Using Lean Portfolio Management to Streamline the Path to Success

When you think about agile transformation, what comes to mind first? Customers? Products? Teams? All of the above?

What about Lean Portfolio Management?

For many, the portfolio is often one of the last things that they consider when they think about transformation.

I’m here to convince you that the portfolio should be the very first thing that comes to mind when considering a transformation.

When we look at the organization through the eyes of a portfolio manager, we get a dramatically different perspective. We see the whole organization, not just a single silo.

We see the way that the stream of work flows between teams as the product evolves toward the customer. We see the way organizational decisions both enable and block our ability to deliver in a timely fashion.

In short, as a portfolio manager we see how the organizational organism works. What an amazing vantage point from which to start a revolution!

But make no mistake, the transformation to a lean portfolio needs more than just an enlightened PMO, it requires engagement at all levels.

We need product owners who can help create feedback loops with our customers, enabling the organization to respond more rapidly to the needs of the marketplace. We need project managers who understand the need for stable, empowered, high performing teams informed directly by the customer.

We need program managers who can use Kanban to help optimize the flow of product features. We need all of this and more, because true organizational transformation happens at all levels. In this talk Tom will share a vision for what modern portfolio management can be like and how we can use lean portfolio management to influence change across the whole organization.

We’ll examine the new work of portfolio management, including:

• Portfolio design - how can we democratize the process of strategy to enable the creation of a collaborative vision?

• Portfolio tracking & governance - can we create a data driven dialog to help us focus on the best outcomes rather than hitting the date?

• Product focused development – Using feedback to connect all levels of the organization to the customer

• Lean Program Management – enabling high performing teams to rapidly deliver features that excite the customer

• High Performing Teams – Enabling the funding and people management polices that create fertile soil for the growth of empowered, autonomous, high-functioning teams Join us to explore how we can make this happen.

Meet Tom Perry

Tom Perry’s career as a software development transformation agent spans 20+ years serving clients with a variety of backgrounds – from startups to Fortune 100 and both state and federal government.

He has helped organizations find success using Agile and Lean methods through testing, development, management and Agile coaching.

Tom is actively involved in the Agile community in his native Seattle, leading a local chapter of the APLN and founding the Open Agile Management conference.

He enjoys speaking and writing on Agile topics in local and international forums and is proud author of The Little Book of Impediments.