Case 03 of 10

Multi-team Delivery Portfolio

Several large projects sharing one pool of specialists. I planned and oversaw their delivery.

• My part: Managed (managed the project and its delivery)
• Role: Associate Project Manager
• Where: IT Research & Development, Islington College
• 50+ people coordinated
• 5+ large-scale projects

Product visuals

Illustrative mockups and conceptual diagrams, not production screenshots:

• Roadmap (illustrative mockup): Every project on one timeline, grouped by client type. Projects and dates are samples.
• Timeline (illustrative mockup): One project as a Gantt chart, with the feasibility and estimate gate before work is committed.
• Allocation (illustrative mockup): Specialist teams across concurrent projects: the view behind accepting new work.
• Status (illustrative mockup): Every project's status and next milestone, for stakeholders.
• Coordination (conceptual diagram): Clients on one side, specialist teams on the other, connected through one plan.

The problem

Several large projects for educational institutions, marketing organisations and IT offices ran at once and drew on the same frontend, backend, QA, DevOps and database specialists. Two decisions sat with me: which projects to accept, and how to allocate people so every project kept moving.

My responsibility

• Project feasibility and effort estimation.
• Portfolio roadmap and timeline planning.
• Resource allocation across 7+ specialist teams.
• Scope definition and delivery oversight.

Decisions and contributions

Establish feasibility and effort estimates before accepting a commitment, so project scope matched the people available.

• Estimate before accepting, matching scope to each client's goals and requirements.
• One portfolio roadmap across all projects, so a decision on one showed its effect on the others.

Working with engineering, QA and stakeholders

• Coordinated 50+ cross-functional members across frontend, backend, QA, DevOps and database teams.
• Stakeholder and cross-functional communication, aligning scope with each client's business goals and technical requirements.

Challenges and trade-offs

"Not yet" up front over overload later: projects were accepted only after they had been estimated.

Outcomes

• 5+ large-scale, multi-tenant projects planned and overseen.
• 50+ people coordinated across 7+ specialised teams.
• Portfolio roadmaps covering tasks, timelines, milestones and resource allocation across all systems.