Application Portfolio
Management
Meeting the challenge of reducing
requirements churn in projects
Pat Loughran
OSS PROJECT OFFICE MANAGER
ERICSSON HUNGARY
KEY VARIABLES IN PRODUCT
PORTFOLIO BALANCING
BUDGET
SCOPE
QUALITY
TIME
© Ericsson AB 2010
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS
PLANNING
PRODUCT
PLANNING
PROJECT
PLANNING
WHAT
HOW
Requirement
WHY
SOLUTION
PLAN
SELL
COST
IMPLEMENT
ROLL OUT
WHEN
TEST
LIFECYCLE MGT
SCOPE
DELIVER
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
KEY ASPECTS FOR SUCCESSFUL
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
› Strong
Governance
› Effective Project
Management
› Efficient Application
Portfolio
Management
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
APPLICATION
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
› What is Application Portfolio Management
– Balancing the business needs against
the delivery capability of the product
development organisation.
› What is the aim ?
– Reduce requirement churn in the
projects
– To increase efficiency in product
development
› How ?
– Two Aspects
› Product Focus team work
› Defining, monitoring and refining
the delivery capability of the
development organisation
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
ENABLERS FOR APPLICATION PORTFOLIO
MANAGEMENT
› Quality underpins all and is
not negotiable
BUDGET
SCOPE
Quality
› Fixed regular releases
instead of variable releases
› Leaving the scope to be
effective and efficiently
managed
TIME
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› Baseline the investment
level for individual
components in product
development
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT CAPABILITY
› Define a measurable unit for scope
content
› Break up product into deliverable
components
Candidate Analysis
› Use historical data and continuous
retrospection to set scope unit
System Analysis and Design
› INFLUENCING FACTORS
COMPETENCE
BUDGET
QUALITY
TECHNICAL DEBT
TECHNOLOGY
Software Production
Software Production
Integrate, Verify and Roll-Out
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
CROSS FUNCTIONAL OPERATIONS
BUSINESS
NEEDS
PROJECT
REQUIREMENTS
SALES
OPERATIONAL
PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT
MANAGERS
STRATEGIC
PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
ANALYSTS
TOTAL PROJECT
MANAGERS
CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAM
BUDGET
RESET
DEFINED
DEVELOPMENT
CAPABILITY
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RE-DEFINED
DEVELOPMENT
CAPABILITY
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
PROJECT
EXECUTION
KEY CHALLENGES
› Communication
› Budget Setting
› Prioritisation
› Rising costs
› Retrospection on capability
› Staying out of the project space
KEEP IT SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT FORWARD
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
SUMMARY
Requirement churn in the project IS
REDUCED bY :
› Introducing a fixed release strategy
› Developing and refining a development
capability model for a release
› Using Cross functional operations to
prioritise feature content for the project
based on capability model
RESULTING IN:
IMPROVED DELIVERY PRECISION
ENABLING MORE FEATURE CONTENT
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APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT