Bordeaux and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, remote across France
PMO and project portfolio management
When several projects run in parallel, the problem is no longer steering each one, it is deciding which goes first. I set up the PMO that makes those trade-offs possible: a consolidated view, comparable metrics, and decisions that are made rather than endured.
Book a free callThe problem I solve
Without a portfolio view, each project manager defends their own and resources go to the most insistent, not the most useful. Projects block each other on the same people, nobody can say which are genuinely at risk, and management discovers delays when they have become unrecoverable.
How I work
Real inventory
Listing everything that consumes resources, including unofficial workstreams. You cannot arbitrate what you cannot see.
Arbitration criteria
Explicit prioritisation rules (value, risk, regulatory constraint, dependencies), so decisions no longer depend on who pushes hardest.
Comparable metrics
A simple, identical metric set across all projects, so you compare like with like and spot drift early.
Steering rhythm
A portfolio committee at a suitable cadence that actually decides: what starts, what is deferred, what stops.
Real example
Concrete figures: at EDF I steered a heterogeneous IT project portfolio, including a demand management application handling around 20,000 tickets a year, an IoT supervision project in a nuclear environment, and an estate of 3,000 to 5,000 workstations, with teams of 2 to 10 people.
Read the case studyWho it is for
- IT departments running several simultaneous projects
- Organisations whose projects compete for the same resources
- Management teams discovering delays too late
- Structures wanting a PMO without adding bureaucracy
What you get
- A map of the real portfolio
- Explicit, owned prioritisation criteria
- A consolidated dashboard readable by management
- An arbitrated workload and resource allocation
- A portfolio committee that produces decisions
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a dedicated tool to set up a PMO?+
No, and starting with the tool is the most common mistake. A well-kept spreadsheet with clear arbitration criteria beats portfolio software nobody fills in. The tool comes once the rhythm is established.
Will a PMO add bureaucracy?+
That is the risk, and what I aim to avoid. A useful PMO fits in one dashboard and one recurring committee. If it produces more reporting than decisions, it is badly calibrated.
From how many projects is it worth it?+
The need usually appears beyond five or six projects sharing the same teams. Below that, arbitration happens verbally without formalism.
How much does it cost?+
On a quote basis once the scope is framed. The first discovery call is free.
A portfolio to steer
Book a free first call. We look at how many projects you run at once and where steering escapes you.