Scaling Lean: Project, Program, Portfolio

SCALING LEAN:
PROJECT, PROGRAM, PORTFOLIO
JEFF GOTHELF / @JBOOGIE / JEFF@GOTHELF.CO

GOTHELF.CO / @JBOOGIE
NO ONE WANTS TO BUY EXPERIMENTS

LEAN STARTUP REDUCES RISK

LEAN + AGILE =
CONTINUOUS LEARNING

AT THE CORE OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING
IS EXPERIMENTATION & HUMILITY

FOR STARTUPS, IT’S
EXPERIMENT OR DIE

AT THE ENTERPRISE LEVEL,
NOT SO MUCH

AND YET, IN THE ENTERPRISE,
IT’S ALL AGILE & LEAN (LANGUAGE)

WHEN STRETCHED TO BIGGER ORGS
LEAN STARTUP BREAKS

WHY DOES LEAN SEEM TO
BREAK AT SCALE?

WHY DOES LEAN SEEM TO
BREAK AT SCALE?Established corporations are too concerned about tarnishing their brand with an MVP 
— David Baldie (@DavidBaldie)
Process. Everything has a process and 85 approvals and a mysterious “they” blocking anything that’s not the old way. 
— Emily Tate (@thedailyem)
"Good enough" doesn't get respected as viable option to SHIP IT! 
— Jeremy Caverly (@JeremyCee)
Silo'ed managers unwilling to release team members 
— Dan Weingrod (@dweingrod)
Valuing business need over user need (not realizing they are the same thing) 
— Simeon Poulin (@simeon_P)
"To approve that we need to see a detailed plan and cost benefit analysis, and you must commit to specific deadlines and targets." 
— John Waterworth (@jwaterworth)
"We already know what we need to do. Why do we need to waste time 'learning'?" 
— John Waterworth (@jwaterworth)

HOW CAN WE MOVE BIG ORGS
PAST THESE HURDLES?

SEVERAL WAYS TO THINK ABOUT
SCALING

SCALING
PROJECT
How do we
incorporate more
learning into each
initiative?

SCALING
PROJECT
How do we
incorporate more
learning into each
initiative?
PROGRAM
How do we coordinate
multiple discovery/delivery
efforts focused on the same
goal?

SCALING
PROJECT
How do we
incorporate more
learning into each
initiative?
PROGRAM
multiple discovery/delivery
efforts focused on the same
goal?
PORTFOLIO
multiple programs, enforce
governance and meet
shareholder expectations?

SCALING CHALLENGES AT EACH LEVEL
PROJECT PROGRAM PORTFOLIO

GOTHELF.CO / @JBOOGIESCALING CHALLENGES AT EACH LEVEL
PROJECT PROGRAM PORTFOLIO

PROJECT
•Optimizing for throughput
(velocity)
•Parallel path discovery &
delivery
•No autonomy to make
decisions
•Incremental, not iterative
•Perceived risk to brand/
current customers
PROGRAM PORTFOLIO

PROJECT
(velocity)
delivery
decisions
current customers
PROGRAM PORTFOLIO
•Cross-team coordination
•Knowledge management
•Legacy systems
•Offshoring
•Distributed teams

PROJECT
(velocity)
delivery
decisions
current customers
PROGRAM PORTFOLIO
•Cross-team coordination
•Knowledge management
•Legacy systems
•Offshoring
•Distributed teams
•Discipline & business unit
silos
•IT as a service provider
•Business value > customer
value
•Annual planning
•Incentive structure
•Governance
•Conway’s Law but in reverse

THERE ARE NO SHORTAGE OF
RECIPES

THERE ARE NO SHORTAGE OF
RECIPES
I can see myself
in the picture. So
I like it!

THESE ARE ONLY FRAMEWORKS

SCALING PRINCIPLES,
NOT PROCESSES
“Process brings seductively strong near-term outcomes.”
- Netflix culture presentation (2009)

PRINCIPLE #1
CUSTOMER VALUE = BUSINESS VALUE

TACTIC:
MANAGE TO OKR’S
OBJECTIVE KEY RESULTS
@CWODTKE

TACTIC:
MANAGE TO OKR’S
OBJECTIVE
•Qualitative
•Inspirational
•Time bound
•Actionable by the team independently  
(particularly relevant in the enterprise)
KEY RESULTS
@CWODTKE

TACTIC:
MANAGE TO OKR’S
OBJECTIVE
•Qualitative
•Inspirational
•Time bound
•Actionable by the team independently  
(particularly relevant in the enterprise)
KEY RESULTS
•Quantifiable
•How will we know we’ve met our objective?
•Difficult, not impossible
•Cascade down
•Rhythmic
@CWODTKE

