Project Prioritization: 5 Steps to Identify ROI-Driven Opportunities

Sometimes it feels like you’re standing at the foot of Mt. Everest, sifting through your backlog of promising projects. But what if it was possible to identify those ROI-driven opportunities without lifting a finger?

Sounds too good to be true, right? But that’s the premise for all great tools and the teams behind them, and edison365 is no different. I’ll keep things short and sweet today, so here’s what you can expect to take from this guide:

• How edison365 supports project prioritization.
• 3 reasons automation is a winner for project prioritization.
• How to prioritize your own projects (5-step project selection framework)

What is Project Prioritization? 🔎

Project prioritization is deciding which projects align with your business goals. It’s the act of prioritizing your projects based on alignment, risk factors, and feasibility, along with key costs and benefits.

These are the cornerstones to solid project prioritization, and most project managers only move forward with project proposals after assessing these different areas.

Project prioritization plays an important role in Project Portfolio Management (PPM) too, giving Project Management Organizations (PMOs) a sense of clarity over their wider portfolio, and the direction they should head in.

There are also various methods and criteria for project prioritization, including the project payback period method, scoring models, and many more.

Want to learn more about these ways of working? Check out Simplilearn’s guide to 11 Project Selection Methods for a deeper look at these concepts.

How to Prioritize Projects? (A Simple Framework) ⚙️

To prioritize the right projects, you need a concrete framework for handpicking the best opportunities. A well-rounded criteria covers everything from strategic alignment to value generation, feasibility, risks, and urgency.

To keep things super simple, here’s another way to understand these pillars of project prioritization, and their core meaning:

• Strategic Alignment: Does this meet our bigger picture?
• Value Generation: What will this project really accomplish?
• Feasibility: Can we actually carry this project out?
• Risks: Is this project worth the possible downside?
• Urgency: Is now the right time for this project?

To get you started, I’ve created a simple five-step framework explaining the purpose of each consideration and the questions you should ask. It’s a foolproof way to approach project selection moving forward. Let’s jump in…

Step #1: The Importance of Strategic Alignment 🎯

Project prioritization starts with strategic alignment. There must be some strategic basis for why you prioritize a certain project. It’s how well-placed your projects are to meet the demands of your business, your stakeholders, and your current focus.

In a nutshell, strategic alignment in project prioritization is all about aligning your projects with three key components of your business:

• The mission of your business.
• The vision for your business.
• Your current strategic objectives.

See, by aligning your efforts strategically, not only do you guarantee stronger buy-in from key stakeholders, but you are moving your business in a meaningful direction, and that’s paramount to any project!

Ask Yourself These Questions

• Does this support our long-term vision or only our short-term goals?
• Will this project contribute to efficiency or growth?
• Does this project support our current core objectives?

We’ve covered the topic of Misalignment in Project Management in greater detail. Something you should familiarize yourself with to dive a little deeper into the impacts of neglecting this step in the project prioritization framework.

Step #2: Identifying Value Generation 🔎

Value generation ensures you’re on the right track to delivering a positive impact with a given project. It’s an approach that says, “These benefits must outweigh this investment and effort”.

Realistically, any project that offers very little return for your hard-earned money and time isn’t so worthwhile. Now, this may sound obvious on the surface, but around 90% of all large-scale projects go over budget.

So, don’t let me be the one to say, “I told you so!” by neglecting the value generation of a project when choosing your next opportunity.

Ask Yourself These Questions

• What problems does this solve, and who will benefit?
• Is the impact significant enough to justify the investment?
• Will it increase revenue or reduce costs?

But what does ‘meaningful impact’ really look like, anyway? Well, it could be financial (profitability), operational (enhanced efficiency), or even customer-oriented (improved experience), the list really does go on.

But for clarity, remember to always pair your projects with value-generating reasons as a non-negotiable to the selection of any project.

Step #3: Understanding Your Project’s Feasibility 📊

Feasibility is something that cannot be overlooked. It’s how you determine if a project can realistically be achieved. It’s that ‘hard look in the mirror’ kind of mentality your business must have in the project prioritization process.

“Is this a project we like to think we can achieve or is this something we most likely can achieve?” See, most businesses set goals with their eyes closed. Not a great idea!

But evaluating project feasibility early on can make all the difference. Why? Because if resources are spread too thinly, or your workforce lacks the expertise to make things happen in a timely manner, projects can fall from grace quickly.

And do you know what bad and great projects have in common? An equal potential for failure due to feasibility. A hard truth many project management professionals have had to learn over the years!

