Agile project portfolio management, new solutions and new challenges: findings from four agile organizations

TY - GEN

T1 - Agile project portfolio management, new solutions and new challenges

T2 - EURAM

AU - Hansen, Lars Kristian

AU - Brandt, Charlotte J.

AU - Svejvig, Per

AU - Kampf, Constance Elizabeth

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - During the last couple of decades, agile methods have spread from software development start-ups to large, established organizations across different industries. The traditional pro-ject portfolio management processes build on certain premises about agreed-on deliverables, resources and deadline. These premises are not applicable to agile projects. Therefore, ac-commodating agile methods in project portfolio management (PPM) has become a key ques-tion. On this backdrop, we use four large companies with a background in traditional forms of managing projects and portfolios to investigate how agile transformation demands change in ways of thinking. By using the rethinking project management framework as our theoreti-cal grounding, we deconstruct the companies' PPM practices in elements of thought from a classical and a rethinking project perspective. We study how these elements manifest and interact across project, portfolio, and management levels and how they produce desirable and undesirable consequences. Finally, we suggest how scaling agile to the project portfolio level demands new ways of thinking and operation.

AB - During the last couple of decades, agile methods have spread from software development start-ups to large, established organizations across different industries. The traditional pro-ject portfolio management processes build on certain premises about agreed-on deliverables, resources and deadline. These premises are not applicable to agile projects. Therefore, ac-commodating agile methods in project portfolio management (PPM) has become a key ques-tion. On this backdrop, we use four large companies with a background in traditional forms of managing projects and portfolios to investigate how agile transformation demands change in ways of thinking. By using the rethinking project management framework as our theoreti-cal grounding, we deconstruct the companies' PPM practices in elements of thought from a classical and a rethinking project perspective. We study how these elements manifest and interact across project, portfolio, and management levels and how they produce desirable and undesirable consequences. Finally, we suggest how scaling agile to the project portfolio level demands new ways of thinking and operation.

KW - Project portfolio management

KW - rethinking

KW - agile project portfolio management

KW - Agile at scale

KW - organizational agility

KW - Agility

KW - Agile transformation

M3 - Article in proceedings

BT - EURAM 2020 Online Conference - THE BUSINESS OF NOW: the future starts here

PB - European Academy of Management

Y2 - 4 December 2020 through 6 December 2020

ER -