On the right track?
How strategic portfolio decisions can actually accelerate release trains.
Commitment, focus, openness, respect, courage. The 5 Scrum values have become an integral part of most digital and IT departments. Originally conceived for software product development, Scrum has since grown into a successful framework with far broader organizational applications. In practice, we’ve seen teams make great strides in elevating increasing customer value and accelerating product development. Yet, the sum total of all agile teamwork often fails to deliver on strategic goals. The numbers simply don’t add up.
The missing ingredient is clear strategic portfolio decisions. Strategic portfolio management ensures that all agile teams are focusing on the right things, enabling the organization to accelerate cross-departmentally from there.
It starts with a clear overview
You need to understand what all the “initiatives,” “epics,” and “features” are contributing to your strategy. In other words: how each piece fits into the bigger picture. Only then can you be sure everyone’s doing the right things and avoid unseen “wasteful” overlaps at organizational level. By zooming out, you can judge if initiatives are fully aligned to your organizational strategy, which is a prerequisite for portfolio success.
Next is applying focus
Focus begins at the organizational level by translating strategy into what you will and won’t work on to build momentum. Balancing the short and long term is also essential. Once you’ve done that, you can simply align product-level priorities to your organization’s existing PI events or agile ceremonies. This enables you to lay down clear organizational parameters and steer targeted decision-making about which initiatives to fast-track and which ones to slow down. It also keeps agile teams from having to guess (as best they can) where to invest their capacity.
The last step is building agility.
In Scrum, responsibilities are clearly defined in precise roles. Everyone knows exactly what the Product Owner is and is not accountable for. In addition to predefined “events” or “ceremonies,” Scrum Team members all know who to call in when, and where decision-making happens.
To truly be and stay agile, you need the same kind of agility at executive level. With a similar pattern of clear governance and short, effective portfolio decision meetings. Management keeps a big picture overview, can adjust focus where needed, and structure agility throughout the organization. It can correct course or intervene should external developments require, but also provide the stability needed for teams to function autonomously, productively, and unhampered. This constructive interchange between top-level decision-making and team-driven acceleration is precisely how strategic portfolio management and agile working reinforce each other in practice.
Wondering how the right portfolio choices can maximize the success of your agile transformation? Read this inspiring case demonstrating our method’s success in practice. Or get in touch with us to arrange an in-person meeting!
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Written by our founders, Linda Kester (scientifically true) and Sonja Schasfoort (proven in practice).