Join us for a visual metaphor of simple metrics you can use for agile portfolio management to promote alignment between projects and to provide data to all people at all level of the organization to make informed decisions.

1. Agile Portfolio Metrics
for your next enterprise roadtrip
Jason Tice
AsynchronyLabs
World Wide Technology
AgileDC – October 2015

2. A portfolio metaphor

3. What got us here ?

4. Portfolio Metrics
Effective but hard to understand

5. The power of metaphor

6. We already do this on agile teams

7. Let’s go on a road trip

8. Roadtrip Essentials
• Have we brought along our most important stuff?
• How many tanks of gas do we need to make it?
• Are we driving safely & following the laws?
• Is everyone contribuJng to the trip?
• Do we understand why we are slowing down?
• How oKen do we check that we are on course?
• Do we (as drivers/planners) like the journey?
• Do our passengers like the desJnaJon?

9. Question:
Have we brought along our most important stuff?

10. Question:
Have we brought along our most important stuff?
Por$olio Metric: Rela/ve Value
• What - Determine the relaJve value of the epics/projects
in your porQolio by comparing to each other
– Your trunk & your porQolio do not have infinite capacity!
• Why - Direct focus to epics/projects with the greatest
value
• Why – Limit Work-In-Progress - Projects that only
receive a 10% focus never get done
Techniques recommended:
• Business Value Game (visual prioriJzaJon)
• Buy-A-Feature (collaboraJve prioriJzaJon)

11. Question:
How many tanks of gas do we need to make it?

12. Question:
How many tanks of gas do we need to make it?
Por$olio Metric: Planned vs. actual investment
• What – An informed guess on the Jme needed to complete
an epic/project made by informed people using a visual
mockup (or prototype)
– Allows for simple release scheduling
• Why – Use to create a simple schedule to remind us to ask “is
it good enough, we had planned to move on”
– If more Jme is needed, that’s OK, but then we are forced to adjust the
plan - #Learning is encouraged
Techniques recommended:
• Screen/App mockups / wireframes prior to development
• Epic/Feature budgeJng (fast – ask # of weeks to build that?)

13. Question:
Are we driving safely & following the laws?

14. Question:
Are we driving safely & following the laws?
Por$olio Metric: Percent Complete & Accurate
• What – number of epics/projects considered both done & correct
– Leadership must understand “it’s OK to not be perfect”
• Why – measure compleJon and quality in a combined metric
– Encourages good pracJces to insJll quality including wriJng clear
acceptance criteria & definiJon of done
– Promotes mastery & learning – makes improvement opportuniJes
transparent so you can focus on them
Techniques recommended:
• OperaJons Review (using actual epic/project data)
• Learning wall / OSHA signs (# of days without an incident)
• A3 worksheets / Cross-team retrospecJves / post-mortems

15. Question:
Is everyone contributing to the trip?

16. Question:
Is everyone contributing to the trip?
Por$olio Metric: Whole team contribu/on
• What – how many people contributed to each epic/project?
• Why – encourage shared work to avoid single points of failure –
reduce operaJonal risk
– Make epics/projects that are only supported by 1 or 2 individuals
transparent to enable learning & sharing
– Allow/encourage staff members to learn new skills to promote
engagement – engagement = happy people (HBR)
Techniques recommended:
• Names / pictures on work items (card punching / tagging)
• Whole-team demos (everyone able to demo epic/project)
• Validated learning stats reviewed by leadership (are we
learning conJnuously as a team?)

17. Question:
Do we understand why we are slowing down?

18. Question:
Do we understand why we are slowing down?
Por$olio Metric: Blocker Clustering & Cost of Delay
• What – what types of incidents are causing us to slow down, are they
acceptable, how will they impact us
• Why – understand common source of delay, provide support to teams
to address, and/or leadership/investment to address common
avoidable delays
– Enable leadership to serve teams and measure the impact of what
leadership does
Techniques recommended:
• Blocker boards (with categories/taxonomy)
• OperaJons Review / Scrum of Scrums
• NEW – MiJgaJon Marketplace (team members are investors using a
Buy-A-Feature model)

19. Question:
How often do we check that we are on course?

20. Question:
How often do we check that we are on course?
Por$olio Metric: Release Frequency
• What – how frequently do you get “real feedback” on your soKware/project
from “real users” – ideally tracked in days, or number of daily releases
• Why – encourage more frequent feedback by linking Jme/investment to
events that provide genuine feedback
– Reduce risk – “we’ve invested $$$ since our last release, are we OK wriJng that off?”
– Provides addiJonal benefit of team/customer engagement
– Promotes deployment automaJon to free up investment for innovaJon and other
value-add projects
Techniques recommended:
• Team user feedback review sessions
• Post number of days/hours since last release
• Post investment/burn in $$$ since last release

21. Question:
Do we like the journey & our passengers the
destination?

22. Question:
Do we like the journey & our passengers the
destination?
Por$olio Metric: Net Promoter Score
• What – two measurements:
– Would team members recommend the project to a colleague?
– Would users recommend the epic/project to other users?
• Why – receive true confirmaJon we are building the “right”
thing and it is being built in a “sustainable” manner
Techniques recommended:
• Solicit user feedback at the epic/project level
– Rate a epic within an app (design panern w/feature toggles)
• Transparent team/project assessment
– Project / team reviews (5-star) – team happiness

23. Your Roadmap
• Have we brought along our most important stuff?
– Metric: Rela/ve value of epics/projects
• How many tanks of gas do we need to make it?
– Metric: Planned vs. actual investment
• Are we driving safely & following the laws?
– Metric: Percent Complete & Accurate
• Is everyone contribuJng to the trip?
– Metric: Whole team contribu/on
• Do we understand why we are slowing down?
– Metric: Blocker Clustering & Cost of Delay
• How oKen do we check that we are on course?
– Metric: Release Frequency
• Do we like the journey & our passengers the desJnaJon?
– Metric: Net Promoter Score (5-star)

24. Contact
Jason Tice
AsynchronyLabs – World Wide Technology
LocaJon: St. Louis, MO, USA
Email: jason@theagilefactor.com
Twiner: @theagilefactor
Podcast: www.thisagilelife.com
Web: www.theagilefactor.com
Thanks for anending – stay in touch . . .