How do you align your project portfolio with strategy when resources are limited?

I do not understand this statement "Aligning your project portfolio with your strategic goals is a key challenge for any project manager", It is not the project manager's job or role to decide strategy implementation. The PM will work on projects selected by management.

💡 In my opinion, as a Project Portfolio Manager, assessing your portfolio is crucial to aligning strategic goals, especially when resources are limited. 🔹 Strategic fit Assessing each project’s contribution to your objectives ensures resources are dedicated to high-impact, strategically aligned initiatives. 🔹 Risk vs. benefit Evaluating risks and expected benefits helps balance quick wins with long-term outcomes, ensuring a healthy portfolio balance. 🔹 Resource allocation Identifying resource-heavy projects allows better talent and budget allocation, ensuring optimized portfolio performance. 📌 Regular reviews ensure ongoing alignment and enable flexible resource reallocation, fostering long-term success.

Not sure the right question is being asked here? The opening question's paragraph implies that project managers are sitting around deciding on which projects they will tackle next - like it's their decision. In my experience, this has never happened. Projects are determined by senior leadership in organisations - not project managers, and are primarily driven by an organisations' strategy (though not always....), and typically budgeted for (again - not always!) when the budgets are set for the next financial year. The other questions being asked here are relevant when determining how the respective projects are approached, but all too often senior leaders do not consider the ability, or capacity of internal resources to ensure success.

The project portfolio (i.e. the backlog) would usually sit with the Product Manager, and not the Project Manager. The project manager would get involved once the strategy alignment, prioritization, etc. has been done. The delivery planning, execution and assurance of the end product is what the project manager would be accountable for. The limited resources is clearly a project manager issue to solve. Project Managers can help with the prioritization of the backlog, taking into account the resources available, skills at hand, cost & time, etc.

Being that the group here is "PPM"... in my travels - I've found a 'blind spot' with ASSESSING your CURRENT portfolio. Often I've seen that the assessment is of the PMO's portfolio.... only! And, not of the entire enterprise view of 'projects' (using the word projects lite-ly). If you are a matrixed organization that uses the same pool of humans - this will cause strain b/c the PMO view may be limited. My recommendation to align with strategy - is to ensure you are aligning ALL the work that these limited humans are to contribute to. Ie: using an enterprise change management (ECM) mindset. As far as the role of a PM... in my travels - I would not expect the PM to perform the PPM / ECM function - but, to have awareness of dependencies.

Prioritization is a big topic, and while there are several ways to prioritize work; some methods are better than others. One of the best exercises that leadership teams can do is to start by prioritizing their own strategic objectives. Which ones are more important? This can be a difficult exercise because it may not support political correctness, but it can produce a transparency across the leadership team and calibrate the team so that everyone understands which goals and objectives are truly most important. This should be done before prioritizing projects. Otherwise, the results can easily be skewed.

Prioritizing projects according to their strategic alignment and value is a critical step in ensuring that the portfolio reflects an organization's objectives. Utilizing various methods and tools like ROI and balanced scorecards enables organizations to make informed decisions. Visual aids such as decision matrices and bubble charts further enhance the clarity and communication of project priorities, resulting in a ranked list that aligns with strategic goals and value propositions

in addition, you need to prioritize projects based on risk. Sometimes the project to reduce the highest risk to the organization needs to be the highest priority

In traditional projects, it depends on the Top Management strategy, it could be related to Market Share, improve customer service, cost saving, avoid liquidated damages, increase revenue and other specific reasons. In Scrum Framework, according to the Scrum principle #4 -Value based prioritization-, the factors to prioritice product backlog in projects are: Value, risk and dependencies.

To do this, you first need to define clear evaluation criteria that reflect your organization's strategic goals. These criteria should align with your mission and vision and encompass aspects such as strategic fit, ROI, risk, and resource requirements. Using the established evaluation criteria you can then rank and prioritize projects within your portfolio. Identify which projects are strategically aligned and are of high importance to the organization.

I think one of the most important elements of balancing your portfolio, outside of institutional values, strategy, and objectives, is to focus on how to balance your portfolio for your workforce. How you develop team culture, individuals careers, and promote work-life balance should be part of your meta-portfolio as much as how you optimize your functional portfolio for business objectives. No happy people... no happy portfolios.

When we had limited resources, in other words - they were all tied up with other projects it was a matter of do or don't for projects. we had to defer to the strategy and the priority score to put running projects on ice, including projects related to maintenance, upgrade, and customer satisfaction... It is a high cost to pay when you get to this point in the middle of the year. But in this everchanging environment, significant factors like COVID-19 or China/US Tarif war were not predicted and had cut the resources to the bone!

