Practice portfolio management

IT portfolio management (PM) is a solid concept--especially for enterprises with more than 20 or so projects totaling over $5 million as a lower limit baseline. I was involved with launching PM in 1999-2000 at a large company with over 60 projects and over $60 million on the table. While PM was well-received by senior management, when the sponsoring VP left the company the "cover" for PM was gone, and as a Director carrying this forward, it became increasingly difficult, because the new CIO did not fully embrace the approach we started, since my tenure and IT portfolio management were not mainstays at the company with a long and expansive track record. The lesson learned: senior executives need to truly understand and believe in IT portfolio management and it ultimately has to become part of the DNA of the organization as the mechanism for making technology investments. Another lesson is having too many "cooks" in the kitchen because with PM, politics play an inordinate part in managing this effort. Since I was the focal point for leading the effort day-to-day, I played more golf for free than ever as a result of senior executives wanting to accomplish their agendas. This underscores the wheeling and dealing that, in spite the parameters established, Presidents of business units still want their way to accomplish their goals.