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Agile Portfolio Management

More than 22 years after the Agile Manifesto was published, it’s challenging to find a software development organization that does not apply Agile practices at least to some extent. However, enterprises have been slow to adopt agile principles in their governance processes. Instead, they rely on long planning horizons, locking scope, functional content, and budget for their digital initiatives for year-long periods or more. As a result, initiatives become output-driven, and organizations miss out on the significant benefits of the flexibility and user-centricity that Agile can offer.

There is ample evidence from both small and large companies, including industry giants such as Google, Amazon, and Netflix, that truly agile governance is possible in initiatives, programs, and portfolios of all sizes. Our Agile Portfolio Management service is designed to help you transition from a top-down or hybrid planning and governance model to a streamlined approach that maximizes value creation. By adopting Agile portfolio management you can ensure that your customers and users receive the best possible value while meeting your own business objectives.

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Activities

The activities we recommend will be tailored to your organization’s current state, taking into account your established governance processes and level of agility. Below, we grouped the activities for each stage.

Research and planning

Management dialog
Conversations with senior stakeholders to decide on the scope and major objectives. We will co-create an initial vision and plan for the work ahead.

Inspirational Workshop
A workshop with other stakeholders involved or affected by the work to share information, create awareness, and agree on the objectives. We will introduce the OKR model as a potential tool for this activity.

Current portfolio
A review of your current project/product portfolio, including discussions with key representatives from the product organization.

Production workflows
A detailed review of your current production practices.

Organization
An assessment of your organization’s collaboration and communication patterns.

Governance
An exploration of your current governance processes, their pros and cons, and their possible constraints. This includes budgeting, funds allocation and executive sponsorship.

Change management
We discuss how to include stakeholders and employees in the activities and information flow, and we will outline a communication plan.

Ideation and creative work

Ideation
One or several workshops with key stakeholders to share our findings so far and start sketching a map towards a future state according to your prioritized focus area.

Prototyping
Co-creation of “paper” prototypes (e.g. charts, workflows, blueprints, employee experiences end more) for each high-priority focus area.

Validation
Review of the prototypes with select stakeholders, collection of feedback, and iteration on the prototypes.

Planning

Roadmap
Co-creation of a realistic game plan and roadmap for each focus area.

Objectivies
A review and further detailing of the business objectives.

Risk assessment
Risk workshop to identify potential risks and how to mitigate them.

Alignment seminar
A concluding dialog seminar with key stakeholders to walk through the results and field any remaining questions and concerns

Outcome

The main outcome of the Portfolio Management services will be a more agile portfolio management approach that allows for quicker response to changing business needs and improved delivery of value to customers. Within 6 months of completing the engagement, we expect to see measurable improvements in your top and bottom-line results.

You will also have facilitated a shared understanding and alignment in your organization about the importance of a new and more agile operating model; and a commitment from key executives and stakeholders to support the initiative and contribute actively.

We will deliver a comprehensive memorandum which will include the following content: 

  • A detailed summary of observations, findings, conclusions, decisions, and their rationale
  • Maps, prototypes, blueprints, governance guidelines and other key artifacts 
  • Roadmap and implementation plan including timeline and resource requirements 
  • KPIs or other metrics that you will use to track progress and business success  
  • Guidance on how to embed agile principles into your organization’s culture and governance processes to ensure long-term success
Download our One-pager about Agile Portfolio Management (coming soon)

Talk with one of our Advisors

Mats Weidmar

Principal Advisor

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