engineering's interested in portfolio management at pipeline 2010

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Engineering’s Interests in Product Portfolio ManagementChad Jackson, Founder and President


Agenda• The Recession, Recovery

and Engineering• What’s the value of PPM for

Engineering?• What is Engineering’s role in

a PPM Strategy?• Summary and Conclusions


The Recession, Recovery and Engineering• Recession forced executives to

realign expenses to match revenue levels to salvage profits

• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) declares Recession ended June 2009

• Manufacturers more aggressive with revenue projections without backfilling resources

• New products, not cost controls, is the growth strategy


The Recession, Recovery and Engineering

All things being equal...

You will not do more with less...

You will do less with less


The Recession, Recovery and EngineeringMulti-Part Blog Series: The Hero Work of an Engineer•Projects are understaffed, there’s less of a safety net•The firedrills that land on your desk have more dire consequences•Work later into the night and sacrifice your weekends•Rising frustration from working on projects you know will fail


What’s the value of PPM for Engineering?Objective for PPM Strategy: Align resources to the company’s commercial goals

– Funding concepts that best match company’s criteria for success

– Killing development projects no longer match company’s criteria for success

– Continuously reinforcing company goals


What’s the value of PPM for Engineering?What’s in it for engineering?

– Resourcing feasibility often part of the initial funding gate

– You work on projects that are aligned to company goals

– If a project is floundering, you have the opportunity to go work on a new project or ongoing successful project


What is engineering’s role in a PPM strategy?• What are the primary activities of a

PPM strategy?– Funding Point: Ongoing and new

potential development projects compete for funding

– Engineering Project Management: Health assessment of ongoing projects highly dependent on accurate status updates and corrective action


What is engineering’s role in a PPM strategy?• Engineering and the Funding Point

– Provide leadership with respect to to accurate assess new and ongoing development project’s alignment with company objectives:

• Competitive Differentiation

• Technical Feasibility

• Engineering Resourcing

• Timeline and Scheduling


What is engineering’s role in a PPM strategy?• Engineering Project Management

– Provide and accurate status of the ongoing development projects to give insight into the entire picture

• Keep close track of progress against schedules

• Identify risks and means of mitigating risk

• Track corrective actions


Summary and Conclusions• Today’s engineering organization is

currently resource poor with organizational and personal implications

• A sound PPM strategy provides a means ensure engineering resources are working on the development projects with the best match to company objectives

• Engineering can and should take an active and leadership role in PPM

engineering's interested in portfolio management at pipeline 2010

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