on enterprise success when creating project portfolios
-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 projects or programs to help the organization as a whole

Question 42

Where to play

Answer 42

page 43 (la Croix)

Question 43

commercial introduction. and probability of success

Answer 43

some projects are either having a (too) low PoS (probability of success) as compared to other similar projects, or are relatively delayed, or offer opportunity to speed up.

Question 44

Risk vs. opportunity
4 types of innovation projects

Answer 44

-white elephant: high expected risk but low expected value
-Bread and Butter: low expected risk but low expected value
-Pearls: low expected risk and high expected value
-oyster: high expected risk and high expected value