Lean Project Portfolios: Increase Flow and Value

Two recent product development studies confirm what most of us already know about product development projects:

• 45% miss profit and ROI objectives

• 49% are launched behind schedule

• 43% exceed budget

A root cause of this chronic problem is that most companies do not have the discipline, processes and tools to manage their projects and their resources as a portfolio. They overload their pipeline in order to hedge their bets and end up underdelivering their projects.

If this dilemma sounds familiar, please join us for an exclusive 90-minute audio-session (60 minute presentation plus 30 minutes of Q&A woven throughout) as respected product development management expert, Eugene Kania, discusses Lean Project Portfolios. Gene will show you how to take portfolio management to the next level by applying Lean Principles to increase project throughput and focus resources on the highest value projects.

Lean Project Portfolios are vital in today’s matrixed and global product development environments. In this audio session you will learn:

• The key elements of VALUE in portfolio management: maximization, balance and strategic fit
   

• To understand the tradeoff of risk versus reward; why taking risks is key to creating value
   

• Why ACHIEVABILITY is equally important to VALUE in portfolio management, but sorely overlooked in most organizations
   

• Why it is absolutely essential to reduce WIP (work-in-process)
   

• To create a “PULL” system for projects that reduces queues and optimizes development batch sizes, rather than starting all your projects ASAP
   

• How to reduce waste in project planning without adding risk
   

• How to increase speed (i.e. reduce cycle times) in project EXECUTION and deliver projects on-time without sacrificing quality

This dynamic session will introduce you and your team to a LEAN portfolio management process that is centered on credible analysis and informed decision-making. You will understand how Lean Project Portfolios can increase the value of your portfolio by 50% and decrease the cycle time of your product development projects by another 50%.

This session provides an excellent opportunity to listen with others from your organization and ask questions about your unique challenges. Invite your whole team to join you - the fee is the same as long as you are on one phone line, just put it on speakerphone! (For team members in different locations, it is well worth adding line(s).)

Can't make the time and date of the call? Join FastTrack and receive the transcript and download the mp3 of this and other audio sessions.

Since 1997, Gene has been successfully implementing effective portfolio, project and resource management systems in product development organizations. His clients, which include Pfizer, Abbott Labs, Agere Systems, Keithley Instruments and the Amsted Rail Group, span many industries including electronics, pharmaceuticals and transportation.

Gene is a leader in using constraints management principles, finite capacity modeling techniques and other risk-management approaches to realistically and effectively manage the risk, uncertainty and flux inherent in product development environments.

A graduate of the University of Illinois in 1980 with a Masters Degree in Engineering, Gene started his career at Bell Laboratories (now Lucent Technologies) and has been involved in engineering, product development and business problem solving for 25 years. His most recent business experience was as a Business Unit Director for a large, multi-division, worldwide supplier of engineered, metal bellows.

Gene is a new product development trainer for the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) and is certified as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP). Gene is a member of the Certification committee for PDMA having been active in the development of the exam and the exam prep review. He teaches a national workshop on Resource Management for ASME and is a guest lecturer for the Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago.

He regularly conducts public and private workshops on Lean Project Portfolios. Companies that have attended his workshops include: Lucent Technologies, Intel, BP Amoco, GE Aircraft Engines, Emerson Electric, Crane Valve and IDEX Corporation. He is a sought after speaker and regularly presents for professional organizations like DIA, PMI and ASQ.  He also publishes articles on managing product development operations in various professional publications.