This part of Portfolio Management describes the first of four (1 of 4) Portfolio Tasks to manage Requests for Change related to the Iterative Transformation Model. In general, this task captures Customer Requests for Change. Further, an assessment is made of each Request's value and risk.
That assessment will determine whether or not to expend additional resources to elaborate upon the Request. In addition, these assessments help prioritize change, evaluating each Request, as compared to other, pending Requests for Change. For more information on this topic refer to the Solution Portfolio Approach - Reference.
After reviewing the content of this page, check out the additional information on the following topics.
Picking Winners: Getting "Ready" for Transformative Change
The Ideate Feature Board manages several, related activities. To illustrate, the table below depicts the columns of the board. The following aspects are conveyed:
Ideate Feature Board
| Backlog | On Roadmap | In Analysis | Review | "Ready" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A new idea, or change, is proposed. As a result, a new Feature (Request) outlining the proposal is added to the Portfolio Backlog. | A one-page, high-level definition of the "Big Idea" Request is captured. | Feature (Request) cannot be satisfied by existing Solution(s). Some new Solution, Epic, or Capability will be required. | All Ideate Stories related to the Feature (Request) are "Ready" for Sponsor & Stakeholder review. | Sign-off received. As a result, the Feature (Request) is now available for selection during a Release Planning Event for subsequent Elaboration. |
| While here, the Feature (Request) need only have a Title, Benefit(s), and preliminary Size Estimate, to be a placeholder for some future Business Value. | While here, the Request is being categorized and assessed for Portfolio risk & value. | While here, related Business Processes (L1 & L2) are defined (when appropriate), and high-level requirements are gathered. | While here, the materials prepared to support the Request are presented for sign-offs, and resources needed to Elaborate the Request are confirmed. | Feature (Request) will remain in this state until it is selected for work in an upcoming Release. |
| Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 |
1. Prioritize Change
- Initially, Features (Requests) are prioritized for assessment by adding them to the Portfolio Roadmap. As a result, they appear in the second column, or further to the right.
- Additionally, their position in any column further indicates their priority. Requests appearing at the top of the column have priority over those appearing lower in the column. As each Request reaches the top (if it ever does), it is next in line to process. In other words, it is next to determine whether or not the Request is worth further Elaboration.
2. Define the Problem
- Refinement of the Feature (Request) refers to properly, and thoroughly, defining the Request. This occurs through Ideate Feature Steps 1 – 5.
- Importantly, each step represents a hand-off in ownership, or accountability. That is, as a Request enters a new column, the new column corresponds to a new Role, which is now responsible for completing the next step.
3. Route or Analyze the Request
- Importantly, understand that not all Requests for Change must progress through the full Portfolio Management process. In fact, the objective is to have as few Requests as possible progress. Of course, that is secondary to meeting the Business objectives related to each Request. Ideally, seek opportunities to route Requests to existing Projects or Solutions. These are best able to fulfill the defined Request. The only Requests not to route are those which require a new Solution, Epic, or Capability, in order to fulfill them.
- Once a Feature reaches "In Analysis" (Step 3), then related Ideate Stories are added to the Portfolio Backlog. The Stories represent systematic artifacts used to prioritize change, and to determine whether or not the parent Request should proceed. The set of Stories will vary, by company, as well as by Request type, depending upon things like time or cost thresholds. The Feature (Request) will remain in this state until the artifacts represented by the related Ideate Stories are complete. For more information, refer to Portfolio Task 2 of 4 - Ideate Stories.
- The current Role will ensure the work that permits the Request to progress on to the next step is complete. Once the requisite work is complete, the person fulfilling the Role will advance the Request to the next column, handing it over for additional work. And so on.
- Thus, the board always indicates at least two important pieces of information. First, who is responsible for completing the current work for each Request (by Role). Second, it also conveys which step each Request is in along its path to prioritize change.
Portfolio Task Boards
Portfolio Task 1 of 4 - Ideate Feature manages these steps. It governs the actions in the upper-left quadrant of the 4 Portfolio Task Boards as depicted.
Importantly, these steps permit an organization to prioritize change on an ongoing basis. This is vital, because some Requests will proceed rather quickly through this task, while others may take a substantial amount of time. In that time, an organization's priorities may shift. As a result, the ability to manage Requests for Change need to reflect those shifting priorities. Otherwise, valuable resources are wasted working on less valuable requests.
To conclude, the steps (or Statuses) represent the actions which make a Request "Ready" for subsequent Elaborate activities. In other words, they define what must happen to a Feature (Request) before it can be selected for Elaboration during a Release Planning Event.
The child pages above describe each step of this task in detail.
After reviewing the pages within this part, look to the corresponding task Portfolio Task 2 of 4 - Ideate Stories to manage the details related to each Feature (Request).