Strategic portfolio management maturity model

I have been looking for a maturity model to assess strategic portfolio management maturity to identify easily what would be the key development areas for an organization. Traditional project portfolio management seems to be quite well studied, and I liked for example this one: Project Portfolio Management maturity model, also Gartner’s Project portfolio and program management maturity model gives really good insights. However only project portfolio management is usually covered and for Strategic portfolio management, I have not found a good one yet. But if you have identified one, I would be really happy to share thoughts with you!

As a part of my academic study, I have been consolidating best practices for different Strategic portfolio management capability areas and this actually lead me to think about what maturity model could look like. This is a lot of fun, as there are so many great practices to explore and I have tried out many practices during the past years, and also learned a lot during my academic interviews. Now I have a beta model available for further experimentation, and if you would like to try out the maturity model within your organization, please be in touch with me!

I will introduce also here some of the thinking behind:

Maturity levels – improving maturity step by step

Organization cannot jump from beginner level to world class – finding the best practices for your organization and implementing the practices requires many small implementation steps, discipline, change management and courage – but it is worth it! Here is my current thinking, what different maturity levels could look like:

BEGINNER – Organization has started to implement basic portfolio management practices. Importance of portfolio management has been recognized by the leadership.

FOUNDATIONS – Important foundation elements of strategic portfolio management and systematical ways of working are in place. Clear priorities create clarity and focus across organization.

ADVANCED – Transparency is created across stakeholders, portfolio is prioritized regularly, and capacity and dependencies are managed efficiently. Common tools and processes are used systematically across organization. Feedback is systematically collected to develop ways of working.

WORLD CLASS – Portfolio is balanced to enable future competitiveness. Practices are optimized across development and product portfolios and organization is continuously learning and improving ways of working.

In real life, many companies are in the Beginner level – strategic portfolio management may have not been a priority in the company, even though for example project management maturity may be high and there is a long tradition of managing a project portfolio. Furthermore, within one organization, there may be portfolios with advanced ways of working, whereas one portfolio may be just getting started.

Maturity grid – selecting your portfolio focus areas

All organizations and portfolios are unique – one portfolio within organization may benefit most of setting up capacity management practices, where as another organization may need more structured governance practices.

Maturity level within one portfolio may also vary a lot between different capability areas – some advanced practices may be in place, but some areas may still be in the beginner level. It is good to have a look across different capability areas to see which areas would require development actions and create a concrete action plan. Maturity grid is a useful tool to map out different capability areas, and also identify where you are now, and where you would like to be. Here is an example, what it could look like:

Quick assessment questions

Here is a list of quick assessment question – as a food for thought! In the actual maturity model, there is a deep dive into different portfolio capability areas with more details to define what good looks like.

If you answered YES to most of the questions, you have many great portfolio management practices in place! Congratulations, that is a fantastic starting point to develop ways of working forward. However, if you answered NO to many questions, that is not unusual either! Many organizations are in the beginning of the journey, and may need some practical help to actually get started.

Do you want get access to SPM maturity model?

To learn more about the maturity model, and to get access to maturity evaluation templates, sign up to Strategic Portfolio Management Fundamentals Online Course including:

• Maturity evaluation,
• ~2 hours of lessons, and an good practices
• Extensive work book you can use with your own portfolio context: