Why Project Portfolio Management Software Falls Short

Laura Lin / October 8, 2024

Project portfolio management (PPM) software is marketed as the ultimate solution for managing multiple projects. It promises to provide leaders with real-time insights, track progress, and ensure that all project portfolios align with strategic objectives. Yet, if you’ve ever used project portfolio management tools, you’ve probably felt the frustration when they don't quite live up to expectations.

As someone who has managed complex project portfolios, I often find that traditional project portfolio management software only scratches the surface, especially when it comes to the needs of leadership. Leaders want the bigger picture—a view that encompasses not just project progress but also how resources are allocated, how different projects are interconnected, and how all of this ties back to strategic goals. Unfortunately, most project portfolio management solutions don’t deliver this.

Let's dive into the core problem with many project portfolio management tools and why I believe Notion—a tool not traditionally known as a project management tool—actually delivers more value for leaders managing portfolios.

The Limitations of Traditional Project Portfolio Management Software

Most project portfolio management (PPM) software aims to streamline project planning, manage resources, and ensure that project performance aligns with your organization's strategic objectives. While this sounds perfect in theory, here’s where they typically fall short:

1. Confined Analytics

One major flaw of most project portfolio management solutions is their limited ability to analyze project performance. Yes, they offer reporting tools, but those are often predefined and rigid. Leaders often have to manipulate the data or sift through multiple dashboards to find answers to complex questions like, "What is the true impact of this delayed project on our overall portfolio?"

2. Predefined Questions

Project portfolio management software typically offers key performance indicators (KPIs) like resource allocation, budget tracking, and project milestones. While these metrics are essential features, they often don't provide insights into broader strategic objectives. Leaders need more than just basic analytics—they need to know how each project aligns with long-term goals and whether certain projects should be accelerated or paused to achieve those goals. Unfortunately, most PPM tools are ill-equipped to answer these types of questions without significant customization.

3. Lack of Flexibility

Every project is different, and different projects often require various project management methodologies. Some may follow agile project management, while others use more traditional approaches like Gantt charts. Most project portfolio management tools are too rigid to support multiple work methods within the same portfolio. This lack of flexibility can make it difficult to manage complex project portfolios, where resource planning and capacity planning differ from one project to the next.

Leaders Don’t Just Need Data—They Need Insights

As a project manager or a leader overseeing multiple projects, you don’t just need to know whether a project is on time or within budget—you need to understand how all the moving parts of your portfolio come together to achieve your strategic goals.

For example, leaders may ask questions like:

"What’s the ROI for this set of projects, and how does that compare to other ongoing projects?"
"Can we reallocate resources from low-priority projects to more strategic ones?"
"How does this project affect our resource capacity across the entire project portfolio?"

Most project portfolio management solutions don’t allow you to ask these nuanced questions. Instead, they’re built to track progress and manage resources based on pre-configured reporting tools. While useful for managing individual projects, they often fall short when it comes to portfolio-level insights, making it difficult to optimize resource allocation or project planning on a broader scale.

Why I’ve Never Found a Satisfactory PPM Tool

I’ve used a variety of PPM software solutions—from high-end, enterprise-level tools to more agile project management software. Each tool promises real-time insights, advanced resource allocation, and a clear view of project data. But, no matter how sophisticated the ppm tools were, I was always left piecing together different analytics from multiple dashboards just to answer a simple question: Are we on track to meet our strategic goals?

Here’s why traditional project portfolio management tools fall short for me:

Inflexible Customization: You can’t easily customize views or data fields to answer leadership’s specific questions. Want to show project portfolios grouped by their impact on the business objectives rather than their timeline? Good luck doing that with most PPM software.
Over-reliance on Traditional Metrics: Tools like Gantt charts and resource allocation are great, but they don’t always reflect the high-level strategic concerns of a leader. For example, "What’s the expected market share from this new product launch?" or "Which projects can we pause to free up resources?" These questions require more than simple task management or budget tracking.

Why Notion is a Game-Changer for Project Portfolio Management

Enter Notion—a tool that, surprisingly, isn’t traditionally marketed as a project portfolio management solution, yet it solves almost all of the issues I’ve had with traditional PPM tools.

1. Complete Customization

With Notion, you can create custom databases, track projects, link them together, and roll up data in ways that make sense for your organization. Want to track strategic goals alongside project milestones and resource capacity? No problem. Want to group projects by their potential ROI or market impact? You can do that too. Notion allows you to manage project portfolios in a way that actually helps you answer leadership’s specific questions.

2. Rolling Up Data for a Big-Picture View

One of the most significant pain points I’ve faced is the inability to roll up data across multiple projects easily. Traditional PPM tools often force you into predefined views. In Notion, you can roll up data across various project portfolios, offering a big-picture view of progress, resource management, and potential risks, all in one customizable dashboard. This is crucial when trying to make data-driven decisions across a complex project portfolio.

3. Real-Time Collaboration

Project managers, resource managers, and leadership need to collaborate seamlessly, especially when managing resource capacity across multiple projects. In Notion, teams can work together in real-time, making updates, adding comments, and refining project data as needed. Whether it’s reassigning tasks, optimizing resource allocation, or adjusting timelines, Notion allows for a level of collaboration that many PPM tools struggle to provide.

4. Flexibility Across Methodologies

Notion supports multiple work methods, whether you prefer agile project management, waterfall methodologies, or a hybrid approach. This flexibility is essential for teams that manage different types of projects under one portfolio. You can easily shift between project management methodologies within Notion without losing the overall view of your portfolio.

5. Managing Project, Documentation, and Communication All in One

Unlike many PPM tools, Notion doesn’t silo project management from documentation and communication. You can store everything from project charters to meeting notes within the same system. This makes it easy to present a holistic view of your entire project portfolio, something that most traditional tools can’t offer.

How Notion Helps Answer Leadership’s Questions

Leadership often needs answers to questions that don’t fall neatly into predefined categories. For example, "How does pushing this project back impact our resource allocation across the portfolio?" or "What’s the financial planning impact of accelerating this product development cycle?"

In Notion, you can create custom views and roll-ups that let you:

See project progress in real-time.
Analyze project performance by comparing current and future projects.
Track how resource allocation shifts as different projects move through their development phases.

Notion’s flexibility allows you to manage project portfolios in a way that directly answers these types of high-level questions.

Final Thoughts: Choose the Right Tool for the Job

If you’re tired of project portfolio management software that limits your view, consider trying a more flexible solution like Notion. While it may not be the traditional PPM tool you were expecting, its ability to customize, collaborate, and offer real-time insights across your entire project portfolio makes it an invaluable asset.

If you’re ready to manage your projects with flexibility and clarity, let’s connect. I can help you customize Notion to meet your team’s unique needs and help you finally get the answers you’ve been looking for.

Ready to see the bigger picture? Schedule a consultation today.