An Executive Guide to Portfolio Management

The newcomer to the OGC library which already features the hugely popular PRINCE2 and MSP books, is the Management of Portfolios. Launched in February 2011, the guidance aims to plug the gap between the programmes and projects running in the organisation and the strategic level of the board running the organisation.

The Executive Guide to Portfolio Management is a seperate book (or rather booklet) to the Management of Portfolios guidance. The latter is a more detailed look at portfolio management and is aimed at the practitioner. This executive guide is aimed at senior managers in the organisation that need a quick run down of what portfolio management is; how it fits into an organisation; the benefits of portfolio management; how to get started implementing portfolio management and some key questions executives should be asking.

Just 31 pages of text in an A6 sized booklet, so it's small enough for an executive to fit in their pocket; quick to read (took me about 40 minutes) yet still does what it says on the front - it gives an executive all they need to know about an introduction to portfolio management. It retails at £9.95 so you can weigh up the cost vs benefits of this yourself depending on the situation you're in - if you need an executive to get into portfolio management quickly, this booklet will deliver.

If you're looking for an overview of portfolio management yourself - as a programme or project management practitioner - you probably will gain what you need to know from the official website - Management of Portfolios (MoP) - or through general searches on the internet. If you're looking for more depth - go for the Management of Portfolios book which retails at £50.

There are two areas in this executive guide that work well - first, the questions posed at the back of the book - questions that the exec should be asking of themselves and their organisations and the second, this curious concept of "organisational energy". This is the people element of portfolio management - and I reckon the part which makes all the difference between portfolio management working or not in an organisation. It's good to see a focus on the people aspects and I for one will be checking out the full guidance to see how organisational energy is explored and hopefully see how good energy is created.

ABOUT OUR REVIEWER: Lindsay Scott is the Director of Arras People, the programme and project management recruitment specialists, and she writes regularly on project management & recruitment issues for the Arras blog, How to Manage a Camel.

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