Visualizing Portfolio Flow (Or Lack Thereof)

You can’t improve what you can’t see. Improving flow at the portfolio level requires seeing it first. 

How do you see? A Portfolio-level Kanban is a common way to start seeing. 

Let’s explore what that looks like

Let’s discuss how work flows at this level (Definition of Workflow as described in the Kanban Guide)

The first thing to agree on is what is the value that flows at the portfolio level. 

Typically, those will be the organization’s significant initiatives to consider and manage. 

Should it be all initiatives? Just the top 10? Start with all the initiatives the people managing this portfolio/organization/business currently manage. 

This might be a very long list. Or a very short one. That’s ok. Start with what you have. Don’t stress too much about it (for now). You’ll have plenty of time to discuss what ” significant ” means later.

Now, define the start and finish boundaries. It might look obvious, but there are some interesting questions to explore here. 

When do you start managing initiatives? When does the idea first float? When the “business” is ready to ask technology to support it? I often see the latter. While I think the former has a better chance of shaping innovation around business outcomes and empiricism, It might make sense to start with what you have and be ready to evolve towards a wider breadth later on as you get buy-in for it. It often depends on who’s on the portfolio leadership team. If it’s the team running the business unit/company, there’s a better chance of getting there. 

When do we stop managing initiatives? Remember, we’re not managing everything. So when is the right time to move to “business as usual”? Again, start with where you are right now and discuss whether to make a change now or consider it later. 

Next, you’ll have to define the states that the items flow through in between.
You might already have a workflow. Or maybe you will want to take inspiration from SAFe’s LPM, Spotify (Think it Build it Ship it Tweak it) or some other variant. Here’s my go-to skeleton…

Again, be careful to have a dialogue about whether to start with what you have or leap into a new model. 

In any case, the key point about all elements of the definition of workflow is that you, as the portfolio team, should own it. What you have right now is just the starting point. Commit to trying it, inspecting, and adapting as needed based on whether it’s a good fit for your needs. 

Over time, you’ll want to bring in better flow, outcome orientation, empowerment/autonomy, and empiricism.

You’ll be able to see if you’re product-oriented and have some evidence that will feed your product topology inspection and adaptation.

You have to start somewhere. It’s better to start seeing the flow now, then spend weeks/months figuring out your ways of working (not to say product structure), and only then get going. 

Let’s call it a day. Tomorrow, you can create your Portfolio Kanban. WDYS?

Improving how your SAFe implementation actually delivers speed and outcomes — rather than process overhead — is a core part of how I work with scaled organizations. Explore SAFe advisory or let’s talk.