ESI International recently revealed its list of projected "Top 10 Project Management Trends for 2009."  

I could spend hours talking about their projections but I will focus on one trend listed in their press release in a section entitled "Back to Basics for Successful Project Portfolio Management":

 "More than any year in recent history, 2009 will be a critical year for ensuring project success.  Project managers will increase their emphasis on the basics, taking a first-things-first approach and address fundamentals such as gaining and sustaining executive commitment, addressing gaps in the alignment of organizational strategy and projects, project selection, and efficient measurement process while leveraging existing resources to increase project success."

While I agree that "back to basics" is essential for Project Portfolio Management success, I completely disagree with the notion that Project Managers will take these steps. They simply don't have the authority or the ability to do so! This emphasis can only come from Executive Leadership that advocates and fosters sound IT Governance conventions.

Strategic alignment determination, project selection, balancing demand and resource availability, the decision-making process, and measuring the effectiveness of decisions are all functions of IT Governance and the associated Project Portfolio Management processes. Project Managers and PMOs can influence these decisions by advocating their necessity and providing the data necessary to ensure they are reasoned and rational, but it is the Executive Leadership Team that must make the decisions.

Maybe ESI meant something different in their press release, but I worry about the folks that may see these 2009 projections and mistakenly expect Project Managers to address these critical Project Governance needs. For years, organizations have relied on the heroics of their Project Managers to overcome the lack of good IT Governance and the associated decision-making processes. Project Managers, victimized by the lack of good Project Portfolio Management must find ways to succeed despite the following:

• Working on the wrong things because project decisions are not aligned with enterprise strategy and business objectives
• Working on the wrong things or too many things because the organization does not have a systematic approach to accurately prioritize projects
• Struggling to find a way to allocate and manage resources without the benefit of effective demand and resource management systems and the associated reasoned and rationale decision-making to strike the correct balance
• Desperately seeking and obtaining the Executive sponsorship and oversight necessary to overcome the challenges and obstacles to project success

It is Executive Leadership that must address these needs and any emphasis on the basics of Project Portfolio Management, not Project Managers.

Readers, do you agree or disagree? Do you rely on Project Managers to accomplish the objectives of Project Portfolio Management, or do you have examples of Project Manager heroics to overcome the lack of it?