Application portfolio, fixing approach

by

I was writing about some generic reasons that could cause a portfolio to go in the wrong direction. So how could we improve this situation?

Fix some of the pillars of the delivery of an account is not an easy business, you need to continue delivering, and all that today is in a rush will continue being in that way.

In addition, the fact that you want to drive a change, will have negative impact on the team morale, so you have to prepare a strong plan, communicate it to all the involved people, and define clear strategy, milestones and RACI.

If the situation couldn’t be worst, be sure that the extra resources you need won’t be there.

I want to put in place a model composed by the components shown below:

Portfolio_fixing_modelThe Methodology & Tools used are,

  • Six Sigma DMAIC, to define a life cycle of activities (for instance each wave will be by quarters).
  • Fish bone diagram: for identifying within the team the issues and pain points.
  • FMEA to quantify the identified pain points and define a baseline of activities by area and priority. Here we will also have to define a set of activities to act on the issues.
  • Pareto analysis, to decide the starting point.
  • Balance scorecard: for defining KPIs, metrics and measure the evolution of the activities. Once the waves are being completed, we will have the opportunity to measure the evolution of the change.
  • To do list: you have to implement the actions with a clear RACI that involves the different departments of the company.
  • Project management tool for reporting of the delivery activities and automate the reporting to the delivery managers.

I’m proposing these tool set because they are standard and one of my goals is to align the delivery with the standard of the company. In any case I still think I need to add some other tools.

I have not commented anything about the strategy and tactics of the improvement plan, I will write other day about it.

Leave a Comment