Portfolio Management
An overview of portfolio management in digital product and solution companies.
Summary
Here's a summary of the key points from the briefing on portfolio management:
Portfolio management is a process for managing a collection of product investments (offerings or value streams) to ensure they align with organizational strategy and are optimally funded.
The two main questions portfolio management answers are: Are we building the right things? Is our investment in those things appropriate?
There are two main sub-practices:
Portfolio Review: Assessing the current state of offerings
Portfolio Analysis: Evaluating gaps, lifecycle balance, and making decisions
Key tools/frameworks mentioned:
BCG Growth-Share Matrix for analyzing product performance
Product Lifecycle stages for assessing portfolio balance
Financial metrics like IRR and NPV for comparing investments
Best practices include:
Separating incubation and evolution portfolios
Conducting reviews in-person
Publishing transparent results
Having clear accountability for the process
Common challenges:
Lack of clear business motivation/strategy
Difficulty getting good data in large organizations
Lack of executive commitment to timely decisions
Leadership's role:
Initiate and enforce the process
Provide clear motivation and strategy
Make timely decisions
Fill the "motivation gap" between high-level vision and product-level plans
Product managers should:
Lead in representing their product
Prepare business cases/plans
Involve key stakeholders in portfolio presentations
The briefing emphasizes that effective portfolio management is crucial for maintaining competitiveness and optimizing investments in product development.