management practices evolving? To understand the
discipline’s value, as well as its current challenges
and future prospects, PM Network turned to four
portfolio managers on four different continents.
Diondria Clarke-Holliman, PMP, PfMP, is project portfolio manager at medical device company
Medtronic in Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Peter
Chalouhy, PMP, PgMP, is portfolio manager at
IBM in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Chris Lawler,
PfMP, is manager of the project portfolio office
at not-for-profit hospital and healthcare provider
Mater Health Services in Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia; and Asit Mishra, PfMP, is portfolio director at the IT consulting and business process services outsourcing firm CGI in Bengaluru, India.
The definition of “portfolio management” can
vary among professionals and organizations.
What does it mean to you?
Ms. Clarke-Holliman: Most people define it as
doing the right projects, and I totally agree with
that. But it’s not just doing the right projects,
it’s also doing projects
right. As my organization
begins to make the portfolio-thinking paradigm shift, we are
looking at it very similar to the financial investment sector. In general, people
look to invest where it meets their defined
goals, maximizes value and diversifies risks for
optimal balance. Portfolio management is simply
a way of implementing our organization’s strategic
goals within our risk tolerances and constraints.
of high-performing organizations have high
portfolio management maturity, compared to
just
8 percent of low-performing organizations.
Source: PMI’s 2015 Pulse of the Profession®: Capturing the Value of Project Management
35%
