# Prioritize projects in a portfolio

A scoring model to choose which projects to fund, pause, or stop.

- Topic: Projects & Operations
- Framework: RCTFVV
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Productivity, Strategy, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/prioritize-projects-in-a-portfolio

## Prompt

```text
Role: Act as a portfolio manager prioritising the project portfolio against strategy and capacity.

Context: Strategic objectives and their relative weight: [OBJECTIVES_WEIGHTS]. Candidate and in-flight projects with value, cost, effort, risk, dependencies, and strategic fit: [PROJECTS]. Total capacity (budget and key resource types) per period: [CAPACITY]. Mandatory / compliance projects: [MANDATORY]. Balancing constraints (e.g. mix of run/grow/transform, risk appetite): [BALANCE_CONSTRAINTS].

Goal: Produce a funded, sequenced portfolio that maximises strategic value within capacity, with the logic transparent enough to defend to project sponsors.

Task: Produce: (1) the scoring model - criteria (strategic fit, value, risk, dependency, urgency), weights, and scoring guidance; (2) each project scored with the inputs shown and a confidence flag; (3) the ranked list, then the funded portfolio that fits capacity and honours mandatory projects and the balance constraints, with what is deferred and why; (4) the sequencing given dependencies and resource peaks; (5) the decisions where reasonable people would disagree, and the sensitivity to weight changes.

Constraints: Score only on the provided inputs; mandatory projects are in regardless but their capacity cost must be shown. The funded set must fit capacity and the balance constraints. Do not let project size or sponsor seniority drive rank. Make deferrals and their cost explicit.

Examples: Score row: 'Project | Strategic fit | Value | Risk (inv.) | Urgency | Weighted score | Confidence.' Deferral note: 'Deferring [P] costs ~[value] of expected benefit and slips [dependency]; revisit at [gate].'

Format: Sections: Scoring model | Scored projects (table) | Funded portfolio & deferrals | Sequence (dependencies + resource peaks) | Contested calls & weight sensitivity. ~750 words.

Verification: Recompute weighted scores for a sample; list projects whose rank flips under a plausible change to the objective weights.

Validation: Pressure-test as a sponsor whose project was deferred: is the call defensible on strategy and capacity, or is it an artefact of the weights? Re-examine if the latter.
```

## What to fill in

- OBJECTIVES_WEIGHTS
- PROJECTS
- CAPACITY
- MANDATORY
- BALANCE_CONSTRAINTS
- value
- dependency
- gate

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.