Ther
e
’
s a whole body of kno
wledg
e fr
om
the Pr
oject Manag
ement Institut
e on
e
ff
ectiv
ely managing pr
ojects. But the
question still r
emains: Ar
e y
our pr
ojects
aligned with y
our str
ategy? Ev
en if y
ou’r
e
an e
x
c
eptional pr
oject manag
er
, if y
ou’r
e
not managing the right pr
ojects, y
ou’r
e
w
asting y
our time.
Start by asking yourself the following
questions:
1
“How do we define a project?” This
isn’t as simple as it sounds
. If your
organization isn’t on the same
page with
how to define a “project” (and defining what
a project is not), you’re going to have a hard
time moving forward.
2
“
Ar
e we managing the right
pr
ojects
?
” Defining a portfolio of
projects that you should be working on can
be difficult. Some organizations are te
mpted
to throw a list of supposed projects up on the
wall and see what sticks, so to speak. This
philosophy doesn’t help organizations see
which projects they should be str
ategically
selecting, which has to be a priority.
3
“How do we prioritize our projects?”
Once you come up with a system for
project prioritization, you’re able to
allocate
resources from your b
udget appropriately.
4
“Are our projects linking back to our
str
ateg
y?
” This is a vital final step of
project management that is overlooked far
too oft
en.
We’ve seen these questions asked time and
time again, so we’ve decided to answer them
with this step-by-step p
roject management
field guide. Within these pages, you’ll find
the
resources necessary to define, prioritiz
e, and
manage the projects in your organization.
Project management is
a priority
at nearly every organization today.
Let’s get started!
Be
f
or
e we t
alk about the best w
ay to or
g
aniz
e and prioritiz
e y
our
pr
ojects, we need to define what pr
ojects ar
e and what the
y ar
en’t.
T
ak
e a look at this str
at
e
gic p
yr
amid. It may giv
e y
ou a be
tt
er ide
a of
ho
w objectiv
es, me
asur
es, and pr
ojects w
ork t
og
e
ther
—and ho
w the
y
ar
en’t the same thing.
De
fining Objectives (Goa
ls),
Measures, & Projects
PROJECTS
MEASURES
OBJECTIVES
(
GOALS)
Last 5-10 Years;
10-12 Total Objectives
Last 3-5 Years;
12-20 Total Measu
res
Last 6-24 months (An Average Of
1-2 Years); 10-15 Total Projects
Objectiv
es: Objectives are high-level
organizational goals. When you create
an objective, you should focus on what
your organization is trying to accomplish
strategically. Some examples include:
Grow our business
by X amount
over Y years.
Create re
curring revenue str
eams.
Become an international organizatio
n.
Strategic objectives last a very long time
—
typically 5-10 years—and are usually very
consistent. The only thing that may change
these objectives are elements that you cannot
predict. For example, a taxi company may
have had to change their objectives aft
er
Uber and Lyft (new popular rid
e-sharing
companies) entered t
he market, or a bank
may have to change their objectives during a
financial crisis. Typically, you have 10-12 ke
y
strategic objectives that you’re managing.
Me
asur
es: Measures help you understand
if
you’re accomplishing your objectives
strategically. Measures force you to ask
questions like, “How do I know that I’m
creating recurring r
evenue?” or “How do I
measure the growth of my or
ganization?”
Measures change over time based on how
your organization executes strategy around
your objective.
For example, if your objective is to grow your
influence in your market, your initial measure
s
may look at the number of followers your
Twitter account has. Over time, you might
look at the number of r
etweets, and then
examine your ability to influence the followers
to take action (like meet for an event or
sign
a petition). You’ll have 1-2 measures for each
strategic objective.
You can see via these examples that measu
res
can change—and typically do—but the
objective (which in the example above is to
“grow market influence”) will remain steady.
