The document discusses using Kanban principles and practices to address portfolio-level problems in organizations. It describes typical portfolio challenges such as having many fixed-date projects with low confidence in meeting dates. It argues that top-down solutions to portfolio problems are often narrow, compliance-driven, and disconnect people from the system. The document then examines how the six Kanban practices of visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress, managing flow, making policies explicit, implementing feedback loops, and improving collaboratively could be applied at the portfolio level by visualizing demand and supply, establishing portfolio constraints, and managing flow and inventory costs across initiatives.

1. LSSC 2012
Kanban:
Thinking tools for
portfolio-level problems
Mike Burrows (@asplake)
Por*olio
Problems
mike@djaa.com
http://positiveincline.com
Kanban
for

2. Why “Portfolio-level problems”?
n Tes$ng
the
Kanban
Method
as
a
thinking
tool
n Less
about
offering
solu$ons
to
copy
n More
about
framing
&
solving
problems
n Idea
&
experience
sharing
Por*olio
Problems
n Good
&
bad
n Contextual
Kanban
for
n Vision

3. Typical scenario
§ Organisation
§ Functional, hierarchical, not co-located, part
outsourced
§ Defined life cycle
§ Well observed
§ Specs, signoffs
§ Cross-functional appetite for improvement,
Por*olio
Problems
resourced
§ Many fixed-date projects
Kanban
for
§ Remaining durations of many months
§ Very low confidence of date compliance

4. Kanban
for
Por*olio
Problems
Cole sees dead people

5. Cole sees dead people
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for
I
see
enterprise-­‐scale
problems
of
overwhelming
WIP,
ins$tu$onalized
at
every
level
of
the
organisa$on

6. Characteris$cs
of
typical
top-­‐down
solu$ons
to
porIolio
level
problems
n Narrow
n Compliance-­‐driven
n Push
Por*olio
Problems
n Disconnect
between
person
&
system
Kanban
for
n Disrespect

7. Scaling
up
has
its
issues
too
n “We
don’t
know
what
each
person
is
working
on”
n So
allocate
them?
n “We’ve
no$ced
that
people
are
too
Por*olio
Problems
busy
on
too
many
things”
n So
add
some
front
end
process?
Kanban
for

8. No
maPer
how
narrow
you
make
the
funnel
or
how
fine
you
make
the
filter…
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for
...the
pipeline
will
remain
full

9. PorIolio
level
problems
n They’re
very
real
n From
all
sides,
solu$ons
that
don’t
help,
miss
the
point
or
make
things
worse
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for

10. The
6
Kanban
prac$ces
–
are
they
even
relevant
here?
1.Visualize
2. Limit work-in-progress
3. Manage flow
4. Make process policies explicit
Por*olio
Problems
5. Implement feedback loops
6. Improve collaboratively (using models)
Kanban
for

11. The
6
Kanban
prac$ces
–
are
they
even
relevant
here?
1.Visualize
2. Limit work-in-progress
3. Manage flow
4. Make process policies explicit
Por*olio
Problems
5. Implement feedback loops
6. Improve collaboratively (using models)
Kanban
for

12. 1.Visualize
n Visualize
work
n Projects1
n Non-­‐projects
n Demand
&
supply
Por*olio
Problems
n Flow,
delivery
Kanban
for
1Disclaimers
apply

13. 2. Limit work-in-progress
n PorIolio
constraints
designed
to
generate
flow
&
provoke
improvement
n Number
n Size
($,
dura$on
expected)
n WIP
($,
elapsed
incurred)
Por*olio
Problems
n Burn
rate
n Delivery
intensity
/
smoothness
Kanban
for
n Cost
of
Carry

14. At
both
extremes
of
scale,
limi$ng
by
number
is
very
effec$ve
n #
of
developer-­‐level
work
items
n #
of
ini$a$ves
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for

15. At
intermediate
scales,
visualizing
or
limi$ng
by
number
is
less
help
n Projects
vary
in
size
by
orders
of
magnitude
n Volume
Not
everything
is
(or
should
be)
a
project
Por*olio
Problems
n
Kanban
for

16. Some
relevant
$$
measures
for
single
projects
J F M A M J J A S O N D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Burn WIP
n Leverage
what
you
Por*olio
Problems
have
now
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Cost of Carry (cumulative)
n Derive
or
es$mate
Kanban
for
before
adding
new
tracking

17. Size:
cost
*
dura$on
n You
probably
want
to
penalize
both
n You
might
wish
to
trade
them
Cost
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for
Duration

18. More
ques$ons
of
cost
*
$me
n Where
is
the
inventory
that
we
should
help
out
of
the
door?
n Which
projects
should
we
try
hardest
to
split?
n Where
has
our
posi$on
worsened
unexpectedly?
n What
is
my
porIolio
cycle
$me?
Por*olio
Problems
n By
IT
or
business
stream?
n By
class
of
service?
Kanban
for
n What
is
our
inventory
cos$ng
to
hold?

19. Cost
of
Carry
n Cost
*
rate
integrated
over
$me
n Roughly
propor$onal
to
cost
*
dura$on
n Apply
a
meaningful
rate
that
reflects
both
financing
and
delay
costs
n >>
your
cost
of
funds
Por*olio
Problems
n >
25%
p.a.
(Reinertsen)
n >
2
*
your
hurdle
rate
(me)
Kanban
for
n Risk-­‐adjusted?

20. Many
of
these
measures
can
be
aggregated,
sliced
&
diced
Limit this…
to limit this
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Analyse Design Build Test
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for
Limit to capacity

21. 3. Manage flow
n Visual
management,
DSS
n See
inventory
&
its
cost
n See
flow
as
inventory
turnover
n See
bright
spots,
rough
spots
what’s
dragging,
where
to
intervene
n Time
dimension,
backwards
&
forwards
Por*olio
Problems
n A
support,
not
a
subs$tute
for
leadership
n An
organiza$onal
feedback
mechanism,
Kanban
for
“tension”
for
improvement
n Make
the
most
of
what
you
have
now

22. @alhui
nails
it
n Provide
just-­‐in-­‐$me
informa$on
to
promote
market
liquidity
and
buyer
decision-­‐making
#lssc12
n Money
is
not
our
currency.
It's
not
scarce
enough.
Time
and
effort
are
our
unit
of
currency
#lssc12
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for

23. My
hope
is
that
these…
1.Visualize
2. Limit work-in-progress
3. Manage flow
…lead
to
these
Por*olio
Problems
4. Make process policies explicit
5. Implement feedback loops
Kanban
for
6. Improve collaboratively (using models)

24. But
first
these…
Leadership
Agreement
Respect
Por*olio
Problems
Understanding
Kanban
for

25. Cole sees dead people
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for
I
see
enterprise-­‐scale
problems
of
overwhelming
WIP,
ins$tu$onalized
at
every
level
of
the
organisa$on

26. To:
kanbandev
Subject:
#ppm
<subject>
Your
problems,
thoughts,
experience
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for

27. Thank you.
Questions?
Por*olio
Problems
Kanban
for
Mike Burrows (@asplake)
mike@djaa.com
http://positiveincline.com