Concept: Work Pipeline |
Work pipeline is an embedded notion of the demand management model. It is a construct used to group requests coming into the portfolio into common categories to facilitate their organization and to streamline their processing within the portfolio.
Relationships
Related Elements | Balance and Authorize Portfolio Categorize Components Consolidate Demand Define and Prioritize Portfolio Evaluate Components Identify Components Select Components
Main Description
When looking at the sum of all demands typically considered as part of a large portfolio, a variety of types and characteristics can be identified within the numerous requests being considered. Depending on its size, impact, value, complexity, and numerous other factors and criteria, a given request can be subjected to more or less oversight and controls, and it can require more or less formality and procedural support. The work pipeline construct allows dividing the overall demand funnel into subcategories. In this way, the supporting process and procedures can be adapted to fit the needs and requirements of a particular category of requests. Typically, at one end of the spectrum are requests for larger, longer-duration investments, such as new products or strategic projects, which often require lengthy justifications, careful preplanning and rigorous governance oversight. At the other end of the spectrum are much smaller, short-duration requests, such as Help Desk user requests, which typically can be processed by using lighter forms and procedures, with minimal governance requirements. When looking at the distribution of the sum of all requests coming into the portfolio, it is also common to find the largest proportion of demands for the smaller requests category; the 80-20 rule-of-thumb is quite applicable to this distribution. The challenge lies in how to efficiently manage all of those requests and to apply the right amount of process and controls, without grinding everything to a halt when peak demand loads are brought into the portfolio. The work pipeline construct provides the framework to group requests of similar types, adapt the process to their specific needs, and extend the right amount of oversight and governance. Depending on particular needs and requirements of different industries and market segments, the work pipeline categories change to reflect grouping of characteristics or criteria of interest. But the basic framework and its resulting benefits remain entirely applicable across the range of industries and market segments. ### How the pipelines work Figure 1 illustrates work pipelines. As mentioned, work pipeline is a notion of demand management, so it is properly represented by using a funnel metaphor. In this case, there are three examples of work pipelines: Infrastructure New features Product families Figure 1. Work pipelines As the graphic shows, work pipelines are a subdivision of the total demand being processed as part of the portfolio. This requires that requests coming into the portfolio be properly defined and classified according to predefined criteria and metrics so that prioritization can be optimized within each work pipeline. The objective is to maximize the overall value of the portfolio while minimizing portfolio risks. ### How to develop work pipelines The following steps describe a high-level overview of the method to develop work pipelines: Define the sources and types of work. The objectives of this step are to understand the variety of requests, their specific characteristics, and their sources. Develop criteria based on work pipelines categories. This is done to facilitate classification of requests, to promote standardization, and to ensure that the request brought into a particular work pipeline fits the category. Prioritize and sequence requests to maximize portfolio alignment. One of the fundamental objectives of portfolio management is to ensure alignment between the activities undertaken within the portfolio with the organization’s strategic objectives and direction. Develop strategic resource consumption targets. This step is about controlling how much of total capacity should be consumed by maintenance work vs. enhancements work vs. project work. This approach provides executives with the means to set explicit targets and monitor how the day-to-day operations measure against those targets. Release to capacity by work pipelines. This step is about monitoring that work released to the operations and project teams relative to these teams’ capacities to do the work. It is well-documented that systematically overloading teams directly impacts their productivity. This approach provides the means to measure, monitor, and adjust the amount of work released to the teams to promote productive and cohesive implementation. Monitor variances and balance portfolio. After you have done all you can to ensure that work authorized and released contributes to the strategic direction (by using standard criteria and measurements), the remaining focus is to maintain the portfolio. ### Benefits Aside from the adaptability advantage already illustrated, this framework also lowers the overall cost of managing the sum of all user demands into the portfolio. This framework makes it possible to accelerate the treatment of small, high-volume and low-impact requests, yet it ensures proper treatment of high-impact ones. This framework also provides the flexibility to adapt to particular needs of different market segments and industries. The hardware development industry will likely gravitate toward a construct of work pipelines as illustrated previously; whereas, software development industry will probably develop categories better suited to software products and projects.
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