What is the Level of Detail in the Information Provided to Project Applying for the Portfolio?

In this podcast, Ricardo explains when it's necessary to detail or not a project during the prioritization process within the portfolio management. He also talks about some types of information needed to detect which are the most viable projects for an organization.

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Episode transcript

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Hello everybody welcome to the five minutes PM podcast today. I like to discuss with you what the fire management techniques and the level of detail that I need to provide for every single project to select analyze that. So if we remember in all of them portfolio management process, we need to identify the projects, the potential projects we need to select them. We need to priori tries them, and then we need to make a balanced mint of my portfolio to balance the portfolio.

But one question that I received through email last week was asking which kind, what information do I need to provide in which is the level of the tale first, which is kind of Information will depend off how you were building your criteria for your portfolio company. X is different from company Y they have different drivers and the portfolio management is exactly what in place to help companies to select it.

In fact, more alignment projects. So there is no when set of criteria and that will fit to every single company. So one company, I have one intention more deeply in costs. The other one more deep in time. Do you all do it one more deep in a strategic alignment? The other one in risk, and this set of criteria will be the driver of my Portfolio. And most of the time I need to Detail the projects in such a level that I can analyze them.

And a lot of polemics it is around this because in one hand they ask me, okay, so I'm Detail and preparing it some more detailed information, four, one project. And if this project is not good selected what will happen? I will lose all this a Fort. Okay. I agree. And this will be the price of doing portfolio management in this kind of project. But one thing that we need to understand is that all does a Fort that we are doing before to help us to select.

We would be much lower than select the wrong set of projects. So the cost benefit must be an Eliza on that more effort in the beginning to analyze and to have more deeper information. I'm not saying that we need to have all the information, all the plan. No, this is not right. We need the essential information to apply the set of criteria that I have established for this Portfolio.

So this is what I need to understand. So it depends. Maybe I need to prepare more Detail Scotland, but I'm not selling that we will need to Detail every single task, but in some cases, a very critical projects, how will need to do that, to analyze this project, but the benefit of selecting the right Project and not selecting the project that I don't want to undertake this we'll be much higher than visit for it.

So the benefit is a very high, and one thing that we need to understand that this level of detail we'll be, it would be different from company X, Y, and Z are different because one company, I have more simple set the project. So maybe with, for a one page, Information, it's more than enough that we understand the project then to classify and to select or not select this project in a given Portfolio. In your other hand, I will need in some projects to have more detailed information.

But one thing that I can not do is to consider that, but just the title or the project name or a one line information, we would be enough for me to do a powerful portfolio analysis. This is not true because maybe we're the only the name. I will give everybody a broader perspective of what's going on. And this is not the case that we are looking for. This is not the case. So when you are doing portfolio management, considering that all information that you need for every single Project is just their name.

And I know companies that are doing this, it's only the name. And then they put all the names in the spreadsheet and they do a mathematical calculation to set up a Portfolio. This is only are, we are only make in a formal and mathematical process to prove nothing, to prove nothing to select nothing. Hmm. So this is this completely ambiguous with a lack of information. So I can give high, low, medium, whatever.

I want to put the project in the top, or to put a project in the bottom of the list. I needed to have reliable information and to catch all of those reliable, to identify this potential. Project I will need to do some effort, the solution that does afford less, for sure. It will not work in the real life, no effort, no benefit for sure. I hope you enjoy this podcast and see you next week with another five minutes.

Bam. Podcast bye.

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Ricardo Vargas

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What is the Level of Detail in the Information Provided to Project Applying for the Portfolio?

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