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Are you ever going to see the value promised
from your company's project portfolio?
The question is all too familiar. The concern
is real and legitimate. Technology and other project initiatives
have grown faster than the ability of most companies to
manage them -- affecting the return on the investment of
trillions of collars while ill preparing companies for today's
unpredictable environment.
As you look for ways to unlock shareholder
value, restore investor confidence, and adapt to uncertainty,
focusing on your organization's project portfolio is a smart
place to begin. Why? Because the portfolio is the
truest measure of organizational intent.
Simply put, alignment is about better matching
your company's portfolio with its objectives, since better
aligned companies achieve greater investment returns. Connecting
the Dots employs a practical, "play the hand you
are holding" approach, providing a balance of concepts
and roll-up-your-sleeves guidance on how to:
- Determine how well-aligned -- or misaligned
-- your organization is today
- Reveal opportunities for increasing portfolio
economics
- Apply tools to reduce portfolio risk
while improving its efficiency, flexibility, and direction
- Instill new mind-sets to better respond
to whatever future presents itself
If you're like most executives, you already
know your portfolio is not delivering as expected. Alignment
is not about spending more; it's about getting greater return
for what you are already spending. This guidebook helps
you "connect the dots" between your organization's
intentions and its project activities, capturing hidden
value today while better preparing for tomorrow.
Cathleen Benko is Braxton's Global e-Business
Leader. F. Warren McFarlan is Senior Associate Dean and
Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration at
Harvard Business School.
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