Keywords

1 Introduction

This work was motivated by the need to develop a framework within which to conduct research in a domain that has received a lot of attention in academic circles as well as industry. The Project Portfolio Management (PPM) literature has been studied from different perspectives and different framework, methods and models have been developed to assist practitioners to achieve optimum benefits. However, there seems to be a missing Human-Centered design element in PPM, which would help add design thinking to their processes and add agility within achieving strategic goals for organizations.

In the search for Organizational State Transition Approach (OSTA) of Portfolio Management, there seemed to offer some possibilities how to better manage IT portfolios; However, the OSTA by itself cannot help organizations to achieve their goals as it doesn’t match the current and desired state of the organization. Th issues were identified from a study of OSTA that included, uncertainty of actions being undertaken to achieve strategic goals, uncertainty of success measures, key people being unsure of their purpose and what they were trying to achieve. This further motivated us to research how the OSTA framework can be improved in this domain.

This paper proceeds as follows. It first discusses some of the findings of the use of OSTA in PPM. It then outlines the principles of Human-Centered framework namely; PACT and Project Management process groups. It concludes how the developed framework can be used in this field of research.

2 The OSTA in Project Portfolio Management

The idea behind the State-Transition Approach was simple. McDonald and Sabrazhosseini [1] explained that “for example, the lighting in a room with a push button light switch. When the lights are off (state 1) and someone presses the button (event 1) the system turns on the lights (action) and changes the state to on (state 2). When the same event occurs again, the lights are turned off and the system returns to state1. Figure 1 shows this simple case can be modelled in an STA table”. The OSTA was applied in PPM with a purpose to better structure the domain as Watson [2] says that “calls continue for a good theory in Information Systems and development of our own theory”. While the idea of OSTA is simple, PPM is imperfect and complex in content [Sarbazhosseini 3].

Fig. 1.
figure 1

The general form of OSTA (adapted from McDonald & Sarbazhosseini [1] & Sarbazhosseini et al. [13])

Full size image

The two characteristics of the OSTA that made it useful for description and specification are its clarity and completeness [1, 2]. According to Sarbazhosseini [3] and McDonald and Sarbazhosseini [1], the clarity of OSTA comes from “the specification within the table cells - the action the system takes and the new state it moves into are unambiguously described” and the completeness comes from “the table capturing all known states and events. The more controlled a system is, like the one used in the example, the higher the level of completeness”.

While the State-Transition Model (STM) was used in clinical, ecological, computer science, and software engineering since late 1990s, there were incomplete research of this approach in project management. PMI [4] developed a standard called P3M3 (Project, Program, Portfolio Management Maturity Model) [5] where organizations can apply this to assess their maturity of their projects. Similar to STM, the central idea of P3M3 assessment is to find what the current status of organizations is and where do they want to be and how to get there. This evaluation takes place at different times because the management environment is dynamic [3].

Therefore, PPM could benefit from OSTA’s ongoing, continuous nature of systems that makes the STM useful in looking at organizational state, change and responsiveness. The general OSTA has been represented in Fig. 1.

This figure includes state indicators which shows the current state, desired state and transition actions that require to get from current to desired state and finally learning from this process that updates the state indicators can be concluded in organisational system.

2.1 The OSTA in PPM Domain

There are number of reasons why OSTA was applied in PPM domain. Based on Killen, et al. [6] findings, empirical studies reported on mixed findings regarding the link between particular PPM methods and goals. Research reveals that most organizations feel that their project portfolio contains too many projects for the available resources; however, no research has demonstrated a significant empirical link between a PPM method and better performance of projects [3].

Filippov et al.’s [7] study in Netherlands indicated that despite the recognized importance of the PPM topic and numerous academic and practice-oriented publications on PPM, the research is lacking a critical mass of empirical evidence. Their finding, based on five case-studies, indicates that organizations should know exactly what they want to achieve before embarking on a transition towards PPM.

Jamieson and Morris [8] reported on the results of four exploratory case studies and seventy-five responses from a Project Management Institute (PMI) European survey on moving from corporate strategy to project strategy. The survey results show that 50 percent of respondents’ organisations have a PPM process; however, most respondents do not understand the goals of PPM and perceive it to be for managing projects around a theme rather than for balancing and selecting the best projects.

In the study of Sarbazhosseini [3], the OSTA was applied to the literature of PPM from different perspectives including academic, industry and software literature to ensure that it covers both academic and practitioner’s perspective as presented in Fig. 2. Over 100 articles were studied in different data sources along with over 90 software developer’s perspective to understand what or how PPM has been conducted [9].

