Project Execution in the Digital Age Beyond Status Reports

Articles in this guide

Articles in this guide

Effective project execution is a cornerstone of enterprise success. It’s where plans transform into action – and then, into business outcomes and measurable results.

The project execution stage also requires active management and oversight to ensure investments yield their intended value. As organizations grow and portfolios expand, the stakes become increasingly higher.

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What is Strategic Portfolio Management and Why Do You Need It Now?

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Transform chaotic project execution into visual insights revealing your biggest value drivers and resource drains
Transform chaotic project execution into visual insights revealing your biggest value drivers and resource drains

You’ve probably seen a statistic floating around that says that nearly half of projects fail to meet expectations. Whether that’s accurate or not is up for debate, but one thing is true – projects do fail, and when they do, it can be expensive.

This is especially true for growing organizations where multiple initiatives are constantly executed and managed simultaneously.

This article examines how growing organizations can ensure project execution leads to results that consistently meet or exceed expectations – both in the good times and during times of economic volatility.

We’ll contrast how project execution was historically done against the transformative capabilities of Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM). Whether you’re trying to rescue your struggling initiatives or simply want to optimize your path to better business agility, this guide will help you develop an action plan for your organization.

Understanding Project Execution: The Foundation

Project execution is the action phase of the project lifecycle. It’s where the rubber meets the road.

Planning sets the direction, the close-out phase looks at lessons learned, and project execution is where value creation takes place.

Successful execution in project management is a skillful balancing act:

  • Teams need direction about what success looks like and how they can achieve it
  • Resources must be appropriately allocated, meaning the right skills must be available at the right times
  • Communication channels must be open between teams and stakeholders to ensure alignment, even as things change

As your enterprise expands, disparate tools, spreadsheets, and traditional project management approaches struggle to offer the visibility and control needed to manage complex portfolios. That’s where Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) comes in.

Strategic Portfolio Management is well-suited for growing organizations and enterprises that manage complex portfolios of work. The increased complexity of modern business operations means enterprises need robust solutions that can handle diverse portfolio demands, resource allocation changes, and strategic alignment while maintaining clear visibility across the company’s entire body of work.

This is why SPM often incorporates goal-oriented frameworks like Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to drive value during project execution. Progress is measured against established goals that are tied to company strategy, ensuring work and objectives remain aligned as the company evolves.

Learn More: Download our eBook on setting Objective and Key Results at the strategy level

Traditional Project Execution Explained

Traditional project management and execution has served organizations well for many years and continues to serve many enterprises where project parameters are stable and predictable.

This methodology excels in environments where:

  • Project requirements remain fixed
  • Deliverables can be clearly defined from the start
  • Stakeholder expectations are well-established
  • Timeline and resources are predictable
  • There are minimal changes to the scope of the project

Countless companies have delivered value through traditional project execution, using well-defined processes and clear accountability structures. But stability and predictability are a common theme for many of these success stories.

Enterprises that manage multiple portfolios of work and don’t have that predictability need additional capabilities. They need support while navigating rapidly evolving market conditions, shifting customer preferences, and technological disruptions.

They need to be capable of making quick pivots and real-time adjustments.

Track strategic OKRs to measure progress toward key business outcomes for better project execution
Track strategic OKRs to measure progress toward key business outcomes for better project execution

This is especially true for enterprises:

  • That experience rapid growth and expansion into other markets
  • Undergoing digital transformation
  • Operating with geographically distributed teams in fast-moving markets

It’s common for these enterprises to need enhanced support to ensure strategic alignment and optimal value delivery. Especially while navigating the big three unknown variables:

  • Economic uncertainty and rapidly evolving market conditions
  • Evolving customer needs and preferences
  • Technology disruptions and new innovations leading to new competitor threats

For these organizations, traditional ways to manage resources are seldom enough to keep them moving at the speed of business. They need capabilities that give real-time visibility and management into resources across multiple projects and multiple portfolios of work across the enterprise, so they can shift with changing strategic priorities and ensure time, money, and resources go to the work that makes the biggest impact.

The Emergence of Strategic Portfolio Management in Project Execution

In response to the limitations of traditional project execution, forward-thinking organizations managing complex portfolios of work have embraced SPM as a more effective means of delivering business value – especially when change is faster and more frequent than ever.

Project execution guided by SPM makes a fundamental shift from how organizations traditionally executed content. Instead of focusing on individual project outputs, prioritization and execution look holistically at how projects and other types of work collectively advance the company’s strategic objectives.

  • Projects are prioritized by a value-driven approach rather than ranked equally or measured in isolation
  • Importance is based on how much strategic value work brings to the enterprise, not departmental goals or other criteria
  • Execution stays closely aligned with enterprise strategy, even when strategy changes, to ensure a maximum return on project investments

A defining characteristic of Strategic Portfolio Management is how it establishes a clear line of sight from enterprise strategy down to the individual tasks done at the team level. This ensures there’s always strategic context provided for all activities being executed throughout the organization.

Project teams understand the work they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and how this work benefits the organization. They can clearly see how their efforts contribute to the broader business outcomes. This is especially important when conditions evolve and strategy changes, so that projects remain aligned with strategy throughout the process.

Strategic Portfolio Management also acknowledges that project execution happens in a dynamic environment. This is another element that separates SPM-driven project execution from traditional projects.

Rather than treating change as an exception that must be managed and mitigated through rigid governance, SPM ensures strategic realignment when conditions, priorities, and technology change.

In other words, SPM focuses on business value rather than adhering to business plans. Change is bound to happen, and industry leaders should be equipped to adapt alongside it.

