Why Portfolio Design is Essential

There is a real pressure to change and transform. The driver for some organisations is survival. Others need to be able to compete more effectively. Some want to increase market share and grow. Whatever is at the root of the need for change, organisations find themselves with an infinite number of programmes to deliver, and with limited resources.

So where do you start? How can you go about prioritising and sequencing projects which all seem to be important? Often Portfolio Design is taken for granted, when actually, establishing a well put together and structured portfolio of projects is a real art.

The Challenges of Managing a Portfolio

Achieving the right balance of investment, pace of change and scale of change is never easy. Luckily, we have years of experience in setting up portfolios for success and getting the framework right to manage delivery. We can help to utilise available resource to identify, prioritise and sequence the initiatives which will have the highest impact.

Our Approach to Portfolio Design

We turn theory into action. We work collaboratively with you to ensure your strategy is translated into an actionable portfolio of change projects/programmes that create true business value and impact.

We help structure, shape, prioritise and sequence a change portfolio into realistic and bite-sized chunks. The key for us is to make sure that your change portfolio is aligned with your business strategy. Once we’re clear on the benefit each programme delivers, we can help you identify projects that aren’t delivering, and which need to be reviewed or stopped. Underpinning our support is a layer of light governance to ensure clear ownership, accountability and effective ways of working.

Strategic Alignment

You need peace of mind that every project and initiative is strategically aligned with long-term business objectives. We can partner with executive teams to review corporate vision, establish clear priorities, and align operational activities for measurable, enterprise-wide results. With a focus on strategy execution, we help you navigate disruption, outperform competitors, and deliver sustainable value.

Portfolio Structuring

Optimise your investment of time, resources, and cost. We empower leaders to structure and manage their strategic portfolio for maximum impact, ensuring balanced risk, alignment with business goals, and clear ownership at every stage. Our consultants use proven methodologies to prioritise projects, remove duplication, and create transparency, enabling real-time portfolio governance and rapid response to market changes.

Governance and Controls

It is vital to establish clear understanding and buy-in to the portfolio prioritisation process from the executive team. But at Nine Feet Tall we believe the portfolio can be put at risk from too much or too little governance. That’s why we believe “just enough governance” is the winning formula. Just enough structure to give control, just enough governance to create tight and consistent management information, but not too much that Project Managers are weighed down by processes and the bureaucracy that follows.

Download our Portfolio Design and Management Guide

How do you set up your project portfolio for success? Different stakeholders will have different and often competing pressures which can affect prioritisation and sequencing. Download our guide “Just Enough Governance” to find the answers.

Portfolio Design and Management

Stakeholder Engagement

You need to accelerate your transformation by building buy-in and minimising burgeoning resistance at every organisational level. We specialise in stakeholder analysis, engagement planning, and executive communications to guide senior leaders through complex change, foster collaboration, and turn champions into drivers of successful outcomes.

Red, blue, yellow and white balloons floating up to a blue sky

Benefits Realisation

Ensure business value is delivered – and measured- throughout your transformation journey. Our consultancy defines and tracks benefits from planning to realisation, establishing metrics, accountability, and performance dashboards that empower leadership to demonstrate ROI, adapt initiatives, and sustain performance improvement over time.