1  Do I have a clear view of the current change portfolio?

  What projects and programmes are included?

  What are the predicted costs and benefits at a portfolio level?

  Are the inter-dependencies visible to me, and are we managing them effectively?

  How will this change portfolio impact on the business?

2  Given our strategic objectives, are all programmes and projects included in the portfolio necessary? And is it clear:

  How each project or programme contributes to our strategic objectives?

  That all funded projects and programmes contribute more than they cost?

  That the selected solutions are being achieved cost-effectively?

3  When the portfolio and business as usual are looked at together, am I confident that these are the investments that will achieve the organization’s strategic objectives?

4  Are people happy, motivated and driven to successfully implement changes to the organization?

  Do people understand where we are going?

  Do people understand the importance of their role in the journey?

  Do people crave success and work as one portfolio delivery team?

5  Do I have a clear view of the future change portfolio, including projects in the development pipeline?

  Is the start-up of projects disciplined – i.e. are effective controls in place so that significant resources are only committed to priority projects?

  Are projects progressing through the development pipeline at an acceptable speed?

6  Project prioritization – do we have a consistent set of metrics for assessing the attractiveness (return) and achievability (risk) of potential investments?

  Do we make collective decisions about the projects and programmes to be included in the portfolio, or is it a situation of ‘he/she who shouts loudest’?

7  In terms of financial management:

  Is the allocation of funds staged and linked to project performance?

  Is a modular approach to project development in place, so that wasted spend is minimized should funding be reallocated?

8  Are resource demand and supply matched – do we have the right people at the right time with the skills to deliver the portfolio?

9  Do regular portfolio progress reports provide a clear line of sight on portfolio delivery and impact?

  Do I feel confident that the reported status reflects real status?

  Do I have a clear understanding of the top risks and issues facing the portfolio?

  Are portfolio progress reports the basis for action rather than a template-filling exercise?

10  Is the return and risk of individual projects actively managed – to increase the former and reduce or mitigate the latter?

11  Do I clearly understand the portfolio management governance process?

12  Do I have a clear view of our track record in terms of delivering projects:

  On time?

  To budget?

  To quality?

  With forecast benefits being actually realized in practice?