prioritization - a simple guide to getting started

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Prioritization – A Simple Guide to

Getting Started

Margo Visitacion, Vice President/Principal Analyst

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 3© 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 3

› 30 minutes of presentation

› 15 minutes of live Q&A

Please enter your questions

in the Q&A box

› All lines are on mute

› Webinar is being recorded

› Slides and recording will be

available after the session

Housekeeping Items


Today’s Presenters

› Featured Speaker: Margo Visitacion

› Vice President/Principal Analyst,

Forrester Research

› 25+ years of experience in IT,

developing and implementing QA, and

PMOs

› Moderator: Tushar Patel

› SVP of Marketing, Innotas

› Previously at and Mocana Corp and

National Semiconductor


Agenda

› Prioritization or politics?

› Common sense approaches

› Recommendations

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule,

but to schedule your priorities” – Stephen R. Covey


The business feels technology is important to their success


There is a fundamental disconnect


Business and tech leaders don’t share the same priorities


…and have different perspectives

16%

7%

49%

35%

31%

53%

Business Decision Makers

Technology Decision Makers

Hinders Neutral Accelerates

Does the IT department hinder/accelerate business success?

Source: Forrester Research BT Priorities & Journey Survey 2014

Planning processes remains broken

R&D Mfg. Finance

Annual Initiatives

Exec Mgt:

Mission statement


$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

R&D Mfg. Finance

Annual Initiatives

Bottom-up list of wishes / projects

Pass to IT for

“tentative estimates”

Exec Mgt:

Mission statement


$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

R&D Mfg. Finance

Annual Initiatives


Pass to IT for


Exec Mgt:

Mission statement

Exec mgt.

chokes on the

total cost


$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

R&D Mfg. Finance

Annual Initiatives


Pass to IT for


Exec Mgt:

Mission statement

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

Exec mgt.

chokes on the

total cost

Budget wars

reach a

“negotiated

settlement”


$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $

R&D Mfg. Finance

Annual Initiatives


Pass to IT for


Exec Mgt:

Mission statement

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

$$$$$

Exec mgt.

chokes on the

total cost

Budget wars

reach a

“negotiated

settlement”

We waste resources estimating work that will never get funded …


Stronger customer focus = better practices and using data more efficiently

It’s time to stop the madness…..


Agenda



› Recommendations

© 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 19

Prioritization approaches: many options to choose from

Approach Pros Cons

Departmental budget

allocation

• Quick

• Allows each

department to set

its own priorities

• Big opportunities for misalignment with

corporate goals

• Bogs down when having to share resources

• Local bias

Executive steering

committee – assessing

all presented requests

• Clear direction

from top

• Executives must

negotiate

• Time-intensive

• Without right controls can be political

• Tough for advocates to convince executives

Scorecards • Easy • Lacks consensus

• Can manipulate the numbers without

consistent criteria

Analytic Hierarchy

Process

• Weeds out

undesirables

• Complex to learn

• Scalability issues when faced with large criteria

sets


Prioritization approaches: many options to choose from

Approach Pros Cons

Departmental budget

allocation

• Quick

• Allows each

department to set

its own priorities

• Big opportunities for misalignment with

corporate goals

• Bogs down when having to share resources

• Local bias

Executive steering

committee – assessing

all presented requests

• Clear direction

from top

• Executives must

negotiate

• Time-intensive

• Without right controls can be political

• Tough for advocates to convince executives

Scorecards • Easy • Lacks consensus

• Can manipulate the numbers without

consistent criteria

Analytic Hierarchy

Process

• Weeds out

undesirables

• Complex to learn

• Scalability issues when faced with large criteria

sets

Prioritization Process Map

Keep in mind: Funding approval comes after this!


