Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): How to implement Lean Portfolio Management (2023)

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Today's corporate world is changing rapidly due to globalization and disruptive innovations in the technology sector. Businesses need to keep up with the changing needs and interests of consumers. You need to be agile and develop unique solutions faster and more efficiently. On this lap, Escaladoagile structure(SAFe) provides a better view ofPortfolio-ManagementComplaint.

Traditional methods ofPortfolio-Managementare no longer efficient. A way to improve the businessagilityIt's thinPortfolioManagement. It allows you to build an agile framework to manage costs and deliver greater value. This simplifies your investment decisions and improves strategic business outcomes.

Introduction to the Scaled Agile Framework

The Scaled Agile Digital Framework (SAFe) is a versatile industry-standard framework for deliveryAgile,DevOpsand Lean practices at scale. It's also customizable and sustainable. SAFe follows ten agile principles toStrategyImplementation in any business context. They help you find solutions to unique and complex problems and ensure continuous improvement.

The SAFe portfolio aligns business strategy with portfolio execution through a collection of value streams for development. Each value stream operates under a common governance model. It offers one or more solutions for a business domain to fulfill its strategy.

Typically, a SAFe portfolio can develop the entire suite of solutions for a small to medium-sized business. Large organizations often require multiple portfolios for each business unit, division, or line of business. The SAFe portfolio configuration is a smaller configuration that you can leverage to gain business agility.

The SAFe portfolio has three other core competencies:

• Lean portfolio managementment: Aligns business strategy with portfolio execution and applies lean thinking approaches to investment plans and financing.
• Continuous learning culture:A set of practices and values ​​that motivate individuals and organizations. It helps them to improve performance, knowledge, innovation and competence.
• Organizational Agility:Explains how disciplined agile teams and individuals with a lean mindset can create new strategies. They are always looking for ways to streamline their business processes and quickly adapt to new opportunities.

The SAFe portfolio hasprogramHigher level functions, artifacts and events. The portfolio palette is structured as follows.

Those: scaledagileframework.com

Portfoliomanagement im SAFe Framework

Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) in SAFe involves the collection of development value streams from the SAFe portfolio. Value streams can provide internal operational value streams and develop products or create solutions for external customers. The Scaled Agile Framework portfolio management is modernized to facilitate the Lean-Agile way of working in today's world.

The LPM function of a SAFe portfolio has the highest level of financial responsibility and decision-making ability for the value streams. Together it enables the definition, communication and alignment of various business strategies. Let's look at the three dimensions of lean portfolio management in SAFe.

Investment strategy and financing

Strategyand investment finance ensures the entire portfolio is aligned and funded. Building solutions is necessary to achieve business goals. You must ensure that the right investments are made in the right places to achieve the goals.

Strategy and investment finance requires collaboration between executives, portfolio shareholders, companies andProductsowners, enterprise architects,hustleMaster and Product Manager. Your tasks include:

Linking the portfolio to the corporate strategy

The primary role of investment strategy and funding is to support the organization's broader objectives. It also helps providereturnto the company through the context of the portfolio.

Maintaining a portfolio vision

The portfolio vision describes the future state of value streams and solutions. It also explains how they coordinate to achieve portfolio goals and the broader goals of the organization. The LPM function reviews the Portfolio Canvas quarterly and discusses how it can improve its alignment with strategic themes.

Realizing the portfolio vision through Epics

Epics are large initiatives required to achieve the planned future state in the portfolio vision. The LPM function shows and manages the flow of epics through thePortfolio in Kan🇧🇷 Epics can be pretty uncertain. Therefore, it is better to use the SAFe Lean Startup CycleEposImplementation.

Configuring lean budgets and guardrails

Lean Budgets and Safeguards is a set of governance and financial practices that improve development and maintain financial governance. Reduces or eliminates the need for traditional cost accounting andProject-Based.

It also minimizes lag, friction, and overhead. Lean budgets finance value streams. At the same time, guard rails support these budgets by providing governance and spending practices and guidelines.

Building the portfolio flow

PortfolioFlow is the process of managing portfolio epics throughout their lifecycle. Limits the number of significant ongoing business initiatives to align with portfolio capacity.

The LPM function uses the Kanban system to:

• reduce batch sizes;
• limit unfinished goods;
• Size of long-term development queues.

Architectural practices and agile principles are critical to driving portfolio flow. Enterprise architects use engineering methods and adaptive design to facilitate constructive portfolio initiatives. Of course, they translate the company's overall vision and strategy into successful technology plans.

Agile portfolio operations

portfolioOperations coordinate value streams, support decentralized strategy execution and ensure operational excellence.

value stream coordination

Typically, value streams tend to rely on each other to function. However, coordination allows you to manage all dependencies between value streams. This process gives you certain advantages and capabilities that your competitors cannot understand.

Decentralized execution of the program

Centralized decision-making is a traditional approach that can undermine your Lean-Agile efforts. You can recreate the traditionalprogram managementOffice (PMO) in one AgileprogramAdministrative Office (APMO). The LPM function operates through the APMO and can successfully promote and enforce program execution standards across the portfolio.

The APMO can leverage the expertise, skills and relationships with leaders, managers and othersinterested partsof traditional PMO. In addition, the APMO is responsible for supporting Human Resources with staff development and agile recruitment.

Operational Excellence

Operational excellence is a process focused on continuous improvement of practices, outcomes and efficiencies to optimize performance. LACE - Lean-Agile Center of Excellence - often takes a leadership position to drive operational excellence. LACE can be part of the APMO or an autonomous group.

