Portfolio Kanban identifies the status of each initiative, this can be a simple communication tool to give visibility across all initiatives, as well as to monitor and adjust resource allocations. It is used to give visibility to the Process, Work In Progress, which helps in decision making and feedback on the strategy level.
Elements
The Portfolio Kanban will have columns for each step in the organization’s process from idea to completion. Each column has defined criteria for when the item can progress and has limits for entering the column or the work in progress.
The important thing is that each initiative is represented.
Additionally, there are regular meetings to discuss the Portfolio Kanban board and affected prioritization. Metrics are updated to help with prioritization. It is displayed in a place where everyone can see it.
Description
This is a vital tool for the strategy level because it allows decision-makers to have a visual understanding of all initiatives in the organization. The information displayed can illuminate any bottlenecks and allow for decisions to re-allocate resources. Also, utilizing Kanban principles, the organization may determine it is beneficial to place constraints or limits in certain cases, which actually increases speed.
The context is Communication and the audience is the Internal Team.
Usage Considerations
Some of the strengths of Portfolio Kanban are that you can set up varieties of this at the Initiative and Delivery horizons., and it allows Portfolio Management to be optimized. It increases feedback and visibility into what is in progress and where the bottlenecks are.
Some limitations are that it is a bit one size fits all at the strategy level – so if there are different paths for some initiatives, this would not work well for them.
And it doesn’t explain why an initiative is in one place or phase for an extended period, just shows that it is.