Agile renders traditional project portfolio metrics useless. The main steering lever used to be end dates; with Agile, the main lever is scope. Executives and business stakeholders still expect traditional commitments and deadlines, not “sprints” and “velocity.” Project portfolio management (PPM) could barely stay current with traditional projects on a quarterly basis - the challenge is even greater with Agile projects that change every two weeks. Further complicating things, Agile will not completely replace traditional or waterfall projects. Most portfolios include a mix of projects. Critical Insight The traditional portfolio has defined success based on the quality of prediction: who will deliver what, when, and at what cost? The long-term value of the work was less important than the accuracy of those predications. Project agility should help drive business agility, assuming that the portfolio is itself Agile. Portfolio management and project management are separate concerns. The portfolio management methodology needs to interface with projects (and vice versa) but they have distinct goals, terminology, and methodology. Impact and Result Increase frequency of current reporting to at least biweekly using an Agile Portfolio Dashboard. Tailor the process to your organization with either an “engaged” or “abstracted” approach. The engaged approach requires stakeholders to frequently interact with project teams to manage and refine scope. The abstracted approach is more traditional, with projects steered largely through high-level budgeting and resource allocation.

1. Manage an Agile Portfolio.
Improve project oversight without imposing old-school command-and-control.
Project portfolio owners want to make the organization as a whole more strategically agile and responsive. Project portfolio managers find themselves squeezed between old-school IT governance and fast-moving agile project teams.
Despite significant spending on project management offices (PMOs) and governance, our members report that their PMO does not produce usable and current information about project investments and the organization’s capacity for more.
The traditional portfolio has defined success based on the quality of prediction: who will deliver what, when, and at what cost? The long-term value of the work was less important than the accuracy of those predications.
Portfolio management and project management are separate concerns. The portfolio management methodology needs to interface with projects (and vice versa) but they have distinct goals, terminology, and methodology.
Business and portfolio agility aren’t necessarily tied to Agile projects. Agile project management is necessary but not sufficient for portfolio business agility. Many organizations leave benefits on the table by failing to support Agile projects with
Agile practices around the portfolio and strategy.

11. http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/manage-an-agile-
portfolio