Ask Yourself These Questions:

• Do we have the talent, tools, or cash to make this project happen?
• Can this project be achieved within a feasible timeframe?
• How complex is it compared to other priorities?

These questions do not aim to discourage you from choosing a promising project but allow you to ground your decision-making on what’s realistically possible, i.e. improved project prioritization.

For a greater look at project feasibility, take a look at this list of the five components of a feasibility study by August Brown.

Step #4: Timing Is Everything for Project Prioritization ⌛

In many cases, your best project is the project that’s right for your business now. You can be presented with immense feasibility and value generation from a new opportunity, but timing is everything!

Some projects need to happen immediately, while others must wait. Why? Because things like market trends and business needs constantly evolve. Therefore, project prioritization is about placing your bets on the right project at the right time.

This step cannot be overlooked when mastering how to prioritize projects. It’s as important as feasibility, strategic alignment, and any other phase of this framework. To put it simply, great success is executed in a timely manner. Find the right time!

Ask Yourself These Questions

• What happens if we delay this project?
• Are there seasonal or industry-related reasons to act now?
• Is this project time-sensitive to external factors?

Remember, the right project is always the one that’s right for the here and now. That’s one of the biggest lessons to take from this project prioritization framework.

Step #5: Assessing Project Risk and Reward ⚠️

If there’s one thing all projects have in common, it’s that every project possesses some element of risk. An unavoidable degree of mishaps, setbacks, and failure that creeps into your plans!

The key here is to weigh up the potential rewards and benefits against the possible downside. Does the risk justify the opportunity? Is it manageable? It’s a simple question, but the decision can sometimes be the hardest one to make.

Now, these are conversations you might rather have when the time comes, but analyzing your risks earlier on during the project prioritization phase is the sensible choice. This ensures you’re never stepping into a minefield of project setbacks!

Ask Yourself These Questions

• Do we have a backup plan if things go wrong?
• What are the specific risks associated with this project?
• Does the reward outweigh the risk?

Although we’ve covered risk management last in this project selection framework, it holds just as much importance as the remaining four steps we’ve already covered. Each one of these steps should be carefully considered and well-planned.

Bringing It All Together: Free Scoring Template 🔢

To put this framework into real practice, I’ve developed a simple table for scoring each project based on the five categories. Projects with a higher rating should take priority.

With the right scoring, you eliminate the chance of poor project prioritization. I recommend involving multiple project managers in this exercise for clearer decisions. Below is an example of this project prioritization scoring template in action for a healthcare business.

How to prioritize projects in edison365?

There you have it! Choosing your best projects doesn’t have to be daunting after all. In fact, it can be both strategic and precise with the right approach.

Now, let’s turn our attention to project prioritization in edison365, explained through the incredible work our Professional Services team carried out for a customer whose existing setup needed improving.

Please note: To respect the confidentiality of our customers, we have left out any brand names associated with this story.

Messy Project Management Setup ❌

Last year, we worked with a leading healthcare provider in the United Kingdom. One that had some pretty outdated processes around project management. In our kick-off meeting, a few things became apparent:

• Approvals were often delayed and project execution was slow.
• Too much time is spent on manual tracking, approvals, and more.
• Poor decisions that were not backed by data.
• The typical lack of transparency and visibility is found with bad tools.

Put simply, it was a horrifying balancing act that relied on a way of working, that well, wasn’t working at all! The healthcare organization was left with no other option than to explore new platforms, and our partnership began. We had a gameplan, and enhancing just one process, but combining three!

A 3-in-1 Game-Changer 🚀

edison365 instantly improved the project prioritization of this healthcare organization, removing the need for inefficient and manual selection, and creating a three-spoke process automated all in one place.

Instead of a lengthy back-and-forth between project management teams and stakeholders, their workforce had access to a custom-built workflow capable of organizing new projects based on two risks and cost (two of the biggest factors in project prioritization).

It was important to me to understand the level of risk and budgets this customer could commit to for our Professional Services team to build a tailored and automated environment.

But it wasn’t automation that proved beneficial for the healthcare provider. edison365 created exceptional transparency and visibility over project approvals. Everyone could see what, why, and when projects were in the pipeline within edison365.

This unified governance over project prioritization meant this customer could do away with singular processes for small, medium, and large projects, and rely upon a sophisticated, streamlined system.

Finally with improved clarity came better decision-making. Now, projects were categorized accurately using automation, and resources, assigned tasks, and responsibilities could be better allocated to various projects as and when they moved through these workflows..