Fig. 2.
figure 2

The OSTA from literature perspective (adapted from Sarbazhosseini [3])

Full size image

In this analysis, several reasons were identified for why organizations apply PPM in the first place such as too many projects in the pipeline, shortage of resources, projects not liked to their strategic goals, wrong projects and slowing project progress. The desired state/goals for organizations stated as strategically aligned or linking portfolio to the strategy, maximizing the value of portfolio, reducing risks, increase agility, reduce project failures etc. The study of transition actions discovered that organizations are tempted to take different actions such as top down or bottom up approaches, portfolio maps, bar charts, scoring models etc.

While the analysis of PPM literature indicates that these transition actions do not necessarily assist organizations to achieve their desired state, the proposed framework was further explored in seven government and non-government case-studies and were investigated through several interviews with portfolio managers and document reviews such as strategic plan and P3M3 assessments.

In this paper, it is not intended to discuss how the results were conducted; however, the research followed case-study research procedures following Yin’ [10] guide in which appropriate pilot study was conducted and data were collected and analyzed in terms of thematic coding and pattern marching models [3].

The analyzed data helped to develop the following OSTA from empirical study findings (see Fig. 3). The empirical data analysis shows somehow different reasons for applying PPM and what they desire to achieve. It can be highlighted that organizations are applying PPM because they have lower visibility, transparency, accountability and consistency in their portfolio and hoping that they can achieve a higher level of that by following some guidelines and policies, using stage gates processes, or various PPM or non-PPM software in their management.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

The OSTA from literature perspective (adapted from Sarbazhosseini [3])

Full size image

2.2 Findings of the Developed OSTA Within an Empirical Perspective

The analysis of OSTA from an empirical perspective shows a number of interesting findings that leads us to understand why it is necessary to apply a Human-Centered framework in PPM.

The results showed a remarkable gap between transition actions and desired goals where there is no clear evidence that these actions can lead to a desired state. In addition, looking at action that organizations take to achieve a goal does not provide the evidence to assist them in meeting future goals. It was clear that the participating organizations of the study did not have a clear understanding of strategic goals and the actions required to deliver them. The actions taken by the cases/organizations could be categorized mainly into guidelines and policies, self-developed stage-gates and software, but they could not ensure achievement of their set goals.

Another issue explored from this study was the lack of appropriate means for measuring PPM progress or success. It was discovered from PPM literature that there is no success measure for goals (e.g., strategic goals) or for determining a measurement for doing the right things or right projects. This study discovered that organizations were experiencing the same dilemma. It showed that even when organizations knew their desired goals, they were unsure of how to measure achievement of these goals.

From organizational system learning, it was discovered that PPM is a continuous battle with big changes in projects, resources, scope, and quality. In such a battle, there is a need for clear visibility throughout organizations to manage changes effectively. Therefore, better visibility and having an effective framework assists in the management of portfolios. The clarity that a better framework provides, would assists projects to be efficiently traced, and decisions to be consistently made according to strategic goals.

Looking at above analysis led us to develop a framework in which organizations receive a better result in applying PPM. The following will discuss a Human-centred framework in PPM domain.

3 Developing a Human-Centered Framework for Managing IT Project Portfolios

Being human-centered is about “putting people first to support people and for people to enjoy” [11]. In human-centered interactions, we think about what people want to do rather than what the technology/applications can do [11]. It’s about designing new ways to connect people and involve them in the design process [11].

To design a human-centered framework, organizations require to understand PACT (People, Activities, Contexts and Technologies) see Fig. 4. PACT is a framework which would assist organizations to understand what the requirements are to design an interactive system where puts the people first. The main emphasis of the framework is that people use technologies to undertake activities in specified contexts.

Fig. 4.
figure 4

The general form of PACT (adapted from Benyon [11])

Full size image

Understanding people assists managers to understand their people’s skill, knowledge, experience, role, their capabilities and the purpose of applying portfolio management concepts.

Understanding activities allows organizations to better understand their management activities such as time, cost, quality, risk, communication. The activities include all decision making, strategic alignment and program or portfolio level decisions such as initiating projects, planning, monitoring & controlling, executing and completing projects. These activities are mainly taking place in project management process groups defined by PMI [12] see Fig. 5. In this process groups, initiating process helps to set a vision what is to be achieved. In the planning process, the total scope of the project including timing, costing, communication, procurement, design and development planning happens. In the executing process, all the planned work is to be executed. In the monitoring and controlling process, all the staged of planning, executing are monitored and controlled to understand if the project is still worth doing it or should be stopped. Also, a decision for the next steps can be set up. In the closing process, the project formally closes and all the contracts get sign-off [12].

Fig. 5.
figure 5

The general form of PMBOK Process Groups (adapted from PMI [12])

Full size image

Understanding context of activities are important as it allows organization to realize whether the activities are appropriate to people and the context of the projects such as IT, consultation, research & development, new product development, innovation projects, etc.

It is also important to understand what technologies organizations are using or should use to achieve their desired state by taking those activities in the context.