Step 1 - Start with value: The One Sentence Business Case

Linking strategy to execution starts here: Identification of outcome

Now, the next blank to fill in:

The MVP is__________________

Target outcomes:Investment

Return

Value

Risk

Type

Availability

Capacity

Ability

Approach

Cadence

Time to Realize

Controls

Measure Impact

Feedback

Context

• Applies to every stakeholder

• Drives communication

• Retains focus


Step 2: Understand all demand

You cannot prioritize when you lack

visibility


Step 3: Agree on criteria

Level 1: Category Criteria Description

Business Supports corporate strategy Project outcome furthers

ability to achieve strategic

objectives

Customer/image Enhances customer

experience and/or improves

organizational image

Revenue (ROI, IRR, NPV,

Profit)

Revenue potential over

entire lifecycle of project

Cost Project cost over entire

lifecycle of project

Technology Architecture Fit with current/future state

Innovation Possess environment, skills

to implement/differentiate

Risk Image risk Impact to market perception

Project risk Risk of execution

Compliance risk GRC impact


Step 3: Agree on criteria

Level 2: Category Criteria Description

Organizational Culture Ability to enact change,

manage organizational

cultural change

Team Sourcing impact (insourced

vs. outsourced, co-located

vs virtual

Dependencies Other projects/capabilities Business capabilities impact

Resource Availability and skills

Partnerships Contractual relationships Fit and availability


Step 4: Compare relative importance of criterion as it relates to value

Criterion weight:

1.0 = equally important with other criterion

3.0 = significantly more important

5.0 = extremely more important

0.5 = significantly less important

0.1 = extremely less important

= Weighting


Example of project prioritization scoring

Step 5: Bring It HomeInvestment

Return

Value

Risk

Type

Availability

Capacity

Ability

Approach

Cadence

Time to Realize

Controls

Measure Impact

Feedback

Context

• Scores must reflect fit with

strategy and/or significant

events

• Time to realize – what is the

shelf life?

• Solvable capacity scenarios


Agenda



› Recommendations


Recommendations

1. Keep it simple

• Focus on outcomes to drive accountability

2. Communicate the vision

• Ensure that everyone is clear on criteria

3. Get the right people in the room at the right

time

• Assess and prioritize at appropriate levels

Innotas © 2015

Innotas: Top Down Portfolio Management

Cloud Portfolio Management for Projects, Applications, and People

Resource Capacity & Demand Planning

Predictive Analytics & Planning

Dashboards & Reporting

Waterfall / Agile

ProjectsApps

Integration Platform

Existing Systems

Portfolio & Prioritization

Innotas © 2015

Business Benefits

Visibility

Business Alignment

Optimize Resources Effectively

Measure, Manage, Track &

Trace All Work

Improve Execution

Innotas: Top Down Portfolio Management

Cloud Portfolio Management for Projects, Applications, and People

Resource Capacity & Demand Planning

Predictive Analytics & Planning

Dashboards & Reporting

Waterfall / Agile

ProjectsApps

Integration Platform

Existing Systems

Portfolio & Prioritization

Innotas © 2015

Support

Predictive Portfolio Analysis™ (PPA):Redefining the Prioritization & Aligning Process

Line of Business

Operational

Strategic Initiatives

Applications

New Product Development

Service Tickets

InnovationInfrastructure

Regulatory / Compliance

Situation:

Large Number of

Projects & Requests

Challenge:

Limited Resources

& Budget

Opportunity:

Improved Accuracy

Better Alignment

Increased Agility

Innotas © 2015

Predictive Portfolio Analysis™ (PPA)

Real benefits for your organization:

• Better alignment to business goals

• Increase business agility

• Save time and money

Predict, plan, and re-plan your optimal project

and resource roadmap – within minutes

• Recommends & schedules the highest value

portfolio

• Centered on organizational resource & budget

constraints

• Predictive analytics for maximum accuracy


Contact Us!

Margo Visitacion

› [email protected]

› @msmvnj

› Forrester.com

Tushar Patel

› [email protected]

› @innotas

› Innotas.com/resources

mailto:[email protected]/

mailto:[email protected]

Thank you

Thank you

forrester.com

Margo Visitacion

[email protected]

@msmvnj

mailto:[email protected]