Better Visibility for Improved Decision Making

Value-driven decision making is possible because of the comprehensive visibility SPM provides. Visibility into:

  • Which work can deliver the best strategic outcomes
  • How changes in one initiative could affect others
  • How shifting resources between work could influence strategic impact

When it does come time to alter your course because business conditions change, SPM gives you the framework for rapid decision making. Because, when you see how everything connects to the greater strategy, you can make informed decisions around reallocated resources based on strategic priorities, rather than project or department-specific concerns.

A Strategic Portfolio Management solution is designed to create a unified information ecosystem where all portfolio data resides under one roof, acting as a single source of truth for important information.

Every important decision made around project execution is made using up-to-date, actionable data rather than outdated reports and incomplete assessments.

You get real-time answers to questions like:

  • Work progress
  • Utilisation des ressources
  • Dépendances
  • Business impact, and more

This creates an environment where portfolio leaders can confidently make decisions at the moment execution challenges arise. They can become more proactive by identifying and correcting potential issues before they become critical problems, coming up with alternative courses of action based on expected outcomes, and making other changes with minimal disruption to the overall strategic progress.

How SPM Transforms Resource Management During Execution

An effective SPM solution can fundamentally transform how your organization manages their most valuable and constrained resources.

Unlike traditional project execution, where resources tend to be fixed and allocated at the project level, SPM’s resource management capabilities tend to be dynamic. The goal is to continuously optimize the organization’s investment of time, resources, and budget across portfolios to ensure the most strategic value is delivered.

Strategic Portfolio Management directs your limited resources towards the work that yields the greatest impact.

The company’s strategic goals serve as the north star. Departmental goals or vocal department heads requesting resources don’t take priority.

In this way, SPM removes the politics and subjective decision making that has historically undermined resource allocation during the execution phase.

Best-in-class SPM solutions even leverage AI-driven tools and predictive analytics, so you can easily forecast capacity constraints before they occur. This adds an additional layer of readiness and proactivity that Strategic Portfolio Management is known for.

Imagine if you could identify potential bottlenecks weeks before they impact your work. You could correct those roadblocks and maximize the strategic impact of your resources without losing momentum.

Project execution excellence starts with powerful visual analytics that transform complex data into actionable strategic decisions
Project execution excellence starts with powerful visual analytics that transform complex data into actionable strategic decisions

Implementing SPM for Enhanced Project Execution: Benefits and Best Practices

Successful implementation of Strategic Portfolio Management requires your enterprise to commit to strategic alignment across all levels.

Technology solutions provide the real-time visibility and data that’s essential for creating and maintaining strategic alignment. However, that must be paired with the appropriate processes and governance for SPM to deliver its full potential.

Effective change management strategies, for example, should address the technical aspects of implementing SPM alongside the cultural shifts needed. Get everyone across the enterprise ready to embrace a more dynamic, strategically focused approach on project execution.

Don’t be surprised if this cultural dimension is more of a challenge than the technology implementation. It requires everyone, from executive leadership down to the teams doing the work, to adopt a new mindset about how projects are prioritized, executed, and evaluated.

But when done right, Strategic Portfolio Management delivers incredible benefits that will set your organization up for success.

Key benefits of Strategic Portfolio Management

Below are some powerful benefits that enterprises using SPM have over those still doing the traditional project execution approach:

  • Strategic Alignment: SPM ensures that all levels of the organization remain aligned on company strategy and the work being done to further that strategy throughout the execution phase, not just during initial planning. This continuous alignment prevents strategic drift that can cost enterprises a lot of time, money, and missed opportunities.
  • Resource Optimization: Directs limited resources to highest-value initiatives based on their strategic impact rather than departmental influence, thus maximizing the return on investment. Enterprises gain a competitive advantage by accomplishing more strategic work with the same amount of resources invested.
  • Adaptability: Enables a rapid response to market changes and emerging opportunities without losing focus on the strategic objectives. Companies become more resilient against disruption, capture time-sensitive opportunities competitors may miss, and turn volatility into a competitive advantage.
  • Value-Driven Results: Success is measured by business outcomes and strategic contributions rather than planned tasks. Work delivers meaningful value that’s aligned with strategic needs.
  • Breaking Down Silos: Remove traditional barriers between strategic planning and project execution, connecting strategic decision-makers with teams to create unified strategic delivery. This leads to accelerated decision cycles and more strategically aligned work.

The benefits listed above compound over time as your organization becomes more sophisticated with using Strategic Portfolio Management.

Maintain Your Strategic Advantage While Navigating Complexities

Project execution capabilities have evolved significantly to meet the demands of enterprises managing complex portfolios of work.

While task completion and delivery milestones remain important, the growing enterprise often needs more to ensure work stays aligned with organizational strategy. Portfolios become more complex, market conditions shift at a moment’s notice, and predictability becomes a thing of the past. In this type of environment, companies need the technology and methodology that supports them alongside growth, transformation, and changing circumstances.

Market conditions and customer demands change frequently, making enterprise agility increasingly crucial for maintaining competitive advantage. Organizations that enhance their project execution capabilities through Strategic Portfolio Management gain the visibility and flexibility needed to manage complex portfolios effectively. This approach enables continuous strategic execution that can adapt to change and disruption while maintaining alignment with business.

Now, how do you put all of this into action? That’s where an effective SPM solution can help.

Strategic Portfolio Management can transform how your organization drives business value through better project execution that’s aligned with your big-picture goals. See how you can implement SPM and maximize its benefits by watching our on-demand SPM demo.