Lean Portfolio Management designed in workshops, then made operational in Clarity and Jira

1. Strategic context

The IT function was starting a Lean-Agile transformation. Clarity was in place for portfolio management, Jira for execution.

2. What was blocking execution

The Lean Portfolio Management framework had to be built, and above all made to work in the existing tools. The Epic lifecycle, prioritisation and funding had no equivalent in Clarity or Jira, and portfolio reporting was produced by hand.

3. Work on the model and governance

Design workshops for the framework: the Epic lifecycle, the Portfolio Kanban, WSJF prioritisation, capacity funding rules, strategic steering. Every rule was discussed knowing how it would be represented in the tool.

4. Putting it to work

Workflows linking Epics to trains, implementation launches, RACI alignment for the portfolio governance forums, and the connection with PI Planning. We wrote the user stories and specifications, and led the development team.

5. Tools and data

The model was translated into Clarity for the portfolio and funding, and into Jira for execution. We also supported the evolution of the Clarity platform.

6. Decisions and results made possible

Portfolio decisions rely on data from the tools rather than on rebuilt spreadsheets. The path of an Epic, from idea to funding to delivery, can be read in Clarity and Jira.

7. What we learned

A portfolio model does not exist until it has an equivalent in the tool. Designing it with its representation in mind, then configuring it knowing which decisions it serves, avoids discovering later that it could never be built into the tools.

See also: Lean Portfolio Management · Clarity PPM · Jira and Confluence