Los recursos, cualquiera sea el tipo son limitados. La cartera de proyectos debe ser correctamente seleccionada, para no desperdiciar los recursos anteriormente mencionados y para conseguir que la ejecución de la estrategia sea exitosa, a través del cumplimiento de los objetivos y metas. Debemos ser realistas y establecer métodos de priorización, en los que la relación entre objetivos y nuestra cartera de proyectos sea coherente y realista.

I´ll add 4 main strategies to balance a Portfolio: 1. Move temporary your best Project Managers , Operations Managers or specialized staff to the lowest ranked projects. The expertise of your team is valuable to improve the situation. 2. Always try to sell extra incomes to your customers, specially developed software and digitals products. Train all your team to have a "Sales Mindset" and ask Top Management to request support departments to prioritice the sold products. 3. Correct Resources Management ( included time) and montly cost control, create an app or a macro to create a monthly alert when you are almost running out of money. 4. Support Sales Team to look for new customers in your designated region. Team work is for free.

With limited resources, focus is key. Aligning your project portfolio with strategy ensures every effort directly contributes to your organization's goals. Clearly define your strategy, then evaluate how each project advances those objectives. Prioritize the most impactful ones and allocate resources accordingly. Regularly monitor and adjust to stay on track.

Other factors that may cause you to re-evaluate your portfolio are: 1. regulatory changes 2. external environment changes ( hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, etc.) 3. personnel changes. 4. competitive challenges

Project portfolio management is a dynamic and ongoing process. It's not just about setting it and forgetting it; it's about constant adaptation and alignment. Regular review and adjustment are essential to ensure that the portfolio remains relevant, effective, and in line with strategic goals. By tracking progress, outcomes, and comparing them to expectations, organizations can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions. Moreover, being responsive to internal and external factors, such as market changes or new opportunities, helps organizations stay agile and competitive. The use of tools like portfolio reviews, audits, and lessons learned is pivotal in this process.

Typically I manage the portfolio using a visual kanban. I review it on a quarterly basis, but if something happens COVID, the Ukrainian war I should re-evaluate all the projects to determine if their business case is still valid.

I agree, but when the organization is projectized and there is enough supply to cover the portfolio component demand this concept is hard to apply.

I would suggest review your portfolio taking into consideration the organization's capacity to deliver projects that add value and are aligned with the strategy. Legal or regulatory changes and the market as a whole should be considered when you are adjusting your portfolio. Additionally, consider some qualitative and quantitative indicators when discussing the portfolio with the senior leadership or C-level, such as: Quali: - strategy adherence - market opportunities - legal requirements Quanti: - project’s total cost (OPEX and CAPEX) - bottom line improvements - implementation deadlines

Here are some practical steps to achieve this: 1. Prioritize high-Impact projects. 2. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis. 3. Assess risks and dependencies. 4. Optimize resource utilization by forming cross-functional teams. 5. Continuously monitor the progress to make adjustments or reallocating resources. 6. Consider outsourcing or partnerships in case your internal resources are insufficient.

by prioritizing projects that directly support strategic objectives. Conduct a thorough assessment of each project’s potential impact and feasibility, using criteria like ROI and alignment with long-term goals. Implement a scoring system to rank projects, ensuring that high-priority initiatives receive the necessary resources. Foster cross-functional collaboration to maximize resource utilization and share expertise. Regularly review and adjust the portfolio based on performance metrics and changing priorities. Lastly, maintain open communication with stakeholders to ensure alignment and manage expectations effectively throughout the process.

Regularly Review and Update: Project portfolios are dynamic. Regularly review and update the portfolio to account for changing circumstances, new opportunities, or completed projects. This should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time assessment. Communication and Transparency: Maintain transparency in the portfolio assessment process. Share findings and decisions with stakeholders to foster trust and alignment with organizational goals.

Although portfolio management can be intimidating, it doesn't have to be. Like many strategic tools, much of the value is generated by conducting the exercise. Thankfully, detailed NPV calculations are not always necessary. Do you know what your organization's goals are? Do you know what projects are underway? Do you know where the resources are currently allocated? Do you know the expected outcomes and likelihood of success? For many companies, the answers are surprising when they attempt to document the current state of their portfolio. Armed with that knowledge, their investments can be more intentional and aligned with strategy and internal capabilities going forward.

1. Consciously decide on frequency of the cycle of steps 1-5 above. Yearly? Quarterly? Or maybe align frequency to specific subportfolios? 2. Factors influencing your specific approach to steps 2.Prioritize, 3.Balance and 4.Optimize can change in couple of cycles (e.g. years). Prevent inertia from becoming the constraint. (POOGI*, fife focusing steps.)