Best Practices for Work Intake Demand Management

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Work Intake (also known as demand management) is perhaps the most critical component of project portfolio management because it determines the composition of the portfolio (in terms of quality, value, balance, and resource utilization). Organizations with a broken work intake process will have a compromised project portfolio and likely suffer from poor project execution. In a previous article we provided a holistic overview of the topic of work intake and in this article we will share our best practices for implementing an effective work intake (demand management) process.

Work intake (demand management) is the process for creating, evaluating, and dispositioning new project requests. Most organizations face the problem of having far more demand for new projects than they have the budget or resources to take on those projects. Work intake is the front door to the project portfolio that helps select the right project work for the organization.

Work Intake Best Practice #1: define what a project is (IN scope and OUT of scope)
Work Intake Best Practice #2: define project tiers to improve demand management
Work Intake Best Practice #3: define what information is most critical to leadership
Work Intake Best Practice #4: define the simplest process to prepare for the governance review
Work Intake Best Practice #5: incorporate cross-functional reviews
Work Intake Best Practice #6: right size governance (tiered governance)
Work Intake Best Practice #7: empower leadership to say NO
Work Intake Best Practice #8: approve proposals in batches
Work Intake Best Practice #9: incorporate prioritization
Best Practice #10: incorporate resource management
Best Practice #11: communicate the process
Best Practice #12: process accountability