The Programme and Portfolio Workout: Directing Business-led Programmes and Portfolios

Implementing change is needed in every business. But how do you get started and ensure you actually realize the benefits you need? How do you direct and manage the tens, hundreds, or even thousands, of projects and the other pieces of work your business is undertaking? How do you make sure everyone is working towards the same goals? Building on five previous editions of The Project Workout, this book focusses on programme and portfolio management. It is a valuable companion for every business executive and programme manager as well as a comprehensive resource for students of business, portfolio and programme management.

The Programme and Portfolio Workout provides practical advice and techniques to direct and manage your business in a structured, yet agile, way. Aimed at both business and programme managers, it takes you through different approaches to portfolio, programme and project management and shows you how they can work together. The practical approach is enhanced throughout with a series of ‘Workouts’: exercises, techniques and checklists to help you put the book’s advice into practice. The Workouts are supported by an on-line resource of tools.

This expanded edition contains a wealth of new material on the governance and management of portfolio and programmes, including how to work with standards and methods, such as GovS 002, ISO 21504, BS6079 and MSP. The companion to this book, The Project Workout, deals with directing and managing individual projects. It uses the same concepts and approaches so that you know, when directing your portfolio or programme, that your project sponsors and managers are taking the same approach. Together, these books give you what you need to ensure your organization succeeds.

Robert Buttrick has an impressive track record of introducing and practising programme and portfolio management in major organizations. He is a contributor to management methods, best practice, government and international standards. He is a consultant and Visiting Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick.