A sponsor keeps launching projects outside the intake process. What should happen?
Uncontrolled portfolio entryMake unofficial commitments visible and apply the organization's authority and prioritization rules. Investigate why the intake process is bypassed and simplify it where it creates unnecessary delay.
What to do now
- Identify unrecorded initiatives and commitments
- Assess authority and resource impact
- Bring them into a valid portfolio decision
- Address the process weakness or repeated bypass
When to escalate
Escalate when
Unauthorized commitments create material funding or delivery exposure.
Who decides
The portfolio decision authority
Example
The portfolio includes a department-led initiative before allocating the same specialists elsewhere.
Mistake to avoid
Ignoring unofficial work while blaming approved projects for capacity shortages.
Prevent a repeat
Review whether active commitments fit available capacity and current priorities rather than just tracking project counts.
Suggested ApprovedFlow setup
- Projects
- Resources
- Documents
- Approvals
Use project and capacity records to support portfolio decisions, then record approved priorities and consequences explicitly. See the platform
Related cases
- How do we assess a new urgent project without derailing everything?Urgent intake trade-off
- How do we maintain a useful project inventory?Unreliable portfolio baseline
- A stakeholder wants to add work directly to the sprint. Who handles it?Uncontrolled sprint work intake
- A senior stakeholder bypasses the project manager and assigns work directly. What should happen?Uncontrolled instruction channel