Starting a new blog series on the nine Principles of Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) for Business Agility, which are well defined in the ICAgile article. We will cover all nine principles one per post, starting with the first principle and ending with the nineth. Please review the ICAgile article for basics. I will delve into some nuances behind these principles. At Kintsugi Training Institute (KTI) in our LPM course we use these principles in training on the whole Lean Portfolio Management system.
Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) is the highest, or at least the second highest level in the agile scaling hierarchy, depending on which model you use. It builds well on top of solution trains, release trains, and other flow networks. The 9 LPM Principles provide the solid foundation for constricting a strong LPM system.
This blog is loosely based on the seven basic questions for good reporting: what, why, who, when, where, how, and which. With these questions a comprehensive perspective of the topic can be compiled. You can read more about this question strategy at my blog: Simpler Agile.
What is the topic?
#1 - Shift to customer-centricity within a larger context
This is the first LPM Principle. Per the ICAgile article, 'customer centricity' is a basic tenant of agility. The 'larger context' should include social and environmental concerns, ensuring everyone aligns directly with customer needs and organizational vision.
Why is this important?
LPM principles trace back well to the agile manifesto and its principles.
Having strong traceable principles creates a strong foundation for enabling the construction of further elements. The obvious analogy is building a house. There too a strong foundation enables the construction of a strong, resilient building.
Strong well-defined principles become the guiding light not only for the construction of LPM, they also guide the behavior of people in LPM roles.
Who is involved?
Because this LPM Principle calls for the 'larger context' the expectation is everyone in the organization will be involved. Nevertheless, the Roles directly involved with LPM will be more engaged with this principle. The unstated expectation is that they will lead the 'shift'. Also, indirect involvement will come from the 'customers'.
How is this to be performed?
The 'shift' is the key to living this principle. First is the mindset shift. This is raising the awareness throughout the organization to the need of understanding the notion that everyone needs to be aware and focused on the customers. Furthermore, everyone needs to align their work to the identified customer needs. Finally, we will need to close the loops on feedback coming from the customers and the market, so that we can assess our progress on customer need fulfillment.
Next, we must broaden our awareness of who our customers are, both externally and internally. Externally, we need to include indirect customers, such as the greater community we serve. Internally, we need to include people we routinely engage with, such as people on our team, release train, and portfolio.
When is it best to do?
The shift to customer-centricity within a larger context is most effective when integrated into broader initiatives, such as LPM or business agility implementation, Because these can leverage synergies and drive more impactful organizational change. This integration can also address potential challenges, such as resistance to change or misalignment of goals, by providing a clear, unified direction for the entire organization. Once you 'unfreeze' the status-quo it is best to continue the movement, not letting it 'refreeze' thereby wasting the initial momentum.
Where do we track progress?
Maintaining a well-configured relational database for business analytics is essential for tracking progress in implementing these principles. It will enable quick access and abilities to analyze and clearly present the metrics. Without such a tool, closing the feedback loop will be difficult and may discourage the Lean Portfolio Management Office, the people primarily responsible for governing the portfolio(s).
Alternatively or in addition, a strong modern LPM tool may be used for both LPM governance and measurement.
Which items are critical?
It is important to understand that within this principle there are three dimensions to the concept of 'larger context'. First, the 'larger context' should expand beyond direct clients to include the larger community, the market, and their social and environmental concerns, Thereby linking customer-centricity to broader business objectives such as corporate social responsibility and sustainable growth. Second, the context needs to expand to everyone within the organization so they have a direct line of sight (aka. alignment) to the customers and the organization's vision. Third, the definition of customer needs to expand into the internal customer in the supply and delivery chains.
It is also important to always close the loop on all feedback systems. This may involve three types of feedback loops: quantitative, qualitative, and hybrid. Quantitative feedback loops use data-driven metrics, such as: number of active accounts on the system, percent of active users, etc. Qualitative feedback loops opinion-driven feedback loops, such as: user surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Hybrid feedback loops involve a mix of data and opinion-driven feedback loops, such as: Likert scale survey, i.e. the qualitative feedback has been turned into quantitative feedback by 'bucketizing' the scaling the responses.
If any such data is collected, that is feedback from the environment. Therefore, the loopback has to be closed on such data. The most appropriate closure is to review the data and make decisions based on what we learn in the review. Otherwise, there is no reason to collect it in the first place.
References
Kintsugi Training Institute - LPM Classes - https://kintsugitraininginstitute.com/icp-lpm
ICAgile - LPM Principles - https://www.icagile.com/resources/the-principles-of-lean-portfolio-management-for-business-agility
Simpler Agile blog - https://simpleragile.blogspot.com/
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