Pr
ojects: Projects are the primary focus
of project management (not surprisingly!),
and thus, of this guide. They are also called
initiatives, actions, or activities. For the
purpose of this field guide, when we t
alk
about projects, we are talking about strat
egic
projects. We define a strat
egic project as a
key action program developed to achieve your
objectives and close the gap between your
measures, performance, and targets. At any
given point in time, you’ll have 0-2 projects
underway per objective (and
between 10-15
major projects underway altogether) to close
these gaps. We will go over specifically how
to
determine what a project is—and how to
identify them in your organization—in step
one in the next section.
Summar
y: You have a high-level goal in
mind, which is your objective. The measure
s
say, “How will I know that I’m achieving the
objective?” In other words, they allow you
to see if you’re meeting your goals. T
hen
the projects are put in plac
e to answer
the question, “What actions am I taking to
accomplish the objective?” You may have
multiple projects focused on imp
roving
your measures and achieving your objective.
If your projects are not helping you impr
ove
in these areas, you may need to rethink your
overall strategy.
Now
that
you have
the distinction between
objectives, measures, and projects
down,
let’s walk through exactly
how you can
ensure that your projects are
in line
with your strategy.
1
Define strategic
projects.
This step is all about understanding what the
strategic projects at your company are
. The
first step is to define what a project is, and
what a project isn’t.
A str
at
e
gic pr
oject/initiative:
Typically has a time frame that ranges
from 6 months to 3 years, with 1-2 years
being the average.
Has non-financial resources ass
ociated
with its achievement (like hours or
executive time)
.
Is closely associated with an element of
your strategy.
Must have budget allocate
d to it.
Typically has a business plan a
ssociated
with it.
Diff
erent than “business as usual,”
meaning it cannot be completed by
having a few people just work a little more
or change their activities for a few days.
A pr
oject is not:
Something as simple as “customer
service.” That’s just a goal by which your
company operates.
“Business as usual,” everyday, typical work
tasks, or ongoing busines
s ventures.
Be aware of “business as usual” that
“disguises” itself as a project. These tasks
may have characteristics of a project, but
end up not being projects. Let’s say, for
example, you’re working with a we
b design
company and you’ve come to an agreement
with them for the redesign of your websit
e
for $12,000, which is to be comp
leted in three
months. This is a project. If you continue
with miscellaneous ongoing desi
gn fixes and
projects over the course
of t
he next several
years, that isn’t considered a project, but
“business
as
usual.” Remember
that
no
project
is too big, and no project is too small, so long
as it fits in the aforementioned guidelines.
A Step-By-Step Field Guide To
Strategic Project Managem
ent
PRO TIP:
A pr
oject c
ould be to “implement a CRM
pr
ogr
am f
or $20,000 within 60 days.
” A pr
oject
is not some
thing lik
e “
cust
omer servic
e.
” That
may be an o
v
er
ar
ching c
omp
any g
o
al, but it
doesn’t mee
t the crit
eria f
or being a pr
oject.
2
Collect all strategic
projects.
No
w that y
ou c
an cle
arly de
fine what a
pr
oject is, and kno
w ho
w to diff
er
entiat
e
be
tw
een “business as usual” and the
str
at
e
gic pr
ojects in y
our or
g
aniz
ation,
it’
s time to c
ollect tho
se int
o one
aggr
e
g
at
e document. This is kno
wn as a
pr
oject inv
ent
ory
, which is the fir
st st
ep
in optimizing y
our portf
olio
. It c
an be
c
omple
t
ed in thr
ee simple st
ep
s:
A
List out eve
ry project you are currently
working on that is important or
obtainable in the next few years.
B
List out every project you wish you could
achieve or work on in the next few years
List these projects even if the
y are not funded
or underway. Assume, for t
he purpose of this
exercise, that you have the ability to w
ork on
any project that you’d like to.
C
Review the list and ensure that every
project named will help you exe
cute your
strategy and meets t
he criteria listed for a
strategic project in step one.
Once you’re done with steps above, you’ll
probably have a huge list—usually betwe
en
25-50 items. You’ll have compiled a list of
projects that are important, interesting, and
will help you execute your st
rategy.
