Economic uncertainty has a way of making even the most buttoned-up project portfolios feel like a chaotic mess. Budgets tighten, priorities shift overnight, and projects that seemed like sure bets suddenly get a hard side-eye from leadership. But while turbulence can throw an organization off course, smart portfolio management helps leaders navigate the chaos with clarity and confidence.
Gartner’s Program and Portfolio Management Practices for Turbulent Times report highlights how strategic portfolio management isn’t just about keeping the lights on—it’s about building resilience. The key? A deliberate approach to assessing portfolio health, prioritizing with agility, and tracking value delivery in a way that actually means something.
Let’s break it down.
Assessing portfolio health: Find the weak links before they break
A portfolio is only as strong as its weakest link—something you don’t want to discover after you’ve already poured months of effort, budget, and people into a project that’s quietly dragging everything else down. In uncertain times, when every dollar and resource matters, the last thing you need is a blind spot in your portfolio.
Maybe it’s a legacy project that keeps getting renewed because “we’ve always done it this way.” Or a shiny new initiative that looked great on a pitch deck but has yet to deliver real impact. These weak links don’t just waste resources—they actively pull attention away from the projects that truly drive value. The longer they linger, the harder it becomes to course-correct.
The good news? You can stay ahead of these issues with regular health checks and smart decision-making. A well-managed portfolio isn’t just a collection of projects—it’s a system designed to maximize impact, even when conditions are uncertain.
What to do
- Run a portfolio health check. A quick SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) can surface misaligned projects, resource drains, and hidden risks.
- Reevaluate strategic alignment. If a project isn’t directly contributing to your company’s shifting business goals, it might be time to pivot—or cut it loose.
- Identify low-value projects. If it’s sucking up resources and delivering minimal ROI, ask the hard question: why are we still doing this?
Gartner says
The report emphasizes the importance of investment evaluation criteria—which is a fancy way of saying: don’t just fund projects because they’ve always been funded. Regularly reassess where your money, people, and time are going to ensure your portfolio remains strong and adaptable.
Bottom line: The best project portfolios aren’t the ones with the most projects—they’re the ones with the right projects. Keep yours in check, and you’ll avoid wasting resources on initiatives that aren’t pulling their weight.
Prioritization that flexes when you need it most
Annual planning sounds great in theory—until you realize you’re locked into decisions made six months ago that no longer make sense. Markets shift, budgets tighten, and leadership priorities change. If your portfolio can’t adapt, you risk wasting resources on outdated initiatives while missing opportunities to invest in what truly matters.
Agility isn’t just for development teams. Portfolio managers need flexible prioritization to stay ahead of shifting business needs and ensure that resources are always focused on the highest-impact work. The key is to move beyond rigid, one-and-done planning cycles and build a system that allows for continuous reassessment and adjustment.
What to do
- Use a Weighted Scoring Model. Rank initiatives based on factors like risk, strategic importance, and resource availability. This keeps decision-making grounded in logic, not just the loudest voice-in-the-room influence.
- Ditch fixed annual planning. Move to rolling prioritization cycles so you’re adjusting your portfolio as business needs evolve.
- Revisit priorities regularly. Set a recurring review cadence (quarterly, monthly, or even bi-weekly) to make sure you’re still investing in the right work. Revisit your yearly OKRs to ensure they still align with where the business needs to go.
Gartner says
The report underscores dynamic reprioritization as a key success factor—meaning flexibility wins when resources get tight, and market conditions shift. Organizations that continuously reassess their priorities are better equipped to make data-driven decisions rather than reacting to chaos.
Bottom line: Prioritization isn’t about setting a plan in stone—it’s about building a system that allows you to pivot when it matters most.
Tracking and communicating value (without the fluff)
When uncertainty creeps in, leadership’s patience for vague progress updates wears thin. No one wants to hear that projects are “on track”—they want to see proof that the portfolio is delivering real business impact. And if you can’t provide that clarity, expect tough questions about budgets, resources, and priorities.
Value tracking isn’t just a reporting exercise—it’s how you keep stakeholders confident and ensure your team stays focused on the work that actually moves the needle. The key is to go beyond surface-level updates and create a direct line of sight from portfolio investments to business outcomes—without drowning in spreadsheets and status reports.
What to do
- Define clear success metrics. Track meaningful indicators like ROI, resource utilization, and customer impact—the real drivers of business value.
- Make status updates meaningful. Ditch the generic “everything’s on track” updates. Instead, highlight outcomes over activity: what has changed, what’s delivering value, and what needs attention.
- Connect the dots between metrics and strategy. Show leadership how each project ties back to business goals—whether it’s revenue growth, cost savings, or customer experience improvements.
Gartner says
Providing a clear line of sight from operational metrics to business outcomes leads to smarter decision-making and better buy-in from stakeholders.
Try this
Implement OnePlan to get live insights into project value, resource allocation, and strategic impact, helping teams communicate success without the reporting headaches. Even if you’re not using an advanced platform, a well-structured dashboard beats scattered reports that no one reads.
Bottom line: If you can’t clearly articulate the value your portfolio is delivering, don’t be surprised when leadership starts making cuts. Use tools like OnePlan to track, visualize, and communicate impact—so you’re always making the case for the work that matters most.
Taking control when everything feels out of control
Economic uncertainty may be out of your hands, but how do you manage your portfolio through it? That’s where you make the difference between barely staying afloat and driving real impact.
Effective portfolio management in turbulent times isn’t about scrambling to keep up—it’s about owning the process, making informed decisions, and staying ahead of the chaos. You create a system that adapts, aligns, and delivers by continuously assessing portfolio health, embracing agile prioritization, and transparently tracking value.
The best portfolio leaders don’t just react to change—they anticipate it, plan for it, and use it as an opportunity to strengthen their teams and strategies. Uncertainty may be inevitable, but a disciplined, flexible, and value-driven portfolio? That’s entirely in your control.