3.1 The Human-Centered Framework

To better understand how the human-centered framework could enhance the project success by focusing on organizations’ people including their capabilities, the activities that they are taking in the project including the project management process groups, the context of these activities and the technology that they use, we are now developing the human-centered framework for managing IT portfolio projects (see Fig. 6) considering PACT and Project Management Processes.

Fig. 6.
figure 6

The Human-Centered Framework for Managing Project Portfolios

Full size image

The above Human-Centered Framework (HCF) (highlighted in Green area) combines the knowledge from interactive systems design with project management process groups. As the orange arrow connects the HCF to OSTA, it represents that it is a two-way connection. This connection relates four major states of the OSTA to PACT. Meaning that organizations to understand their current state require to analyze PACT. More specifically, they should understand the capability of their people and the purpose of having people in their organization to understand what they want to achieve. Then understand the activities that people are taking within the context and technology to better formulate their desired state.

Organizations with unclear understanding of their people and activities involved in their portfolios are less likely to achieve their strategic goals. Because the organization does not have the clarity of their current state. The HCF can complete the OSTA by allowing organizations to understand their current state and formulating their desired goals and respectively planning their activities.

The HCF also assist with understanding organizational learning. As it helps the organization to assess their current situation and better relate it to their goals and analyze if the goals are achievable. This also allows them to evaluate the current state according to their capabilities and understand what they can achieve or plan to achieve.

3.2 The Use of HCF

There are many different forms of research ranging from the experimentation of the physical sciences; the argument and logic of mathematics and philosophy; the anti-positivism of the social sciences and humanities; the exegesis of the creative disciplines and the design of the ‘sciences of the artificial’ [1].

A common form of research into human systems follows the following pattern: a literature review to establish the current state of knowledge about a domain, a conceptual framework, a set of research questions or aims, the research design, execution, findings discussion and contributions. As noted in the introduction, the PPM domain seems weak in reliable current knowledge and conceptual framework. The OSTA was therefore used as a means to classify the literature, to assist in the generation of research questions and formulate the data gathering and analysis phases of the research project. In that process, the OSTA itself was critiqued. As a result of data sought from set of interviews which were supported by documentation, following the interview protocol and procedures resulted in exploring some empirical issues [3].

Given the conceptual structure of the PPM domain as seen through the OSTA lens, the next issue for the research was how to formulate the framework and collect empirical data that might address them. Because of the nature of the literature, the original thematic review produced a very varied set of constructs. An ends-means type research framework would suggest research questions like Why do organisations apply PPM? What kind of actions do organisations take in order to achieve goals? etc. From the HCF perspective, suggested questions are around: what is the current capability of the organization? How can we define achievable strategy for the organization considering the current activities?

Data is being sought from a set of interviews and observations of decision-making processes from portfolio managers and portfolio office team supported by documentation they make available. The interview protocol involves a set of procedures and instruments used to specify interactions between researchers and study participants including designs for participant contact, an interview data collection instrument, observation of decision-making processes, the interview script and analysis techniques. The protocol should desk-checked by the researchers before use.

To conclude this section of the paper, the HCF for managing IT project portfolios, is being used to frame the phases of a research project. It has offered a structure within which to evaluate this literature, frame research questions and collect and assess empirical data. The use of OSTA is being conducted in parallel with the HCF to understand organizations and better manage their portfolios to achieve their maximum benefits.

4 Conclusion

In this paper we have argued that the Project Portfolio Management domain has aspects that make research difficult and we considered and discussed the use of the developed OSTA to overcome some of these issues. We adapted the approach to human interaction design, calling it HCF for managing IT portfolios.

Our tentative conclusion is that OSTA is an effective framework for the analysis of literature, research question formulation, research design and data collection and analysis. However, this approach requires a better understanding of organizations through analysing PACT. This means that organizations are better learning their current portfolio through analysing, their people, activities they are undertaking and in which context and the technology used to communicate. We also incorporated project management process groups which is an efficient method to explain how or what organizations are doing within this framework. And furthermore, to help organisations better define and set an achievable desired state and accordingly develop an action plan.

The contribution of this paper is that it presents a means for managing IT portfolio domains. It is too early to claim practical contributions however, OSTA is an effective management analysis framework in parallel use with HCF in managing IT portfolios, particularly when well supported by new data, information and knowledge management systems.

This research suggests a number of areas for further development. First, we speculate that PPM is an example of a class of problematic, complex phenomena of interest to the IS discipline. The use of OSTA in parallel with HCF seems to offer a useful conceptual framework for research in PPM so it may offer the same to other problem areas in the class. Second, the definition of the relationship between concepts in OSTA and HCF has not yet begun. Lastly, there is a need for research to build the evidence-based for general HCF and management action across the domain.