Now you’re ready
for the next step!
3
Map projects
to strategic
objectives, and build
your project matrix.
At this point, you’ve identified the
projects
you want to examine. It’s now time to organize
them based on key strat
egic elements, so
you can understand where to pu
t your focus
and why. This will help you better und
erstand
project prioritization.
First, count up how many objectives you have.
If you have six objectives or less, use those
objectives in the chart below. If you have mor
e
than six objectives, you may want to consider
condensing them down and categorizing
them. (These c
ategories are oft
en referred to
as themes, thrusts, or pillars.)
PRO TIP:
If you have more than six objectives and are
going to condense them down into a few
categories, but you have not created any
categories yet, we suggest a variation on the
following categories:
Pr
oduct Inno
v
ation
Oper
ational Ex
c
ellenc
e
C
ust
omer Manag
ement
These are based off of the
Treacy & Wiersema
model (from their book “The Discipline of
Market Leaders”). These two scholars posit
that there ar
e three pillars of strategy: product
leadership and innovation, operational
excellence, and customer intimacy. The
y
believe that you need to make a decision
as to which of these pillars you are going to
model your organization around, because you
cannot be the best at all thr
ee simultaneously.
For example, Apple’s st
rength is product
innovation, Walmart diff
erentiates itself
through operational excellence, and Amazo
n
excels at customer management.
If you have or are creating a Balanced
Scorecard, you already know that your
strategy is balanced across multiple them
es.
Our recommendation is to group your
projects into these three cat
egories (or
other categories if you already have some
associated with your organization’s strategy).
If you’re able to successfully categoriz
e
your projects, you’ll be able
to make better
decisions about what to fund.
Creating The Project Matrix
A pr
oject matrix is one w
ay to get a
be
tt
er ide
a of which initiativ
es support
y
our objectiv
e.
This is an example of a completed project
matrix. The top row lists your projects, and
the far left column
lists your objectives. Once
you’ve done this, you’ve create
d a matrix.
You can color code the matrix based on your
themes or pillars.
Now you’ll want to check off each
box where a project supports an
objective, as shown.
Pr
ojects ▶
Objectiv
es ▼
Objectiv
e 1
Objectiv
e 2
x
Objectiv
e 3
x
x
Objectiv
e 4
x
x
Objectiv
e 5
x
x
Objectiv
e 6
x
x
x
x
x
Objectiv
e 7
Objectiv
e 8x
Objectiv
e 9
Objectiv
e 10
EX
AMPLE
Y
our ne
xt st
ep
, as illustr
at
ed in the
e
x
ample belo
w
, is to look f
or objectiv
es
without any initiativ
es supporting them.
This is e
asily identified as a row without
any check marks.
A
ft
er that’
s c
omple
t
e, look f
or pr
ojects
that do not support any objectiv
es, and
c
onsider eliminating tho
se. This follows
the same process; look for colum
ns without
any check marks. Keep in mind that you
may not be able to eliminate all of them,
as some projects will be related to thin
gs
like regulatory compliance. (This process is
focused on strategic processes, not regulatory
or mandatory ones.)
EX
AMPLE
EX
AMPLE
Pr
ojects
▶
Objectiv
es
▼
Objectiv
e 1
x
Objectiv
e 2
x
Objectiv
e 3
x
x
Objectiv
e 4
x
x
Objectiv
e 5
x
x
Objectiv
e 6
x
x
x
x
x
Objectiv
e 7
Objectiv
e 8
x
Objectiv
e 9
Objectiv
e 10
Pr
ojects ▶
Objectiv
es
▼
Objectiv
e 1
Objectiv
e 2
x
Objectiv
e 3
x
x
Objectiv
e 4
x
x
Objectiv
e 5
x
x
Objectiv
e 6
x
x
x
x
x
Objectiv
e 7
Objectiv
e 8
x
Objectiv
e 9
Objectiv
e 10
PRO TIP:
K
eep in mind that if y
our pr
ojects
ar
en’t tied to an objectiv
e—le
t’
s say
,
y
ou don’t hav
e a single pr
oject tied
t
o
y
our objectiv
e “incr
e
ase cust
omer
satisf
action”—y
ou shouldn’t e
xpect to
mee
t y
our objectiv
e. It’
s that simple.