Lean Governance

Lean governance addresses the management of spending forecasting, spending, measurement and verification, and compliance. APMO/LACE, enterprise architects and business owners must work together to actively ensure lean governance.

Therefore, the lean governance role has the following responsibilities:

Dynamic forecasting and budgeting

The Scaled Agile Framework allows you to create lean budgets. The agile process is a welcome substitute for fixed and long budget cycles and financial commitments. Budgets may be adjusted periodically, typically semi-annually, or as required by significant events.

Portfolio performance measurement

You need to define the necessary metrics for each portfolio to ensure proper execution of the strategy. Here are some of the lean portfolio metrics that can be used to measure a portfolio's progress.

Those: scaledagileframework.com

Permanent compliance coordination

Traditional compliance methods expose organizations to the risk of late discovery and even legal trouble. Lean Audit and Compliance is a more continuous approach that supports the value stream and reduces overhead. Now let's look at how you can implement SAFe Lean Portfolio Management.

Implementing an agile framework at scale

The key to implementing Scaled Agile Framework management lies in defining the LPM role and leveraging the Kanban system.

Define the LPM function

As mentioned above, the LPM role focuses on investment strategy and finance, agile portfolio operations and lean governance. program andPortfolio-Management(PPM) leaders need to look for the right talent in each area.

You need to ensure the APMO understands agile philosophies, LPM events, SAFe core terms, and traditional PMO services:

• data collection;
• Analyse;
• Communicate;

The APMO should work together and share their knowledge.

Establish the Kanban system portfolio

The scaled agile approach advocates the build-measure-learn approach to agile development. Epics are large corporate investments made within a portfolio.

PPM leaders can use Portfolio Kanban to visualize and manage the flow of epics. EveryoneEposgoes through several Kanban states. An epic must be defined by an assigned ownerProduct with minimal viabilityand monitor your progress.

You can see the portfolio kanban system in the image below.

Those: gartner.com

The first three states - Funnel, Review and Analysis - focus on priorities.

• funnel: Consists of the ideas ofagile release moves(ARTS). These ideas address all strategic issues that can affect business models. The funnel is only used for brainstorming.

Therefore, no WIP limit is required. Ideas are sent to the respective Kanban portfolio funnels. They can be reviewed and approved based on strategic importance, expected costs and other factors.

• examination: Epic owners work with stakeholders to define Epic's purpose, business outcomes, and quantitative and qualitative benefits. Here you need to specify WIP limits.
• Analyze: Business owners, disciplined members of agile teams, and solution architects work together to analyze the epics. Architects identify alternative solutions and check commercial and technical properties. BOs define the minimum viable product, determine cost forecasts and form a leanBusiness case.

In a value-based portfolio kanban system, it is necessary to set WIP limits for each status except funnel. PPM leaders can adapt their traditional portfolio management practices to lean-agile portfolio kanban states.

Set up regular LPM events

LPM events are essential for prioritizing and reviewing all proposed work. All relevant stakeholders can participate in these events. They leverage the portfolio metrics and other actionable insights provided by the APMO.

For the LPM function to work effectively, three important events must occur:

• Portfolio Sync: Checks the progress of the portfolio towards its goal. This monthly event reviews epics at various stages of the Kanban system, assesses metrics, and resolves bottlenecks.
• Strategic portfolio review: focuses on realizing and improving the portfolio vision. It ensures the continuous coordination of strategy, budget and implementation. It is a quarterly event to review metrics and update OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), Epics and Investment Guards.
• common budget: Here, a stakeholder group decides on the allocation of the portfolio budget to epics and solutions. It usually happens twice a year.

How PPM Express can helpYorEUImplement lean portfolio management

PPM Express is a SaaS platform that helps improve portfolio and project visibility by collecting project-related information across portfoliosproject managementsystems likeSimeAzure-DevOps🇧🇷 If you are struggling to move from traditional to agile frameworks, PPM Express is the right tool for you.

Working with the right PPM toolkit is essential to improve PMO impact and reach. Your tool kit should be:

• Scalable – Suitable for small teams and large numbers of employees
• Flexible – Adapt to both traditional and agile methods
• Provide transparency and link - Provides a portfolio overview and detailed information about a specific business project.

PPM Express is a sleek, lightweight portfolio management tool that addresses the immediate needs of teams and business units. The number of users starts from 20 people to hundreds and thousands. This allows you to scaleagile structureAdministration with the following functions:

• Easy-to-use interface and ease of use that connects all project data, from deadlines and budgets to performance indicators
• Advanced adaptability for any market segment or business area
• “Budget Section” for budget and “Launch Section” for recording portfolio launch dates
• Ability to create short and long term reports
• Ability to meet the needs of APMOs and executives for portfolio flexibility and transparency
• Data synchronization feature that allows you to set up permanent synchronization as well as a specific coordination routine
• Scalable and transparent configurable spreadsheet to review the basic stats of each portfolio and get an overall schedule. The dashboard contains all portfolio details for viewing and editing. It has a "progress bar" and a "status area" with summary details of all portfolios.

Wondering if it's right for your business? Subscribe to our30 days free trialand see for yourself!

One thought on “Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): How to Implement Lean Portfolio Management”

1. Xavier Stieglitzsays: Did you know? With AI, you can write e-books in minutes. JANUARY 25, 2022 AT 7:22 PM

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Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): To implement lean portfolio management