DIS; Management Essay Sample

Turning Portfolio Assessment into Value Attaining Actions

Portfolio management proves very vital if it produces value enhancing actions after random analysis on the organization. Otherwise evaluation and portfolio management would be a waste of R&D’s time and money. This is especially important because R&D organizations face market and technological uncertainties. Positioning options allows the management to make market segmentation decisions despite technical uncertainty. On the other hand scouting options are preferred when the management is confident they can make to absorb the technology but doubting which kind of technology the market will prefer. Finally stepping stone options challenge managers to taste waters in less challenging markets then proceed to conquer other markets as they learn the trade.
Portfolio assessment options can be applied in several other non- R&D organizations. For instance, stepping stone options can be used to launch a new product into the market. The essential thing is to start small and look at the chances with an open mind. Similarly, technological uncertainty is common in several other organizations, off course IT is always transforming, thus business can make use of positioning options and preparing actions.

What type of PMO would you select? Why?

The best opinion for a preferable type of PMO would be the project management office (equally, PMO). First, a project management office has a strong supply role and ensures all the projects under its docket are delivered successfully. Its role in advising the governance group on business risks, cases and project performance puts it ahead of the rest. Similarly, it yearns to ensure projects stick to best practices and agreed standards. The team usually contains business matters experts BMEs and SMEs. Further, it offers all the services by a project support office. This makes it all round and beneficial in development, mentoring and quality evaluation. Finally, it also provides project health checks and post projects implementation reviews which are very important to the governance group.

Would you focus on the supply side or the demand side? Why?

A supply side is more advantageous since it focuses on successful delivery of projects. When implementing the project, supply side PMO- type gives regular updates about the progress of the project before and during implementation. On the other hand PMO types with a demand side, such as the EPO (enterprise project office), critically look at costs. They ensure the investment decisions made by organizations will result in the greatest benefits using available resources. It looks into strategy development, planning and allocation of resources. In allocating resources and optimum position should be selected based on business priorities. Although a demand side approach may not function singly, it would be the best approach.

Addressing Budget Failure and Closing Gaps

According to this article 33% of all completed projects experience cost overruns. Generally, those projects had expenditures beyond the expected and calculated costs in the budget. Since cost overruns exclude escalations in prices, it is the function of the PMO to ensure budgets will not change during the implementation stage of the project. As a senior PMO manager, it would be important to ensure robust resource planning based on business priorities. Two things will be very important in ensuring budgeting is effective and efficient; First, there is need to build a process framework and secondly to offer training for project teams. This way projects will follow a specific order in development, monitoring and evaluation since the team understands their specific roles in the project. Eventually, pre- budget approximated costs will not be exceeded.