Pr
ojects ▶
Objectiv
es ▼
Once you’ve completed this process, you
’ll end
up with a list of projects that fully support you
r
organizational objectives.
Now, the problem with this process is that
it doesn’t assign a
ny weight to the projects.
In other words, you still don’t have any way
of
understanding which of projects are most
important and which are least important.
It also doesn’t take into consideration the
cost or complexity of the projects. That’s wher
e
the project rubric (step four) comes in.
PRO TIP:
Pr
ojects that apply to mor
e than one
objectiv
e may be able to get f
unding fr
om
mor
e than one budg
e
t. This tip will c
ome in
handy when y
ou get to st
ep fiv
e, “
Alloc
at
e
r
esour
c
es b
ased on prioritiz
ation.
”
TEMPL
A
TE
4
Score your
projects.
In or
der to prioritiz
e y
our pr
ojects, y
ou’ll
need to de
fine a sc
or
e f
or e
ach pr
oject.
Having a numeric
al sc
or
e help
s av
oid
prioritizing pr
ojects bec
ause “w
e
’v
e
alw
ays done it that w
ay
,
” or “Jim fr
om
Financ
e thinks this is a g
ood ide
a.
”
Inst
e
ad of gut f
eeling and inertia,
y
ou’ll
hav
e a number to help driv
e
y
our
decision-making.
There are
five key steps you’ll need to follow
to score your projects:
A
Build your scoring rubric. This will
include elements like:
1.
Cost (Like Budget, FTEs neede
d.)
2.
Strategic Impact (Number of strategic
objectives impacted.)
3.
Time To Implement (Can this be done in
a week, month, or year?)
4.
Interdependencies (Does this project
impact other project
s?
How complex is it?)
5.
Risk (What is the
chance of getting the
outcome we want if
we implement this?)
B
Define your scoring criteria for each
element.
1.
A typical way to do this is to have a five-
point scale, where 1 is the lowest and 5
is the highest.
2.
Define the criteria for a score of 1, 3, and
5
for each element. For examp
le:
a.
For Time To Implement, a scor
e of
1
could be greater than one year, a
score of 3 could be six months, and
a score of 5 could be less than three
months.
b.
For Strategic Impact, a scor
e of 1
could be one strategic objective
impacted, 3 could mean two
objectives, and 5 could mean three
or more objectives impacte
d (or this
is a prerequisite to other initiatives).
C
Define weights for each element. One
of
the elements of the rubric may be
weighted more than the othe
rs. If “strategic
impact” is the most important elem
ent, it may
be weighted at 40%, while the others have
a
weight of 10%.
Co
st
Str
at
e
gic
Imp
act
Time To
Implement
Int
er
-
dependencies
Risk
T
ot
al
Pr
oject 1
1
3
3
42
2.6
Pr
oject 2
4
1
3
3
2
2.6
Pr
oject 3
4
1
4
2
3
2.8
Pr
oject 4
2
2
4
2
3
2.6
Pr
oject 5
1
4
5
1
1
2.4
Pr
oject 6
1
3
1
2
5
2.4
Pr
oject 7
5
5
5
3
3
4.2
Pr
oject 8
5
2
2
4
3
3.2
EX
AMPLE
D
Distrib
ute and fill out. At this point, you’ll
have created your
rubric and defined
the rules. It’s now time to get to work. Be sure
that the most important e
mployees and team
members for
these projects are intimately
involved in the process.
E
Score each project in the rubric. Now
you just need to tally the p
roject scores
by voter and by ele
ment weight to get an
average project score. Be sur
e to keep the
projects in their separate the
mes or categories
so they can be compared in the next section.
