Project program management: is it possible without priorities?
"No, we have a different case, we need to complete the entire program 100%, and priorities won't work here," the head of one of the companies once answered me when we were introducing the principles of prioritizing activities to reduce the risks of projects based on the Center for Rapid Response and Forecasting (Center for Rapid Response and Forecasting) within the framework of a large state Program for the production and supply of vehicles.
The data and figures have been changed, which does not change the essence.
The program included several thousand pieces of equipment and its duration was about 2 years.
It is no secret that when managing any project/program/portfolio, we are always faced with limited resources: time, qualified personnel, materials and equipment.
In this case, it was indeed impossible to prioritize individual projects. The products were intended for various regions. And since the end users are residents of these regions, there can be no priorities or preferences between them - everyone is equal.
However, we were able to develop an integral calculation indicator of the importance of measures to reduce risks/problematic issues of the program. Essentially, priorities for management decisions at the CORP level.
The procedure for calculating the integral criticality indicator is given in the table below.
In simple words, the main idea of the approach is to mathematically evaluate the importance of a risk reduction measure depending on its impact on:
- - current monthly plan for the project/one delivery
- - current annual program plan
- - general deadline for the entire program
What is important is that a reasonable figure (indicator) has been obtained, which allows the PIRP to consider issues in accordance with priorities, starting with the highest.
Conclusions:
- Priorities are not needed to give up something. And in case of shifts in deadlines, reach the final point with a high percentage of completion. Or with a launched MPC/MVP - a minimal start-up complex, as on large construction projects.
- Priorities can always be determined. But sometimes it is a complex mechanism and mathematics.