Doing more with less is becoming a standard in all aspects of our lives. In our professions, we are asked to accomplish more work with fewer resources. I am finding the increased focus on cost control and focus on efficiency shouldn’t require anything too different than what we should be doing on our projects anyway. All clients – internal and external want to know we are making good decisions with the available resources and using our time in the most efficient way possible. Below are some of the techniques I typically apply to projects to ensure the highest value work is being done and in the most organized fashion. Having undergone Scrum training/certification, I find myself applying a quasi-agile approach to numerous endeavors in both a formal and informal fashion.

 1.  Assess the Team’s Velocity – Coming into a new engagement with a new group of resources, or when taking on a new challenge outside of what the team has accomplished before, it is important to understand the team’s strengths, areas needing improvement, how they perform their work and the associated risks determined from looking at these three areas.

 2.  Determine Portfolio of Projects – Solicit input from all parties on the needs from their respective groups. This list will serve as the product or portfolio backlog. Do not let the list before too long or daunting, since you will likely only be able to focus on a few things at a time anyway. The list should be continuously revisited and updated with new projects and projects no longer needed should be removed.

 3.  Assess Your Project Portfolio – Delve into each project request to gain additional information that will be used to determine the business need, its intended application, and if known, the complexity of the project, the projected impact/return and corresponding value to the organization.

 4.  Collectively Determine Highest Value Projects – As a group, meet with all parties with projects to be prioritized. Begin by discussing the stated business need, how the project is extended to improve operations, reduce costs, or increase revenue, and how well positioned the team is to take on the effort (referring to #1). You should solicit basic ROI and cost/benefit information from the business owner and even assist them in thinking through all avenues of savings and costs. Elaborate ROI studies are not always needed. In cases where there are many immediate return projects on your list, you may find it more beneficial to engage stakeholders in old fashioned, common sense decision making and negotiating. Each stakeholder should put together some basic return expectations to present to the group for interactive decision making. Discussing the project and all options with those with a vested interest is the most effective way to gain buy in on what is being addressed, when it is being addressed and ensuring all involved are in agreement with the best use of a scaled down group of resources.

 5.  Communicate Decisions - Once the group determines priorities for upcoming projects, these decisions should be communicated to all involved as well as those executive members who may not have attended the working/roundtable prioritization discussion. This is another way to ensure expectations are set and everyone is comfortable with the direction imposed for upcoming projects and resources. 
 
 6.  Follow an Agile Development/Project Selection Process – Steps 1-6 should be continuously followed for future projects. The frequency of discussions and reprioritization depends on the volume of requests and your individual environment.

Following these guidelines should help concentrate and focus the effort on what is most important. While there will always be more projects than time, following this method will make the best use of the time and resources available, while also ensuring all project stakeholders have a say in the direction of your portfolio of projects.

Related Links
Every organization's needs are different of course, but it can still be helpful to see typical project selection criteria across various strategic categories. (The companion Excel worksheet may help too.) A portfolio data collection letter can help you figure out what projects are already out there soaking up resources (or wishing they had some). The information in our Opportunity Screening Worksheet can help you decide whether or not it's worth going ahead with a project.