You’ll need to decide if one individual’s vot
e
counts more than another’s vote. For example,
the CEO’s vote may count two times more
than votes from anyone else. Or the risk
management team’s opinion may have more
weight for the risk management section.
Onc
e y
ou’v
e c
omple
t
ed st
ep
s abo
v
e,
y
ou will hav
e a sc
or
e assigned to e
v
ery
pr
oject. This will allo
w y
ou to prioritiz
e
y
our pr
ojects b
ased on the import
anc
e
that e
v
ery
one has assigned them. Onc
e
y
ou’v
e c
omple
t
ed this r
anking, y
ou’r
e
r
e
ady to mo
v
e on to st
ep fiv
e.
Pr
ojects ▼
Co
st
Str
at
e
gic
Imp
act
Time To
Implement
Int
er
dependencies
Risk
T
ot
al
TEMPL
A
TE
5
Allocate resources
based on
prioritization.
This st
ep isn’t as c
omplic
at
ed as it’
s
o
ft
en made out to be. Essentially
, y
ou’r
e
deciding ho
w much mone
y to budg
e
t out
to y
our mo
st import
ant pr
ojects.
The most eff
e
ctive method for this process
is
as follo
ws:
A
The first thing to do is determine the
amount of funds required to implement
every single project that you’ve r
anked.
Then, determine the amount of availab
le
funds overall. This will give you some insi
ght
into whether you’re able to fund all of your
projects—including the “wish list” you created
in step one—or whether you’ll need to sideli
ne
some of them.
B
Once your budget has been de
termined,
allocate resources by objective or
theme. (Note: You do not have to have an
equal allocation—some objectives may be
more important this year.)
You may have a
$20-million budget that is allocated equally to
each theme—which means each theme will
get $6.67 million—or, you may alloca
te $1
0
million to one theme, and $5 million to each
of the other them
es.
C
Determine how to handle unfunded
projects. Your organization will have to
decide whethe
r to table unfunded projects
for the future or cancel them completely. You
may run into some interesting challenges
during this step. For example, let’s say one
of your strategic objectives is to become a
global organization. You wanted to open three
storefronts overseas, but that proje
ct didn’t
meet your standard for a critical or impor
tant
project, so it was unfunded. So, you now have
to decide whether to chang
e your strategic
objective of being a global organization,
change your strategy, or just def
er the project
until a later date.
PRO TIP:
This me
thod of budg
e
t alloc
ation
does
not ac
c
ount f
or y
our mandat
ory
pr
ojects, which must be c
omple
t
ed due
to industry r
e
gulation, security issues,
c
omplianc
e, or saf
e
ty
. T
ally the c
o
st f
or
y
our mandat
ory pr
ojects and subtr
act it
fr
om y
our o
v
er
all pr
oject budg
e
t. Then,
use that sum to alloc
at
e to the r
est of
y
our prioritiz
ed pr
ojects.
Y
ou’v
e no
w cr
e
at
ed a portf
olio of
prioritiz
ed pr
ojects that will help y
ou
achie
v
e y
our str
ateg
y
. Congr
atulations!
No
w that y
ou’v
e finished this pr
oc
ess, it’
s
time to perf
orm a “sanity check.
”
This “sanity check” is where you take your
finalized list of fully prioritized and funde
d
projects, and ensure that t
hey’ll have the
greatest strategic impact on your objective
s.
As you read through e
ach project, you should
ask yourself, “Is this project a realistic step
toward achieving my overall strategy?” If the
answer is no, you may need to make some
simple adjustments to your proje
cts (or you
may need to readdress your matrix if it’s no
t
helping you prioritize appropriat
ely). If the
answer is yes, then you’re ready to dive into
your projects!
The
Final Step
Check out ho
w y
ou c
an link y
our pr
ojects to y
our
str
ategy and tr
ack them in Cle
arP
oint.
If y
ou’r
e r
e
ady to t
ak
e y
our pr
oject manag
ement
to the ne
xt le
v
el, Cle
arP
oint c
an help
.
