Ready to implement Portfolio Management? Here is a simple pattern.
This approach is designed for one or more product owners, working with up to ~6 teams. As the number of teams and stakeholders grows, more structure might be needed.
Plan to meet with stakeholders on a 4-8 week cadence. Before the meeting, assess what product work is truly complete. Use historical data, to understand the whole group’s current capacity. (Avoid using Story Points. At this level, we’re better off measuring how many Large features a team completes in a month).
In the meeting itself:
- Evaluate current investments: What do we continue? What do we finish?
- Determine how many new items we have the capacity for
- Decide and Prioritize - which items or areas to invest in next based on the group’s capacity.
- Focus on Options: “We can deliver any of the following items next…”. Instead of promising we will have this feature done next month.
Make decisions over asking for more information. Every time a stakeholder asks for more information rather than decide, they’re increasing waste and still spending money.
Pro Tips: ✅ Hold regular portfolio meetings with stakeholders ✅ Use Story Mapping for better visualization ✅ Keep track of team capacity ✅ Frame choices as trade-offs ✅ Maintain flexibility with options
The goal is to keep everyone focused on strategic value and realistic capacity.
Even this lightweight approach creates overhead, takes some control away from Product Owners, and reduces your ability to adapt in the moment. So take an Agile approach and use the lightest mechanics you can right now. Later ask if things can be simplified.
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