Are You Struggling to Scale Your Organization ? Need agility but dubious of process BS/dogma? I share reflective, pragmatic, principled takes on how to approach scaling your organization leveraging the essence (rather than theater) of product operating models, agile practices and frameworks, and business operating systems such as EOS and OKRs.
From Blueprints To Trail Maps - A More Agile Approach To Agility
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When implementing agile portfolio management, leaders’ first—and often most daunting—question is: “Where do we start?” I’ve taught my share of frameworks. In some cases, a comprehensive blueprint or roadmap makes sense. They feel safer to people from traditional project/program management – who ARE often the exact people leading the move towards agile ways of working, especially at the portfolio level. But this sense of safety and predictability is often misplaced. It comes with the baggage of requiring people involved with the change to grasp a lot, plan in depth, and, most importantly, commit to comprehensive change. What often works better is a more straightforward, iterative, evolutionary approach. Think Trail Map rather than a blueprint. It highlights the trails but gives you options for approaching them. What does that look like when pursuing Portfolio-level agility?
By thinking of your portfolio as a living, evolving entity—and using a trail map to guide your early steps—you can gradually build a product‑oriented, agile portfolio without overwhelming your teams or leadership. As a side benefit, leadership will see, learn, and model the behaviors and culture needed for organizational agility… How are you thinking about bringing agility to your company/portfolio? What’s one first trail you can explore? PS The Portfolio Agility Trail Map is an email course where I share what I’ve learned about using this approach. Similarly, the Mastering Organizational Traction Trail Map applies this concept to improve organizational traction for growing companies. Read From Blueprints To Trail Maps On Your Browser Yours, Yuval |
Scaling w/ Agility
Are You Struggling to Scale Your Organization ? Need agility but dubious of process BS/dogma? I share reflective, pragmatic, principled takes on how to approach scaling your organization leveraging the essence (rather than theater) of product operating models, agile practices and frameworks, and business operating systems such as EOS and OKRs.
Should you focus on mastering organizational traction or on establishing portfolio agility? Let me tell you a secret: In my experience, mastering organization traction involves realizing you have a portfolio of investments you’re managing. So actually the paths converge… The difference is that mastering organizational traction extends beyond the IT/Product world. It intercepts business initiatives before becoming mandates for the technology organization. It also manages non-digital...
“Agile is so great we need to use it for EVERYTHING” “Agile is so much overhead, we stopped using it for ANYTHING” Are you also trying to navigate what to do with Agile? Whether it’s worth the overhead? After years of helping a diverse group of organizations figure out where and how to use agile methods, here's what I've learned... If you want the TL;DR version - Agile has the potential to shine when …. There’s enough risk and uncertainty to justify the overhead of frequent feedback loops....
Founders know that scaling their company to Unicorn status requires extending beyond a singular focus. Launching a product extension. Complementing your established Go-to-market motion. Entering new markets (Different ICP, Geography, etc. ) Often, companies approach these extensions using the same processes they use for their established Products/Markets. They approach a new product opportunity with unwarranted conviction. They go into a new market using established/scaled revenue operations....