CHAPTER 8

Juggling the Interdependent Project Portfolio

“The move to the new computer center is the biggest single project I’ve ever managed,” Sarah observes. “To make it even more difficult, it has to be accomplished while keeping all the other projects and activities of my department running smoothly. On top of everything, if this project doesn’t go well, it could turn into a first-class disaster for the company…not to mention my own career!

“I’ve been on projects like this before. They start off smoothly, all right, but then comes crunch time, right toward the end when everybody’s pulling all-nighters and it’s anybody’s guess whether we’ll make it or not. That’s what worries me.

“On top of everything else, my entire collection of projects is really part of the overall move of the entire company! It could be worse. I could be in charge of everything. Still, I have to make sure that I coordinate my work so that it fits into the overall move schedule.”

DEFINITIONS

An interdependent project is a project that is part of a portfolio of projects aimed at achieving a common outcome. Not only must the project goal be reached, but it also must be reached in a way that fits with the other projects in the portfolio to achieve the overall goal.

No-fail budgeting is the process of allocating total portfolio resources to each project in the portfolio so that each project has the minimum necessary resources to succeed. Once each project has the minimum resources, the project manager can use the remaining resources to increase total portfolio quality.

Total portfolio quality is the achievement of the overall portfolio goal, as opposed to the achievement of individual project goals within the portfolio. This concept helps you and your project managers remember that what is good for an individual project is not always what is good for the portfolio as a whole.

Crunch time is a common experience on major projects. The work all seems to go perfectly until the very end, when suddenly everyone must work around the clock to cope with unanticipated disasters.

ABOUT INTERDEPENDENT PROJECT PORTFOLIOS

Projects in an interdependent project portfolio often vary dramatically in subject matter. In Sarah’s case, her projects range from managing a physical move to purchasing new hardware, developing strategic documents, and developing computer programs, all aimed at the common outcome of making the move happen.

Who has expertise in every single one of these areas? Very few, indeed. When you manage an interdependent project portfolio, you can expect to be stretched professionally into new fields. You need to be an outstanding delegator, able to find and motivate professionals with the skills and experience you do not have.

Sarah’s situation, as with Patrick’s and Carolyn’s, also involves the reality that projects take place inside organizations. She has regular management duties, meetings to attend, special assignments, and other elements of work. So does her staff.

Part of her situation—and one common to most interdependent project portfolios—is that she is responsible for ongoing work and projects while trying to fit this major additional function into her schedule. As a result, and similar to Patrick’s situation, you need to remember that the techniques in this situation, once again, are in addition to, not instead of, the techniques for managing the independent project portfolio, as well as the task-oriented project portfolio.

Interdependent project portfolios tend to be long term and substantial in size, scope, and complexity. Individual projects in the portfolio may be of any size, from small and easy to huge and cumbersome.

You can also be in the situation of managing an interdependent project portfolio from the inside. While Sarah’s situation is complex enough to be called an interdependent portfolio on its own, her portfolio can also be considered a project in an even larger interdependent portfolio consisting of the entire company move!

Notice that this reality adds a series of issues and problems for Sarah. She cannot just pick a time for the move, based on the convenience of her own department; she must coordinate her move with the corporate move. Otherwise, the loading dock might be in use, or the build-out of her space might conflict with other important priorities.

When managing a project within an interdependent portfolio, no matter how complex your issues are, you must remember that you can only succeed if your outcome dovetails with the other elements of the portfolio. Make sure you always keep your eye on the big picture.

INDEPENDENT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT VERSUS INTERDEPENDENT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

As with the independent project portfolio, your interdependent project portfolio can benefit if you use the techniques of professional project management. In Section 3, you learned about both Gantt and PERT charting. Because independent projects are independent, the Gantt chart is an ideal way to display and understand them. Because interdependent projects require more attention to the idea of connectedness, you will find that in most cases the PERT chart is a more useful tool for understanding and control.

Again, keep in mind the key concept—

Project = Task

—to allow managing multiple projects using the techniques of single project management.

Another difference between the two types of portfolios is that failure is not allowed. If Patrick’s schedule becomes unmanageable, he can let a project of lower priority slip—or cancel it altogether. Sarah does not have that option, at least not in her core projects. She must use the concept of no-fail budgeting to ensure that her resources are allocated to achieve every single project in the portfolio—at least to a minimally acceptable level of quality. She can use remaining resources to increase total portfolio quality, but she needs to be aware that increasing the quality of one project in the portfolio does not automatically increase total portfolio quality.

THE IRONY OF INTERDEPENDENT PROJECT PORTFOLIOS

Sarah’s computer-center portfolio has another special issue in it—one that is common to interdependent project portfolios. The issue is this: she has never done this before. Although she is an experienced data processing manager, this particular situation has never occurred. In fact, there are many outstanding and experienced professionals in this field who have never had to move a computer center. Plus, Sarah is unlikely ever to move another computer center—and if she does, she will not move very many in an entire career.

There is an irony in interdependent project portfolios: the project manager and the team have probably never done this before. That is true even with some major projects.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, a $30 million federal project that opened in 1976 (ahead of schedule and under budget, by the way), was managed by Mike Collins, then director of the museum. Collins, best known as the Apollo 11 command module pilot, had never built a museum. Neither had his senior staff. The team did it anyway.

World War II Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower had never managed an international military alliance to coordinate a continental invasion before D-Day. He did it anyway.

Imagine the pastor of a church that decides to expand into a new building. Like Sarah and her computer center, the pastor may never have done it. If the pastor has, it will not have been very often. Yet, church building projects happen all the time. They do it anyway.

When you are put in charge of an interdependent project portfolio, and if you say to yourself, “I have no idea what I am doing because I have never done this before,” relax, you are in good company. Just do it anyway.