Strategic Portfolio Management Overview

Summary

The webinar, led by Brian Dar and Vana Yos, focused on strategic portfolio management within the Atlassian ecosystem, highlighting best practices for PMOs and project portfolio management.
The session detailed the end-to-end workflow: aligning work to enterprise strategy, intake, prioritization, planning, execution, and retrospection, using tools like Jira Product Discovery, Advanced Roadmaps, Structure, Structure Gantt, and BigPicture.
Demonstrations showed how these tools support visualization, dependency management, stakeholder transparency, and risk mitigation for enterprise clients.
Additional resources and training opportunities were shared, with no audience questions at the end.

Brian Dar (Head of Enablement) and Vana Yos (Consultant) introduced themselves and outlined the session goals: to explore strategic portfolio management with Atlassian tools.
Agenda included: rationale for strategic management, methodology (people, process, tools), tool deep dives, and Q&A.

The primary objectives are to align work with enterprise strategy, understand capacity, visualize demand, and manage dependencies.
Emphasized predictability, transparency for stakeholders, fewer emergencies, and risk mitigation.
Stressed the importance of people, then process, then tools in implementing project/portfolio management solutions.

Minimizing changes to team-level workflows and focusing standardization at the program or “team of teams” level.
Encouraged piloting with one enthusiastic team or program before scaling.
Leadership alignment and buy-in are critical for lasting success.

Five stages identified: Intake, Prioritization, Planning, Execution, Retrospection.
Intake: Gathering project/change ideas.
Prioritization: Aligning ideas to business priorities and capacity.
Planning: Breaking down prioritized ideas into actionable work items.
Execution: Teams manage and complete work, typically in Jira.
Retrospection: Continuous improvement via review.

JPD is highlighted as the premier tool for intake and prioritization, allowing flexible prioritization criteria and view customization.
Intake can also be managed via Jira Service Management or project forms but should ultimately feed into JPD for best-in-class prioritization.
Operational vs. project/change work should be flagged and prioritized separately, not cross-prioritized.

Transition from prioritization (in JPD) to planning and execution (in Jira and related tools) is seamless.
Epics/initiatives from JPD can be broken down and tracked for delivery progress.
Stakeholder communications are improved by publishing high-level roadmap views without requiring Jira licenses.

Used for cross-project roadmapping and coordination, free with Jira Cloud Premium/Enterprise.
Provides initiative/epic/story hierarchy views, customizable fields, team capacity visualization, and execution status.
Allows scenario planning and sharing execution roadmaps with internal stakeholders; requires Jira license for access.
Not a traditional Gantt chart—does not support classic dependency/scheduling behaviors or individual capacity planning.

Add-ons for Jira delivering granular Gantt chart-based planning, baseline tracking, and individual/team resourcing.
Supports classic dependencies (FS, SS, SF, FF), duration controls, and conversion of story points to hours.
Structure and Structure Gantt must both be purchased. Offers live data sync and limited sandboxing on cloud.
No in-depth skill-based resource allocation or cross-plan resourcing.

Multi-tool add-on for hybrid agile/waterfall planning with boxes (scoped structures), roadmaps, risk management, and detailed resource/skilling management.
Supports both traditional (Gantt, project stage) and agile (program increment, iteration) structures.
Delivers individual skill/resource allocation and cross-plan resourcing, with advanced resource contouring.
For advanced visualization exports, an additional add-on may be required.

Atlassian’s flagship platform for end-to-end strategic portfolio management, especially suitable for large enterprises and SAFe implementations.
Integrates detailed program/portfolio planning, roadmaps, OKR/strategy tracking, and scaled agile best practices.
Not recommended for small or midsize enterprises; a separate webinar is offered for a deeper dive.

Announced upcoming webinars and classes covering governance, Confluence, JSM, Atlassian Analytics, and administration bootcamps.
Encouraged attendees to use free online resources and reach out directly for consultation or implementation support.

Use Jira Product Discovery for project/change intake and prioritization — Selected based on its flexibility, integration capabilities, and ability to evolve with business needs.

None were raised during the session; the Q&A segment concluded with no further discussion.