This document discusses program management for startups and scaling companies. It provides an overview of how program management can help with strategic planning, portfolio management, and project execution. It then describes the specific processes and tools used by the author to implement program management, including standardizing a product development lifecycle, configuring tools like Jira and Confluence, and implementing cadences and artifacts to track progress and resources.

1. @BeckyFlintSF
Program Management Playbook
The Why, What, How of Program Management

2. @BeckyFlintSF
About Me
STARTUPS
NEED PMO
TO SCALE
my blog
Built, scaled, and optimized program
management for startups and tech companies.

3. @BeckyFlintSF
Here is a
view of a
roadmap

4. @BeckyFlintSF
Here is a view
of another
roadmap

5. @BeckyFlintSF
Quote from Bigcommerce Co-founder and CEO Eddie Machaalani
“There are a lot of startups who are in need of good processes. The trick is most won’t
know they need PMO because they won’t identify the pain point as being a problem
that's solvable. I personally had no idea that we needed PMO until we hired (someone
with experience in growth companies).”

6. @BeckyFlintSF
What Does Program
Management Do?

7. @BeckyFlintSF
Context
Strategic Planning and Execution Process of a Healthy Company
Strategy
KPI
Portfolio
Roadmap
Portfolio
Progress
internal/
external inputs
Project control
and reporting
Roadmap
Delivery
Evaluate &
Prioritize Projects
Define objectives
& key metrics

8. @BeckyFlintSF
What Does PMO Do?
A Full Service PMO Leads The Strategic Planning & Delivery of Our Portfolio
A suite of programs aimed to maximize
enterprise value
A structured grouping of related projects
and other business activities aimed to
achieve defined business value
A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a
unique product, service or result.

9. @BeckyFlintSF
Why Do Companies Need Program Management?
At Portfolio, Program and Project level, PMO enables:
Communicates goals, plan,
resourcing, progress,
issues and resolutions to
the relevant audiences.
Align product features and
cross functional activities to
business goals and
strategies.
Build retro in develop
process, and use data to
measure and optimize
resourcing, processes and
tools.
Visibility Alignment Efficiency

10. @BeckyFlintSF
How Do We Do It? 1 / 5
Standardize Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC) - Foundation for Cross-
functional Virtual Teams Working Within An Agile Environment
Product feature is being
evaluated / prioritized
within the program/
portfolio
Define featureset for
launch, and estimate tasks
and duration
Actual work by cross-
functional teams
Marketing driven activities
from 1st customers to all
intended customers
Initiate Define Develop Release
Define RSI for projects, programs and tasks
R: Responsible Person
S: Support
I: Informed

11. @BeckyFlintSF
How Do We Do It? 2 / 5
Cadences: Right level, Right People, Right Frequency
Project Level Cadence
(Project team members)
Program Level Cadence
(functional leads)
Portfolio Level Cadence
(executive team)
Meetings ● Project kickoff: Goals and
RSI definition
● Daily standup with team
● Bi-weekly sprint review +
demo
● Later phase of PDLC:
Weekly Launch Readiness
meeting
● End of Project retro
● Bi-weekly program
steering meeting
● Strategic steering
(budgeting) - semi-
annual
● Portfolio planning -
quarterly
● Portfolio Success
tracking - monthly
Artifacts Weekly status update (email)
Issue Log (Jira)
Launch dashboard
Program Dashboard
Resource Map reports
Issue and Action Item log
Portfolio Roadmap Updates
Functional dashboards
See appendix slide 23-29

12. @BeckyFlintSF
Strategic Plan
(semi-annual)
Key Programs + Exec Goals
Financial Plan
(semi-annual)
P&L @ Corp level & by Team
Roadmap Plan
Key projects by Qtr
How Do We Do It? 3 /5
Start with Portfolio Planning Set Strategic Foundation of All Other Activities
Monthly Success
Tracking

13. @BeckyFlintSF
How Do We Do It? 4 / 5
Configure Tools (Jira, Confluence) For Task, Program, and Portfolio
Management & Enable virtual and cross-functional team collaboration:
one source of truth on goals, progresses, and references
effective roll up and drill down of information
data analysis/ reporting by project, featureset, team, product strategy, use case, etc.

14. @BeckyFlintSF
How Do We Do It? 5 / 5
Build A Light Weight Tool and Process for Resource Planning and Management
❖ Context switching => 30% or more lost productivity
❖ Mis-aligned resources => 20-80% of lost productivity due to waiting/ blocked
Resource Map Enables: (see Appendix - slide 21)
Overall view of project assignments by key technical expertise/ areas
Reduced context switch by integrating feature work and tech debt/ bugzar duty
Visibility to anticipate skillset needs and timing for hiring/ training
Insight on whether we are executing towards our strategy (by assigning resources accordingly)

15. @BeckyFlintSF
The Product Org in A Growing Company
Product
Decisions
Founding Stage
(<50)
Initial Growth / Product
Mkt Fit Proven (<500)
Mid-size / Larger
Company (500+ people)
Product strategy Founder/ co-founder Head of Product* Head of Product + head of
product line + GM’s
Portfolio Roadmap Founder + engineering Head of Product* + PMO ** Head of Product Line +
PMO
Portfolio Delivery engineering Domain PM + PMO +
Engineering
Domain PM + PMO +
Engineering
* Head of Product collaborates with leaders of various business functions and key clients/ partners in the
process.
** PMO partners closely with the head of Product in roadmap planning and execution.

16. @BeckyFlintSF
Appendix

17. @BeckyFlintSF
Documentation Flow in PDLC (Product Development Life Cycle)
Ideation Planning Development Rollout
PRD
Project Goals,
Strategic fit,
High level Requirements,
Supplemental docs
Tech Design
Doc
UX Design
Doc
Jira PROJECT Ticket (Project status, milestone, etc)
Jira Agile Board
User stories from PRD become PM
acceptance Stories in Agile board
Eng stories in Agile board
based on TDD/ UX

18. @BeckyFlintSF
PRD on Confluence
PM Stories in Jira Agile board
as Acceptance Stories
Jira PROJECT
Ticket
Refer to PRD for
Project goals
Tech & UX Design Doc
Confluence
Eng stories in Jira Agile board
based on TDD/ UX
Status, Key Milestones, Links
to all relevant info, Key project
data for reporting
Connected Tools = SMART Tools

19. @BeckyFlintSF
PRD Template On Confluence
1. About the document itself: Draft or Final, Doc Owner, Strategic Theme, PMO Ticket
2. WHY: Product Goals - what’s the problem we try to solve?
3. WHY NOW: Strategic fit/ Background
4. WHAT: List of Requirements in the format of user stories and prioritized as Must Have, Nice to
Have
5. Supplemental material: Market research, UI mocks, etc.

20. @BeckyFlintSF
Visibility of Project Progress (from Jira)
Shaded blue - time on completed tasks
Shaded gray - time remain on pending tasks
Blue line - total tasks count (scope)

21. @BeckyFlintSF
Visibility of Portfolio: resource per Strategy (from resource map)

22. @BeckyFlintSF
Confirmed
Projects
Experiments
Confirmed
Projects
validated
Experiment(s)
Q1 Q2
Q3 Time
Experiment(s)
Confirmed
Projects
Each period (quarter) we divide up resources between confirmed projects and experiments, (i.e.
hypothesis on opportunities, e.g. freemium, or vertical)
Those proven to be good opportunities will become part of roadmap (business or R&D projects)
Benefits of confirmed projects will be incorporated into next period of financial plan
Resource
Resourcing Model for Rolling Roadmap Planning

23. @BeckyFlintSF
Success Tracking:
Product Roadmap
Provide Cross-functional Visibility on
Roadmap Execution against Strategy
(mock reports)

24. @BeckyFlintSF
Issuing Roadmap*
Project
Name
Launch
date
Status Status Summary Prod &
Eng
MKT Sales Support Partner
ISU1 Jun 2 Engineering on track. MKT and
sales behind, need to adjust
resourcing to catch up.
20% 10% 10% 0% N/A
ISU2 Jun 16 Engineering an sales prep on
track. MKT behind but confident
can catch up.
40% 10% 40% 0%
* Roadmap dashboard pulls data from custom-configured Jira workflow/setup updated by team to
reduce manual repetitive work overhead.

25. @BeckyFlintSF
ECOM Roadmap *
Project
Name
Launch
date
Status Status Summary Prod &
Eng
MKT Sales Support Finance
ECM1 Jun 2 20% 10% 10% N/A
ECM2 Jun 16 Engineering behind. Need to
reduce scope or delay launch
40% N/A
* Roadmap dashboard pulls data from custom-configured Jira workflow/setup updated by team to
reduce manual repetitive work overhead.