Strategic Alignment ◾ 13
10. Recently, your city declared bankruptcy. As the portfolio manager work-
ing for the Mayor, you knew this approach was needed given the declining
economy, the debt it had occurred, and its inability to raise money through
the sale of bonds. To recover, drastic strategic changes are needed. As the
portfolio manager, you are conducting interviews and holding focus groups
with stakeholders, including City employees, citizens, and consumer and
social activist groups. As you do so, you nd:
a. It is helpful to group stakeholders by category
b. Many were not prepared for this change
c. There is a loss of condence in the executive leader ship team
d. There are only a limited number of people who truly understand the sig-
nicance of this bankruptcy
11. With management by projects and programs the norm and not the exception
in many organizations, assume the Board of Directors of your cereal com-
pany decided to become a project- based organization two years ago and not
work in functional silos. This approach was a cultural change that has taken
time to fully embrace, and a portfolio management committee also has
been set up. To assess its progress it is conducting an Organizational Project
Management Maturity (OPM3) assessment. One reason to do so is to:
a. Determine the organization’s overall level of maturity in project, program,
and portfolio management
b. Focus on continuous improvement
c. Ensure processes in place are repeatable and easy to follow
d. Link project, program, and portfolio principles with organizational
enablers
12. Assume you are striving to create an up- to- date list of all approved portfolio
components to have an organized portfolio your giant aerospace company
can use for ongoing evaluation, selection, and prioritization. Resources are
limited, and must be allocated to those programs and projects that will pro-
vide the greatest business value. To create such a list a best practice is to:
a. Follow the portfolio performance plan
b. Review organizational process assets
c. Select evaluation criteria
d. Review the portfolio charter