What is this?
Portfolio Manager is a commonly miss-understood role. To allay any confusion lets state what this role is not! A Portfolio Manager is not a Project Manager who is ‘hands-on’ managing a number of different projects, such an individual is still a project manager, albeit one who is juggling his time between different projects.
A Portfolio Manager may also be known as a ‘Portfolio Director’ or a ‘Head of Portfolio Office’. It is fair to say that the Portfolio Manager role varies considerably and depends on the PMO Model Adopted, summarised as follows:
Managing or Directing PMO – where the PMO acts as a central governing body driving a group of projects and / or programmes
Consulting PMO – ‘as it says on the tin’ – not authoritative, more mentoring and advisory
Facilitative PMO – both an advisory capacity, but also assists with / facilitates driving the portfolio
These models have a radically impact on the levels of authority and range of responsibilities a Portfolio Manager might assume. For the purposes of this template (and in-line with UK best practice / APMG’s P30 course) the Portfolio Manager role description is based on the Managing or Directing PMO model.
Why it’s useful?
- This template may help you decide which PMO model might be appropriate for your circumstances / organisation.
- This template will assist in short-listing, selecting and reviewing of your own Portfolio Manager.
- It can also help with benchmarking an existing job description.
Alternatively, if you are considering moving into this type of role the template may help you decide whether or not it is the right job for you.
How to use it?
You could use the template in its vanilla form, but Balance Global recommend that you adapt the template to fit your particular circumstances and requirements and then use it as follows:
- For recruitment purposes – as a basis for advertising / interviewing / selection
- As a benchmark for existing job descriptions
- As leverage for adapting a role
- As an input to setting objectives and reviewing job incumbent(s) performance
- To provide board executives with clarity regarding how they can significantly contribute to a project’s success
Balance Global hopes this template makes a difference to the success of your project. Please send us any suggested improvements to this template so we can share them with our site community.
