How do we manage our portfolio flow?

The business question How do we manage our portfolio flow? focuses on the steady flow of epics and features in Alfabet in alignment with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) framework. This business question provides insight about the various roles and stakeholders responsible to plan, align, and monitor the epics, and ensures transparency across business and technological silos so that architecture planning is aligned to the business's strategy.

The best practice methodology Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) is implemented to prioritize business and enable epics based on their cost of delay in terms of business value, risk, and time criticality as well as cost forecast. The business question allows epics to be assessed, prioritized, and moved to the next phase of their lifecycle when capacity allows.

The license package Lean Architecture Management is required to work with this business question.

Portfolio Backlog: Shows a data workbench of epics with their features. Expand an epic to display its features below it. The dataset highlights values that are incomplete regarding the cost, cost of delay, and the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF). The Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) methodology is a prioritization method used in agile frameworks like Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to sequence work for maximum economic benefit.

Epics and features of the types Business Epic / Business Feature provides business value directly to the customer and epics and features of the types Enabler Epic / Enabler Feature indicate a technical development initiative that advances the architectural runway to support upcoming business or technical needs. Navigate to the content area of an epic or feature in order to go to gather more information about it.

Portfolio Kanban: Shows a Kanban-like matrix displaying epics colored by their epic type and positioned in lanes according to their status. Symbols on each epic indicates its cost forecast, order of WSJF, and the persons responsible for the epic. Drag an epic and move it to a different lane as needed. The lanes represent the following statuses:

  • Funnel: New epic under initial consideration.
  • Reviewing: Epic being evaluated to determine if it is aligned with business goals.
  • Analyzing: Deeper assessment of epic for feasibility and impact.
  • Backlog: Epic is waiting to be prioritized and allocated resources.
  • MVP: A minimal version with one or more features is created to test assumptions and gather feedback.
  • Persevere: Based on feedback, the epic continues, pivots, or stops.
  • Done: Epic is complete, tested, and ready for release.

Portfolio Roadmap: Shows epics in a timeline. The red bars start with the Funnel Entry Date and ending with the Planned Target Date. The current status of each epic is displayed.

The business question How do we manage our portfolio flow? relies on data captured for epics. Ensure that the Funnel Entry Date attribute is specified for each epic. Navigate to the content area of the epic and go to the Evaluation view and ensure that the indicators for Cost of Delay and Cost are specified.

Go to the Data Quality page and resolve the issues to ensure that the data is complete.

Go to the Data Source page to review the epics that are used to answer the business question. The data source is a list report and cannot be edited.