Summary

The best-practice approach to planning an IT portfolio provides a strategic focus and results in better, faster, and more competitive decisionsdecisions that are aligned with the organization's overall and IT strategies. Improved communication and organizational buyin are intrinsic in the process, reducing or eliminating costly battles and deadlocks. Is a formal approach that embodies this best practice right for every organization? The Gartner Group reports that the five most common reasons customers cited for not using a more formal approach are as follows:

• The economic consequences of a suboptimal decision are too low to justify such an investment.

• The number of choices or criteria being examined is too low to justify the approach.

• Insufficient IT skills or committed resources are available to make a difference.

• Because of political or technical biases, senior managers do not support a formalized approach.

• Decision makers are reluctant to commit to a formalized approach because of cultural or organizational issues.

The report also suggests that enterprises will need to determine when these reasons are simply excuses for making a better-informed decision, as opposed to sound business "exceptions to the rule."