Core Portfolio Insights

Inspire a new way of seeing your portfolio.
Inspire new ways of leading, shaping, and growing it too!

Benefits of experiencing Core Portfolio Insights (CPI)

We prepare you to:  

  • Recognize the hopes and needs balanced within a portfolio's mandate 

  • Appreciate the core characteristics of project portfolios and product portfolios

  • Characterize your portfolio's current operating model through a lean lens

  • Explore the "orient, shift, and lift" improvement mindset

  • Interpret the three core maps and their use in diagnosing portfolio behaviors

Collectively, the insights from this four-hour workshop will help you contribute to the journey towards a product portfolio from your current role, regardless where you work in the company.

Who?

CPI is appropriate for anybody in the company that will be supporting aspects of the overall portfolio journey. Common attendees include: 

  • Members of the portfolio operations group, e.g. the VMO, PMO, or APMO

  • Coaches and change agents in various agile roles

  • Leaders within and around the portfolio who want to support its evolution

  • Partners to the portfolio, such as Finance or HR Business partners, business customers, or compliance team members

What to expect

CPI is a workshop-style course delivered virtually over four hours. It contains an intentional balance of theory and in-context practice to ensure the concepts stick and that they can be applied in your real world situation. It can be experienced as a cohort of people supporting a single portfolio, or as a network of interested people from across a company. 

Topics include

The workshop topics cover:

  • Learning to see where you are, and learn how to talk about where you are

  • Recognizing the lean evolution patterns of portfolios

  • Aligning on shared language for your portfolio (without introducing a whole new set of words)

  • Identifying your current portfolio state and a shared understanding of "better"

  • Recognizing relationships between aspirations, work, people, systems, and money

Each module introduces new ways of thinking about the topic and briefly explores the application within your current portfolio context.

Collectively, the topics are anchored on helping you recognize the current portfolio operating lens, identify the next lens, and appreciate the work required to lift the portfolio to the next lens.  

Frequently asked questions

  • Fundamentally, this is a basic introduction to a new way of thinking about portfolios for anybody that will be meaningfully involved in driving the portfolio change forward or making the significant investment decisions for the portfolio. It's especially useful when the change network needs to expand as a result of success, and new people need to be aware of the overall concepts for the portfolio changes.

    It is NOT generally required for people merely working inside the portfolio, although various leadership roles within the portfolio (especially at the team-of-teams level) may find it useful for their own decision-making.

  • The course contains 4 hours of active engagement with a 15  or 30 minute break halfway, for a total invitation timebox of 4.5 hours. 

    Timing during the day can be flexible to the needs of the company and audience. We generally recommend not splitting it into two days. 

  • Yes, this course is designed for virtual delivery to a broader audience.

    In virtual settings we are flexible to use any video-conferencing product that supports chat, breakout rooms and screen sharing.

    For enterprise configurations with high levels of restrictions, we ask the company provide a dedicated production assistant to manage the groups, support people's experiences, and handle any emerging problems.

    We use Miro to facilitate the various visual activities. We would  consider porting to another similar product at an additional cost if required. 

  • We prefer all attendees fully participate. If you are naming people "observers" for political or company culture reasons (e.g. "This person is too junior to attend"), talk to us in advance and we can help you navigate.

    We do ask that attendees are limited to full time employees of the company, and that you don't invite vendors, consultants, or contractors without discussing with us in advance. 

  • This is an introduction and overview of the core concepts and is focused on helping people become aware of the change ahead.

    In the absence of leadership participation and sponsorship for the overall change, this will not be a productive experience for a group without the ability to shape and direct change.

  • While we generally provide this course in a virtual setting, a face to face delivery is also available with a travel stipend added to the overall price.

    Physically, we maintain a somewhat informal space to allow each individual to engage in the ways that best serve their learning.

    The optimal experience requires spaces in the room for groups to work at a flipchart or whiteboard without having to talk over other groups, while also being easy to come together for large group discussions or lecture segments. 

    While there are no activities that require large open spaces in the room, it is challenging to create good learning dynamics around a single large central table like those found in board rooms or some telepresence rooms.

    We will require a good quality projector, sufficiently configurable seating, and several vertical writing surfaces (whiteboards / flip charts).

  • Please don't. Of course we won't physically restrain you, but the harm to your learning experience and the classroom dynamic is significant. This harm is especially visible in the virtual setting.

    If you do need to step out for specific meetings during the course, please discuss in advance and we'll do our best to arrange the break timing to allow for the least disruption to the fewest number of people.