Is your Portfolio Kanban Board Busy? Do you feel like almost any outcome of any significance needs to be managed at the Portfolio level because it involves several of your product/development groups? One solution would be to invest in better portfolio management, coordination mechanisms, etc. A better solution would be to descale. To find ways …
They tell us a story of slow, centralized decision-making, often related to classic program management culture combined with an iron spaghetti portfolio where delivering product outcomes often requires wide collaboration across teams and even teams of teams. An agile, product-oriented portfolio relies mainly on providing strategic guidance and alignment, not managing every Portfolio Kanban board …
So you have a Portfolio Kanban board managing your biggest investments. You’re actively managing the flow by using this kanban board in your conversations about the portfolio. Kanban/Flow Metrics can help sharpen your flow focus even further. The four flow metrics described in the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams / Kanban Guide are Work in …
Seeing the swamp is the first step in shaping it into a river. You’ve established a Portfolio Kanban – a flow-based view of the significant work taking place in your organization. (also known as your portfolio). More likely than not, there are a lot of cards on that board, like a traffic jam in rush …
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 …
It seems like we are working on a lot of initiatives. Could it help to get a picture of all the initiatives and where they are in the pipeline? Would it help to make sure we involve the teams and leaders who will need to execute on initiatives in the decision when to actually start …
Three members of a PMO are asked what they are doing: Since we’re talking about a Product-oriented Portfolio, it makes sense to treat developing it as a Product Initiative. Making sure we’re focused on outcomes, rather than checkboxes. We might use patterns and frameworks (such as a Kanban Board, OKRs, and Portfolio Reviews), but we …
Are you at the stage where traditional portfolio-level processes and behaviors present the most significant impediment to agility? I see this often. The organization spends six or seven-figure amounts on an agile transformation. Teams and Teams of Teams are working in Agile/Scrum/SAFe. Still, the promised land of outsized value creation and improvement of time to …
Do you ever feel like your goals are too inclusive? Being inclusive is essential for culture but not so good for setting goals. You want your goals to mean something. They shouldn’t be an excuse to enable you to continue to spread your attention all over. A question you can ask about your goal/s is …
Can you dance at all parties? Be the expert at the intersection? Sounds like an oxymoron—Jack of all trades, master of none. Beyond the fact that you need to be curious, open-minded, and a lifelong learner, I have a trick for you. You don’t need to be an expert in every snowflake when you’re a …