Author: Jac Goorden

Jac Goorden is cofounder and managing consultant at Bicore, specializing in innovation portfolio management where he is responsible for the FLIGHTMAP innovation suite. Jac has 25 years of experience in management, consulting and coaching in high-tech R&D, with a keen eye for processes as well as people issues. He worked in large companies like Philips, IBM, DAF, Unilever, and Océ, in small high-tech industries, and in top university research and education. He is a regular speaker at conferences and MBA programs about innovation portfolio management. His most recent focus is on ESG impact planning.

Improving the link between project and portfolio management

By now, it is pretty much established that project management and portfolio management are different processes with different characteristics. See this earlier blog post about that.However, there is an overlap in information that is relevant for both processes. Together with Eindhoven University of Technology and 7 industry partners, we have just completed a research project… Read More Improving the link between project and portfolio management

October 1, 2020 Jac GoordenLeave a comment

Dramatic shifts or stable allocation of R&D resources?

This is the time of year to check if the annual R&D budgeting process has set up the organization for success. One question kept bugging me from a recent executive portfolio review I attended. The R&D exec asked me: “We have reallocated 10% of R&D budget across business lines. Is this the right move?” In… Read More Dramatic shifts or stable allocation of R&D resources?

January 26, 2018 Jac Goorden1 Comment

2018: Roadmapping meets Portfolio Management

Just before the start of the year, Bicore has moved into a new office overlooking Eindhoven Airport. This triggered a lot of debate about the name of our Portfolio Management solution, FLIGHTMAP, again. This name was selected because it illustrates that a plan is needed to guide an organization to its goals (strategic objectives), but… Read More 2018: Roadmapping meets Portfolio Management

January 3, 2018January 3, 2018 Jac Goorden2 Comments

New rules for utility portfolio management with data analytics

How utilities are becoming more innovative Most posts on this blog describe innovation portfolio management. Portfolio’s of innovation ventures, new product & business development projects, and R&D require frequent updates. In the past two years, I have also witnessed the dynamics of other portfolio’s change, in more traditional sectors such as real estate and utilities. In… Read More New rules for utility portfolio management with data analytics

November 19, 2017November 19, 2017 Jac GoordenLeave a comment

No bubbles in the boardroom?

In the past three weeks, I was in three board room meetings to support portfolio reviews. In all three cases, the question came up how to best start a portfolio review, and the temptation was to start with a bubble plot showing all portfolio candidates. While this is a good view to start with in an analyst setting,… Read More No bubbles in the boardroom?

October 29, 2017 Jac GoordenLeave a comment

The end of PPM as we knew it, and what’s next?

Finally In 2014 we have seen confirmation that portfolio management (PFM) is a process and a discipline in itself, and not an add-on to Project and Program Management (PM). Although a lot of important knowhow and best practices are gathered under headings such as P3M (Project, Program, Portfolio Management), the implicit grouping of these topics… Read More The end of PPM as we knew it, and what’s next?

December 24, 2014December 24, 2014 Jac Goorden2 Comments

Seven dimensions of portfolio management

Why portfolio management is inherently complex This week, I discussed the various reasons why portfolio management is tough to implement with two different FLIGHTMAP clients. Where one of the talks focused on the behaviour side (the role of politics, intuition, culture), the second one was more about the inherent (almost mathematical) complexity. In our view… Read More Seven dimensions of portfolio management

August 14, 2014 Jac Goorden4 Comments

Three ways to ruin new business programs

Business innovation as the growth option In today’s search for growth, most organizations realize the importance of developing new business. Without growth, there is very little room for development, and growing through acquisitions is at best imperfect, especially in terms of value creation. The main challenge of today’s enterprise is not whether to focus on both running the… Read More Three ways to ruin new business programs

April 21, 2014 Jac Goorden1 Comment

Putting a value on innovation: the CFO perspective

The growing importance of innovation requires new ways to value the R&D asset and project portfolio. Novel tools offer the right combination of actual costs, risks, and business case forecasting for the CFO to do this. This leads to improved decision-making about innovation as investment. CEO’s and CTO’s agree with this view In a recent global… Read More Putting a value on innovation: the CFO perspective

March 18, 2014 Jac GoordenLeave a comment

Science update: how to kill bad projects

Sometimes, it is comforting to see scientific confirmation for lessons learnt in practice. This happened for portfolio management in the March 2014 issue of the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), one of the most renown research journals in this domain. German researchers Behrens and Ernst found the best way to support “kill” decisions for… Read More Science update: how to kill bad projects

March 8, 2014March 18, 2014 Jac GoordenLeave a comment