TACTIC:
MANAGE TO OKR’S @CWODTKE

TACTIC:
MANAGE TO OKR’S @CWODTKE
EXAMPLE OF OBJECTIVE: BE THE DOMINANT PLATFORM FOR CAR DEALER INVENTORY MANAGEMENT BY Q4 2016
EXAMPLE OF KEY RESULT: 50% OF ALL INDEPENDENT DEALERS ARE OUR USERS
EXAMPLE OF KEY RESULT: 6 OF THE TOP 10 CARMAKERS MANDATE OUR PLATFORM FOR THEIR DEALERSHIPS
EXAMPLE OF KEY RESULT: 40% OF AUTO AUCTION HOUSES USING OUR INVENTORY API

TACTIC:
EVIDENCE-BASED QUARTERLY PLANNING

TACTIC:
SHIP
SENSERESPOND Q1: OKR’S

TACTIC:
SHIP
STAKEHOLDERS
EVERY QUARTER
$/€/£

TACTIC:
SHIP
STAKEHOLDERS
EVERY QUARTER
$/€/£$/€/£
NEW OKR

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
Source: McKinsey, Intuit, et al
THREE TIME HORIZONS TO MEASURE PROGRESS

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
HORIZON 3: SHORT TERM

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
• Customer-related questions to answer: Is there a need? Can we find a solution that meets that need?

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
HORIZON 2: MID TERM

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
• Sustainability-related questions to answer: Is the market large enough/sustainable? Can we support growth?
HORIZON 2: MID TERM

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
HORIZON 2: MID TERM
HORIZON 1: LONG TERM

TACTIC:
HORIZON PLANNING
HORIZON 2: MID TERM
• Growth-related questions to answer: How do we scale? How do we continuously improve? How do we stay competitive?
HORIZON 1: LONG TERM

PRINCIPLE #2
VALUE LEARNING OVER DELIVERY

TACTIC:
YOU CAN’T TEST EVERYTHING

TACTIC:
ALIGN TO A SINGLE METRIC OF PROGRESS

TACTIC:
BUILD MOMENTUM WITH PILOT TEAMS

TACTIC:
SANDBOXES

TACTIC:
GET CREATIVE WITH EXPERIMENTS
Source: @evolvable, @tyro

PRINCIPLE #3
RADICAL TRANSPARENCY

TACTIC:
TRANSPARENCY THROUGH RITUALS

TACTIC:
ACCESS TO CUSTOMERS

TACTIC:
ACCESS TO DATA

IT’S DIFFICULT TO COORDINATE
LEAN ACTIVITIES ACROSS TEAMS

TACTIC:
CROSS-TEAM COORDINATION

PRINCIPLE #4
HUMILITY IN ALL THINGS

TACTIC:
PRODUCT DISCOVERY

TACTIC:
DON’T OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT

TACTIC:
“ORBITAL MODEL” FOR SUPPORT OUTSIDE OF
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

TACTIC:
“ORBITAL MODEL” FOR SUPPORT OUTSIDE OF
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
CORE TEAM
LEGAL
BRAND
MARKETING

TACTIC:
MODERN STAFFING MODEL

TACTIC:
MODERNIZE TECH STACK

TACTIC:
DevOps is a culture, movement or practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both software developers and
other information-technology (IT) professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. It
aims at establishing a culture and environment where building, testing, and releasing software, can happen rapidly, frequently, and
more reliably.
- Wikipedia

TACTIC:
Source: @billwscott (slideshare)

THIS IS A TOP-DOWN EFFORT

THIS IS A TOP-DOWN EFFORT
“Successful leaders embrace the reality that their models may be
wrong or incomplete. Only when we admit what we don’t know
can we ever hope to learn it.”
- Ed Catmull, CEO, Pixar

SEEK OUT THE SHIT UMBRELLA

SHOW THAT IT’S OK TO FAIL

LEAN PRINCIPLES THAT WORK AT
ANY SCALE

LEAN PRINCIPLES THAT WORK AT
ANY SCALE
PRINCIPLE #1: CUSTOMER VALUE = BUSINESS VALUE
PRINCIPLE #2: VALUE LEARNING OVER DELIVERY
PRINCIPLE #3: RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
PRINCIPLE #4: HUMILITY IN ALL THINGS

IF YOU CAN,
SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW

THANK YOU!
JEFF GOTHELF / @JBOOGIE / JEFF@GOTHELF.CO
NEW BOOK: SENSEANDRESPOND.CO (PRE-ORDER NOW)

Scaling Lean: Project, Program, Portfolio

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