Strategic Programme and Portfolio Management

The course focuses on the management of programmes of projects and the management of project portfolios within single and multiple organisations. Particular emphasis will be given to the strategy and governance of multiple projects for achieving strategic and policy goals in organisations. The course covers the following areas.

1.Programme management - Developing a strategic view of projects and groups of projects. (lineages, programmes, portfolios).

2. Portfolio management - Developing a systems-level view on a group of projects and programmes from an organisational or public-sector governance angle.

Sessions will be based on teaching cases and examples from international practices developed by course instructors and active engagement of the course participants contributing their experiences to the class discussions. The course is focusing on projects from a variety of fields and sectors, for example, urban infrastructure, technology development, and organisational change.

Knowledge:

1. The student has conceptual knowledge of basic principles, ideas and concepts of programme and portfolio management.
2. Students will develop an appreciation of the need to move beyond the traditional project management ‘toolkit approach’ based on predictable and standardised execution processes to a more strategic direction-setting, prioritisation and coordination approach.

Skills:

1. Using the frameworks presented in the course, students will be able to assess the unique challenges of programmes and portfolios in their organisations is involved and design the appropriate approach to manage them successfully.
2. The course also aims to facilitate the development of skills necessary to operate in internationally diverse working environments.

The course will be carried out in four full day sessions, with individual and group work taking place concurrently. Dates of the sessions are outlined in the course timetable and are envisioned to take place in NTNU facilities in Oslo and Trondheim. The learning material will comprise a selection of teaching cases and literature that students will be asked to engage with in advance of the sessions. Classroom sessions will include case-based work, group work and discussions of examples to maximise the learning experience of the group. Between the two full-day session blocks, students will engage with the material through self-study and developing their assignments. To meet learning objective 4, the teaching cases and class discussions will have an international scope, and the primary working language of the course will be English. However, some sessions, small group work discussions and student assignments will be in Norwegian.

Compulsory activities

Engagement with allocated pre-reading

Class attendance and participation

Self-study and development of individual assignments