Successful Evolutionary Change of Portfolio Management
49
Successful Evolutionary Change of Portfolio Management Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski
-
Upload
pawel-brodzinski -
Category
Leadership & Management
-
view
1.042 -
download
1
description
Does any of following problems sound familiar? Too many concurrent projects in the portfolio Constant struggle to finish commitments on time Continuous fight for teams and people availability Frequent project expediting Disconnection between portfolio management and work organization on a team level These are typical issues with portfolio management. However, before jumping into solutions we should ask why the issues are so common. The limited visibility of the current situation is one of the root causes. Lack of information about the impact of new commitments on the organization is another. The decision-making process that results in starting too many new endeavors is on the list too. The session would focus on addressing these root causes and not the symptoms. Instead of a common strategy of formalizing the processes around portfolio management we can use Portfolio Kanban to evolve our way of working with the portfolio. The approach bases on “start with what you have” principle. This means that it doesn’t provoke resistance. Also small, evolutionary changes are preferred over big-bang changes. On the top of that, using the method doesn’t require extensive effort, which increases the odds of sustaining its adoption in the long run. I will show how this low-friction approach challenges our thinking of project attractiveness, improves our awareness of value, cost of delay, impact on other commitments and risks that aren’t directly related to the project. These should be the key factors to drive our decisions on starting new endeavors. This is a crucial change that has to happen to enable the evolution of portfolio management. And Portfolio Kanban is a way to catalyze that change.
Transcript of Successful Evolutionary Change of Portfolio Management
Successful Evolutionary Change of Portfolio
Management
Pawel Brodzinski
@pawelbrodzinski
Hi, I’m Pawel
Lunar Logic http://lunarlogic.io
Blog http://brodzinski.com
Twitter @pawelbrodzinski
Why portfolio?
A system of
local optima is not
an optimal system at all;
it is a very suboptimal system
Eli Goldratt
Processing the waste
more effectively is
cheaper, neater, faster waste
Stephen Parry
More than a single
project per team?
Cost of context switching
Source: Gerald Weinberg, Quality Software Management: Vol. 1 System Thinking
Zeigarnik Effect
Tendency to experience intrusive thought about an objective left incomplete
Source: S. Greist-Bousquet, N. Shiffman: The effect of task interruption and closure on perceived duration
Teams that worked
only on a single project
were significantly better in
terms of defects density
Larry Maccherone
Time to market
Deadlines
Expediting
Meet PMO Manager: The Juggler
My first experience
was this:
113 ongoing projects
for 25 developers
Klaus Leopold
Why does it happen?
What do we see?
Excel frenzy
WYSIATI What You See Is All There Is
Source: Daniel Kahneman: Thinking Fast and Slow
Cost-driven decisions
If you fall for
estimation as your
way of valuing projects
in the portfolio,
you are doomed to fail.
Johanna Rothman
http://zsoltfabok.com/blog/2014/04/schedule-portfolio-board/ http://www.slideshare.net/NinaSchwab/the-tupalocom-kanban-story-lkse-2012 http://brodzinski.com/2012/01/project-portfolio-kanban-first-changes.html http://brodzinski.com/2012/05/project-portfolio-kanban-better-board.html http://brodzinski.com/2011/11/alternative-kanban-board.html
http://brodzinski.com/2013/08/portfolio-visualization.html
Focus on one level of work
Variability!
WIP Limits by conversation
http://blog.brodzinski.com/2013/03/wip-limits-by-conversation.html
Shifting discussion from cost and income to value and cost of delay
Cost of Delay
Key driver to evolution of portfolio management
There is more
Backlog is a list of
unvalidated
product options
Ellen Gottesdiener
Projects and products are
(unvalidated) options too
Real Options
Options have value
Options expire
Never commit early unless you know why
Source: Olav Maassen, Chris Matts, Chris Geary: Real Options
http://brodzinski.com/2013/09/options-options-options.html
http://brodzinski.com/2013/09/options-options-options.html
http://brodzinski.com/2013/09/options-options-options.html
http://brodzinski.com/2013/09/options-options-options.html
Common problems with portfolio management
Visualization helps to
understand the current situation
and informs discussion on starting new
projects
WIP limits (by conversation)
address the problem of too
many concurrent projects and
steer discussion about value
Constraints introduced by
the method shift focus from cost
and income to value and
incentivize saying no
Portfolio Kanban is not about choosing
the work you do; it’s about choosing the
work you don’t do
Mind shift from looking through the attractiveness glasses to looking through
capabilities glasses
Inspirations: Eli Goldratt
Stephen Parry (@leanvoices) Don Reinertsen (@dreinertsen)
David Anderson (@djaa_dja) Mike Burrows (@asplake)
Klaus Leopold (@klausleopold) David Joyce (@dpjoyce)
Chris Matts (@papachrismatts) Olav Maassen (@olavmaassen) Ellen Gottesdiener (@ellengott)
Jabe Bloom (@cyetain) Troy Magennis (@t_magennis)
Johanna Rothman (@johannarothman) Benjamin Mitchell (@benjaminm) Larry Maccherone (@lmaccherone) Gerald Weinberg (@jerryweinberg)
Karl Scotland (@kjscotland) Andy Carmichael (@andycarmich)
Mary Gorman (@mbgorman)
Thank you
Pawel Brodzinski brodzinski.com
lunarlogic.io
@pawelbrodzinski
