Portfolio prioritization
For better decisions
Re-Imagining Business
Success factors
“Using a Wardley Map we plotted how to remove one of the biggest blockers to tech reform in UK Government. The service we created in 2015 has saved £425m, & will likely save in excess of £1.5bn during its lifetime.”
Liam Maxwell
Former National Technology Advisor
UK Government
Cost reduction and prioritizing budgets remain top of mind challenges for technology leaders, with nearly half of organizations set to change their product and service offerings or business model in the next three years. A recent CIO survey* underlines the need for senior executives to view their IT and digital portfolio objectively, and not rely on ‘salami slicing’ budgets.
*Source: Harvey Nash & KPMG CIO Survey 2019
LEF’s Portfolio Prioritization workshop brings extensive experience in mapping and technology prioritization to bear on your unique portfolio decisions. We’ll help you brainstorm gameplays, so you’ll gain a clear understanding of which programmes to change or stop and where financial gain can be realized. Further benefits include better communication and collaboration amongst teams, operational improvements that remove duplication, and the vision to structure an evolving organization around change.
Prep portfolio for change
Many organizations find themselves on a predetermined course, with a portfolio of technology assets that result from historical decisions. Worse still, these assets may not support the future direction of the business, and instead the company may find itself on the fast-track to oblivion. It needs to focus on the things that matter to drive better business performance, and this may need some tough decisions.
Mapping digital and IT assets in your portfolio is a simple yet effective way to identify their maturity, see their current and future states, and enable prioritization. Maps also help create repeatable and strategic gameplays that can be used in other business contexts, such as reducing or increasing barriers to entry, exploiting ecosystems and anticipating rivals.
“Mapping is a very good way to determine what your current technology stack is & how you might want to evolve it.”
Adrian Cockcroft
VP, Cloud Architecture Strategy
Amazon Web Services
Set priorities confidently
Technology leaders rarely have the time and opportunity to review their existing portfolio, or create the space to take necessary, tough decisions on what to keep and what to cut. But making those bold, informed decisions frees up resources required to focus on important things and innovate for the future: the marketplace is changing and every enterprise needs to shift direction and re-focus some programmes within their portfolio.
It may be an external event that triggers the CIO or CFO to call for a review. The discovery of new competition, market force, poor financial results, market decline or a scientific breakthrough might force portfolio evaluation. Or the CIO might simply be running out of options or contemplate drastic options, because the existing business model is no longer sustainable.
See and plan for future states
LEF uses a technique called Wardley Mapping to deconstruct portfolios into value chain assets and map the stages of their lifecycle. By moving a single component on a visual map, you can assess its impact and see the future state. Using this technique helps cut through confusion about whether to maintain, extend, outsource or replace existing assets. Maps also identify business opportunities to make assets serve the business better and more cheaply, saving money by removing duplication.
Constructing a Wardley Map lets organizations identify the lifecycle stages of assets within their portfolio, including in-house agile development, commodity, software, outsourcing and maintenance. Gaining a clear view of the entire portfolio shows dependencies of assets at different stages of their lifecycle, and how these warrant different treatments and investments.
Understand lifecycle and values
Just about every product and service can be viewed in terms of its lifecycle – from its uncertain beginnings (genesis) to eventual standardization (commoditization). As markets or functions evolve through these stages, their associated business practices and activities often change radically, but in predictable ways. In the genesis phase, for example, agile development practices are often required, compared to later commodity markets and stages.
Once an overall picture has been agreed upon, it becomes much easier to determine how each business activity is likely to evolve, and how it should best be managed. In our experience, this type of visualization helps clients make better strategic and tactical decisions, while greatly enhancing shared understanding.
Workshop agenda
At the end of this one-day workshop, you’ll leave with greater clarity of your business landscape and an agreed action plan of where to make changes in your portfolio. You’ll know where future business opportunities for your organization lie, and have the confidence to practice mapping in order to realize those opportunities and run your operations more efficiently.
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Workshop session
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Outcome
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Introductions & objectives
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Set expectations
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Agitate: get familiar with mapping
Create Wardley Maps & develop situational awareness
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Level set & build confidence in language & approach
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Activate: build a Wardley Map
Identify stakeholders & value exchanges, drawing value chains, assessing evolution & uncertainty
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Understand environment & influencing forces
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Activate: identify desired direction
Identify opportunities, capabilities & gaps
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Agree opportunities & direction of travel
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Accelerate: portfolio project assessments
Examine why & what learning activities need to be processed in which projects
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Assess opportunities & relevant identified landscapes
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Action: confirm what next
Review outputs & next steps to progress journey
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Agreed action plan
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Prioritize portfolios during continuous change
Understand how digital assets evolve during
lifecycles & optimize their value
Create business vision by using maps to plot the future
Extend repeatable, strategic gameplays
across all areas of your business
