On Saturday, I spoke at PMI’s KeepHoustonAgile conference on the topic of Portfolio Management.
The presentation discussed the role of the PMO as less about financials and governance, and more about accelerating throughput and enabling delivery though improved work-intake and project WIP management. Our session was well attended and it generated thoughtful discussion.
Perhaps the most inspiring takeaway from the conference, however, was not my well-received Portfolio Management presentation, but the conference location. The conference was held at the Houston Food Bank, which is an incredible operation that combines massive amounts of donated food from grocery stores with massive amounts of volunteer labor from local schools.
The result is food for the needy across 5 counties in Texas. 
The Food Bank helps to pay for the facility by renting out conference space within their building. In turn, the conference attendees get to look out to the factory floor through large windows and see all of this truly inspiring work happening.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can get involved with the Houston Food bank, visit www.houstonfoodbank.org
