Before We Prioritise: Why Ent. Portfolio Understanding Shapes Prj. Success

Most portfolio conversations begin with a familiar question:

“What are our prioritisation criteria?”

However, this often assumes the demand backlog already reflects deliberate enterprise intent.

When prioritisation is applied to a bottom up list of initiatives without shared understanding of enterprise capability, value drivers and constraints, project managers frequently inherit the consequences: shifting scope, conflicting priorities and unstable sequencing.

Enterprise Portfolio Understanding is a foundational practice within portfolio definition. It builds shared clarity across strategy, architecture, finance and delivery before investment decisions are made.

Drawing on experience across regulated banking and utilities environments, this session will explore:

• Why portfolio conversations often begin in the wrong place 
• The difference between a portfolio of projects and an enterprise portfolio 
• How fragmented strategy, architecture and financial planning create downstream delivery friction 
• Why prioritisation without integrated understanding becomes comparative rather than strategic 
• Practical approaches to strengthening clarity before sequencing change

This session is relevant for project managers, PMO professionals and business leaders seeking stronger alignment between strategy and delivery.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how upstream portfolio framing influences project stability, governance discipline and delivery performance.

Where : Torrens University Australia, Adelaide Campus, 88 Wakefield Street, Adelaide, SA 5000