Your browser does not support JavaScript/Javascript is disabled.
For a better browsing experience please enable Javascript or update your browser.

Visitors Edition

Already a member? Sign In.

Membership Help?

Need help? Our Trial Membership program will get you help on any IT project you're working on. You'll get access to our research, tools, advice and project help.
Start your free trial membership now:

Want to learn more about our membership options, pricing, or to get a product demo? Get in touch with one of our reps using an option below.

Trial Member Registration

Learn more About Info-Tech

I Want Help with a Membership

Click to Chat

OptimizeIT
\
Project Management \ Project Prioritization
\
Re-Adjustments

Re-Adjustments

When organizational or market factors fluctuate, project priorities may shift due to changing realities. Organizations that have multiple projects competing for limited resources face the following key challenges:

Making the project inventory and project priority list vital elements of the IT management and/or organizational process, rather than static documents or reports left to become stagnant and useless.
Keeping the project priority list dynamic and reflective of current IT and/or organizational initiatives and activities rather than a single point-in-time assessment and evaluation.

This program consists of three key steps:

Process for Re-Prioritization
Revisit Project Priority List and Make Adjustments
Review Adjustments with Stakeholders

Goal: When you have completed this program, you will have:

Identified key events or external circumstances that can trigger project re-prioritization.
A clear and defined process to manage and maintain project priorities, both now and in the future,
A re-prioritized list of projects based on new realities.
Templates for communicating with, and obtaining approval from, senior management and stakeholders.

Advanced

Steps		Tools	Related Research
Step 1: Process for Re-Prioritization When organizational, market or competitive factors change, project priorities may need to be re-assessed. Info-Tech Tip: Don’t be afraid to cancel a project that isn’t performing or delivering its expected results. Rather than throwing more money at the problem, cancel the project before wasting even more resources on it. Consider using the remaining resources to fund a new, and perhaps more important, project instead.
	1.1 Maintain Prioritization List Business conditions change: for example, a competitor’s move may demand an immediate response; market expansion may encounter unexpected difficulties; or changing economic conditions may alter resource availability. Regardless of the reason, situational changes occur that can affect the organization’s priorities. As such, it is good practice to revisit and refresh the project priority list from time to time.	Guide to Understanding Triggers for Reprioritization Project Prioritization List Maintenance Guidelines	When Budgets Abate, Reassess Project Priorities How to Identify A Failing Project Project Prioritization: IT Shouldn't Shoulder the Load
Step 2: Revisit Project Prioritization List and Make Adjustments Once triggers have been identified, the organization needs to set the course for evaluating the impact and changes to the project priority list. Projects will be re-assessed and, in some cases, incur status modifications due to changing realities and circumstances. Info-Tech Tip: Due to the time-sensitive nature of the re-prioritization process, this program runs like a compressed version of the full project prioritization program, from start to finish (e.g. Program 1 through 3). Information within the tool should be kept current and accurate, allowing this tool to be used on a continual basis. Consider running iterative sensitivity analyses to view the different potential outcomes of re-adjusting data.
	2.1 Re-Rank Projects Following events that trigger organizational change, re-evaluate the project list to identify any new project portfolio gaps. Gaps can be caused by changes in priority, goals, objectives, resources, or time urgency. This tool revisits the project prioritization short-list to reassess the ranking criteria and resource availability in line with the identified changes. Once the gaps have been analyzed, the projects are re-evaluated and re-prioritized.	Project Reprioritization Master Tool	When Budgets Abate, Reassess Project Priorities
Step 3: Review Adjustments with Stakeholders At this stage the project prioritization team must communicate project rankings with project stakeholders and obtain support and approval for moving forward. Info-Tech Tip: Be prepared for questions regarding this latest request for project priority approval. Management and stakeholders will have already signed-off on the final project priority list in Program 3, so clearly state the business drivers that caused a re-adjustment process. Whether it was a lack of resource capacity or changing organizational strategies, ensure that the events that caused changes to the project priority list are included in the request for approval.
	3.1 Review Proposed Adjustments with Stakeholders Following the re-adjustment process, senior management approval must be obtained to proceed with project implementation.	Change Approval Form