But continually exploiting the emergency reserve
can leave a portfolio exposed to increased risk, Ms.
Chang says. Instead, she recommends splitting key
resources between high- and low-priority projects so
the team can react quickly to change.
“Eighty percent of their time you put them
on projects of high visibility, but 20 percent is
spent on projects that are not as important,” she
explains. “So a top performer is always available to
take on that high-priority project you have to do at
a moment’s notice.”
“When you start an initiative, you have to have
left yourself enough room on the resource and
execution perspective so you have the leeway to
change gears,” says Marion Chang, PMP, portfolio
manager at ;nancial services company Sun Life
Financial, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. “You can’t
allocate your resources so tightly that you don’t
have any room.”
Every portfolio manager has a few key players who
can absorb extra work when the situation requires it,
and some tap that extra capacity on an ongoing basis.
“You have to
understand
not only what
is happening
now but
what is going
to happen
three years
from now—
and be able
to respond
in a flexible
manner.”
—Blaze Goraj, PMP, HP
Enterprise Services,
Poznan, Poland
