What I Learned About Project Management in 9 Hours of Flying (Houston–Gatwick)

It was 2008.

I had just walked out of the Presidents Meeting in The Woodlands, Texas. A meeting convened by the company's President and CEO. In the room: global vice presidents, division presidents, and a select group of key executives. Approximately 50 people.

A company operating in more than 80 countries. An in-person meeting. An hourly cost that was difficult to ignore.

On the agenda, one critical item:

Deciding which projects would enter the following year's budget.

The documentation was flawless. Financial models. Return ratios. Sensitivity analyses.

Everything appeared rational.

But nine hours later, on the flight from Houston to London Gatwick, staring out the window, I could not stop thinking:

Are we selecting the best projects — or simply the ones that fit best in a spreadsheet?

At the time, I did not have a structured answer.

Today I do.

It is called Portfolio Management.

The Problem Is Not Execution. It Is Selection.

According to the Project Management Institute, a portfolio is the collection of projects and programs managed collectively to achieve the organization's strategic objectives.

But beyond the formal definition, in executive terms it means something far simpler:

Making the right decisions before executing brilliantly.

Because here is the uncomfortable reality:

20% of projects are waste.

And strategic alignment accounts for up to 80% of the variance in organizational performance.

This is not a technical problem. It is a problem of strategic coherence.

What I Understood at 35,000 Feet

In that meeting in Texas, we were making project decisions with financial rigor.

But what was genuinely missing was not more analysis.

It was a structured framework connecting:

Strategy → Priorities → Investment → Execution → Results.

That is Portfolio Management.

It is not bureaucracy. It is not another committee. It is not a sophisticated dashboard.

It is the discipline that closes the gap between strategy and execution.

And above all, it is the mechanism that compels senior leadership to make explicit decisions about what NOT to do.

Because every approved project is an implicit trade-off against another.

Strategic Project Management — What It Actually Means

Most organizations invest heavily in improving project execution.

Very few invest the same effort in improving project selection.

And yet, the greatest impact occurs before the kickoff.

In the upcoming articles in this series, I will cover:

• How to structure a practical Portfolio Management model.


• How to prevent the budget process from becoming a political negotiation.


• How to engage the most complex stakeholders: Business Sponsors and senior leadership.


• How to shift the conversation from "approving projects" to "executing strategy."

Because true strategic Project Management begins long before the project exists.

And sometimes, the best decisions are not made in the boardroom.

I understood it while looking out the window of an airplane.