Actionable Lean Portfolio Management - details

Course attendance

It is impractical to expect the, often called C-level, executives to participate in all the work included in LPM. Especially administrational, process, and coordination work needs to covered by roles such as Enterprise Architect, Epic Owner, Solution Portfolio Management and Agile Program Management Office.

Therefore the outline of the course is divided into three parts:

Day one is intended for the overall concept, initial decisions where authority and management buy-in is needed.
Day two and three is the practical work to make the LPM work going.
The fourth day is a half-day for final decisions and establishment.

The individuals with the highest level of decision-making and financial accountability need to participate only at days one and four. Who needs to participate in days two and three will be determined from practical prerequisites to drive the collaboration throughout the organization.

Topics Covered

The concept of Lean Portfolio Management (LPM)
Strategy and Investment Funding
Agile Portfolio Operations
Lean Governance
Implementing the LPM function
Business development practices such as the Lean Start-up, Business Model Canvas and Read & Blue Ocean shift.

Prerequisites

To be able to take advantage of the training, the Lean Portfolio Management needs involvement from the top level of the enterprise or business unit. The people ultimately responsible for profit and loss have to actively participate in the training and take part in operating the Portfolio.

Portfolio Management is not only about what products you invest in, but also your ability to deliver and how to make sure the products will generate revenues over time. Your mission should be to connect the long term vision with the appropriate Business Architecture.

The advanced article Applied Enterprise Workflow with the SAFe Portfolio Kanban at the SAFe webpage gives more insights into the practical work and vital concepts such as Value Streams, roles, and principles. Everyone participating in this course should have attended at least one SAFe course, and you must be prepared to operate according to the description in SAFe.

For your organization as a whole, there should exist a well-communicated vision followed by a corporate strategy, including measurable objectives. You need to have an agreed view of the market and where you want to position yourself as a company. All exercises of the training will be based on your business targets, and it is no option to start the training before they are clear.

The facilities for the training should include a large room equipped with a projector, whiteboard, wall space, flipchart tripods, and flexible tables. The general guideline is at least 3 square meters per person.

Outline of the training concept

You will start by filling out a Questionnaire for Portfolio Management that will give the first guideline of areas that are most vital to address.
A general agreement on a partnership around the specific business. You should have an idea about your key metrics, the target state of your Lean-Agile transformation, and who has the authority of the results.
A preparation day to assess and adjust the prerequisites: joint definition of prerequisites and who will participate in enabling a successful outcome. This day is a strategic dialogue to define the target outcomes. It is high interest to get a picture of existing management teams, processes, and steering committees.
The order and assignment to perform the training: mutual agreement of the partnership and a training plan.
A Four-day course and workshop to expand your knowledge and create your way forward. A dedicated person must be assigned to manage and save the resulting material.
Follow up, evaluation, and practical work leading to valuable results.

Scope

This training is dedicated to Agile Portfolio Management. It is not an in-depth organization building oriented course, where you learn about setting up Agile Teams, lead the Agile transformation, and many other skills.

Instead, the scope is related to the business perspective and how to be able to stick out in an uncertain and maybe shrinking market. Your ability to experiment and continuously update your organizational abilities is the critical target.