Case Study “from Experience: Linking Projects to Strategy”

Case Study “From Experience: Linking Projects to Strategy” in the book Project Management a managerial approach on page 99 Q1: It is doubtfully important for every organization to implement successful projects, because they ultimately result in organizational growth. Only successful projects lead the company to new products and breakthroughs, better services and enhanced processes within the organization. On the other hand failed projects end in financial loss and frustration of employees and customers. Projects provide a basis for future actions of organizations, because they support the process of knowledge acquirement and therefore enable the development of even more complex projects in the future. In the given case study HP demonstrates how important successful projects are to its organization by putting a lot of effort on selecting potential beneficial projects. They implemented a method of selecting projects more strategically rather than rely on numerical methods, to align their projects with their overall organizational goals more efficient. This is, based on their experience, that failing to include strategic goals into projects lead ultimately most certainly to the project’s failure. Furthermore the council that is selecting suitable projects needs to work closely with the project managers in order to implement the strategy on all levels.

Q2: Generally speaking the evaluation of projects is based on the data available to do so. The more data there is, the further the evaluation team can progress in screening the given projects to the amount that is critical to pursue. It is difficult to evaluate more complex projects, because there is not always enough data available at the beginning. It is more likely that the crucial data is gathered throughout the project analysis. Therefore it is harder to apply screening methods on projects that are more complex. It is essential, that the evaluation team consults as many people related to different aspects of the...