An Agile Approach to Resource-Constrained Project Portfolio Management

by Robert K. Wysocki

Organizations that invest in product and process projects must have a plan for investing in these projects. The human resources needed to staff these projects almost always exceed the human resources available. How should an organization decide which projects should be staffed and which shouldn't be staffed? Is this a short-term decision that looks only a few months ahead or only for the coming planning horizon, or is there some long-term strategy that spans multiple planning horizons? How can the portfolio manager determine whether an investment in a portfolio is a good investment? Can some criteria be applied? The answers to these questions are simple in some cases and extremely difficult in others. This Executive Report by Robert K. Wysocki uses a lifecycle approach that traces the life of any project through an agile project portfolio management (APPM) process.