“Queen-io, Queen-io where’s the portfolio?
I haven’t got it
It isn’t in my pocket
Queen-io, Queen-io, where’s the portfolio?”
During my childhood years in the UK somewhere between 1984 – 1988bf (before Facebook) we used to pass our time in the playground by playing a simple ball game called Queen-io. I can see some of you smiling in recognition and some of you looking rather puzzled. (If you find yourself in the latter category please allow Wikipedia to explain first, then read on) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenie,_Queenie,_who’s_got_the_ball%3F
Now imagine the scene: an organization taking a “Queen-io” approach to their project portfolio practices; one or several Queen-ios throwing out project-like balls to the organization, allowing them to bounce around for a while to see if someone can make something of them. Project and line managers chase after the balls squabbling over who should have them and in some cases there a PMO function frantically trying to gather them up in some coherent order. When the balls have been picked up (although a few people standing there empty handed pretending they have a ball) the Queen-io starts making demands to ascertain information about:
- what type of ball has been picked up? Someone has picked up something believing it to be a ball when it is in fact something completely different.
- what size is the ball?
- who’s taken active responsibility for the ball and is willing to show it?
- which balls are still up in the air and haven’t landed anywhere?
- which balls have been picked up and magically disappeared without a trace in organisational pockets?
- who’s picked up more balls than they can carry but won’t admit it?
Now I can take an academic guess at what you might be thinking. How can the Queen-io throw the balls without actually knowing what they were throwing? I’m with you entirely and it’s so damn obvious but it still keeps happening and it’s happening right now in organisations all around us. And if the people picking up the balls are highly experienced project managers and know what a project ball should look like, why are they afraid to throw back the balls that aren’t really balls but something else?
You see, the game has rules and a certain amount of structure but it’s not effective (except for causing chaos) so the rules, structure and purpose need a rethink.
- How many people in organisations are pretending to carry balls just so that they won’t be “out” and how can their empty hands and knowledge be put to meaningful work?
- Is a ball actually a ball and what information is required to define and categorise that ball?
- What do you need to plan the game so that no one is left out and that the right people are assigned the right ball in a controlled manner?
- How do we get our Queen-io organisation leaders actively engaged in portfolio management, turning them round to face the people they’re throwing the ball to, instead of tired and frustrated project managers and PMOs running round doing all the leg-work?
It’s just a game. Think of it that way and it will sort itself out.
During the dotcom boom years working as PMO at one of Germany’s biggest banks I was talking to a guy about the challenges of getting transparency and getting the right information at the right level so that it provided value to the business and my boss. He just said to me with a smile, “Helen, it’s just a game. Think of it that way and it will sort itself out. The information is only a way of making it look like things are being done.” I didn’t take his advice and was determined to keep a close eye on all the balls I had including those I thought I should have, but I remember it to this day.
The world has moved on since then but portfolio management and governance maturity is still no laughing matter. Of course most organisations these days take steering and governance seriously and there are a few game-changers out there. Here in Sweden in the public sector alone great steps forward are being made in this area but in the private sector, investment in project organizational maturity initiatives is still rather low, despite need and ambition being high.
So next week when you walk into the office on Monday morning take a minute to think about the Queen-io chant and how it might apply (or not) to your own organization and/or customers.
“Queen-io, Queen-io, where’s the portfolio?”
