I've been given the task to create a method to weigh each project within our organization. This single value will tell upper management how much effort will be required to manage the project, and when combined with other project values, can indicate if a manager is currently overbooked or not. Is there an accepted best practice that tries to identify project capacity? Is there a general view of how many projects is too many? We currently run between four and eight projects per manager and often find ourselves reacting to a lot things going on around us.

Thanks!!

My guess would be to take a look at some heuristics on the relative project size.  Perhaps number of use cases and the complexity of those use cases?  Or test scenarios.... something that is 'known fact' about the project which you can then place some 'value' on the relative size/weight.  Other areas may be the number of resources, project budget, etc....

Other items to consider is the Project Management style used on a project.  I'm just throwing stuff out here - but - if the average project manager operates like this...

1) Holds 30 minute standing meetings each day to coordinate team activitites

2) Holds 60 minute status meeting each week to assess progress

3) Holds 60 minute steering committee meeing each week to report progress, issues..etc.

4) Spends 60 minutes a day updating issues, risks, handling calls...influencing others.

5) Spends 120 minutes a week prepping for #1, #2, #3

Well - right there- you have about 8 hours of PM work on a single project.  Assuming that the project is clicking along well... ;)

DSteele,

Agile does a great job of just what you are asking for.  Simply put, with Agile, you determine what needs to be done and quantify the work by units of effort.  Each team has a capacity of potential units and you match the two to determine what can be done in the timeframe available.  When the timeframe expires, you are done.  Of course, you can also use the same methodology and use your capacity to finish the work. 

For PM-managed Agile efforts, I would recommend SCRUM http://www.controlchaos.com/old-site/implem.htm and http://www.controlchaos.com/resources/.  The units of effort in SCRUM are sprints and you have a Scrum Master for each team.  It is more controlled and a way to deliver what you are being asked to deliver.