From reactive to proactive management: How Obeya is transforming portfolio management

Within many organisations, portfolio management is still too often reactive. Information is fragmented and reports are incomplete. Steering group meetings then mainly revolve around the question: “Where do we stand?” instead of “Where do we want to go and how do we get there?”

A missed opportunity, according to Tim Dijkstra, consultant at Improven. The power of portfolio management lies in providing direction, making choices and putting energy into what really contributes to the strategic objectives.

The reason: Acting on gut feeling

I encountered precisely this problem for a client. Hundreds of innovation initiatives were being invested in worldwide to digitise the supply chain. Money, capacity and knowledge were being used for this, but the effective results of each of these efforts were unclear. It proved very difficult to see which investments really added value to the strategic objectives.

What was missing was an integrated management overview that provided insight into both what all the initiatives yielded separately and how they formed the bigger picture together. Without such an overview, portfolio management is a reactive process, whereas its strength lies in providing proactive direction.

The breakthrough: Obeya as a central cockpit

Fortunately, there is a way to facilitate insight, transparency and action. Obeya, literally translated from Japanese as ‘big room’. The idea is simple: bring all relevant information, goals and stakeholders together in one room to make the right decisions.

Of course, these days these are no longer physical spaces. Obeya now finds its place as a digital dashboard. However, the principle remains the same: the right information, in the right form, in the right place, in order to, as you understand, make the right decisions.

“Obeya ensures that you no longer discuss what went wrong after the fact, but identifies whether objectives will be achieved, so that you can make timely adjustments where necessary,” explains Tim.

Obeya supports strategic project portfolio management by providing a comprehensive overview, facilitating decision-making and creating transparency. I will discuss this in more detail later in this article.

The solution: Three ways Obeya makes a difference

1. Make it comprehensive and visual

Where traditional reports provide isolated snapshots, Obeya offers a single, up-to-date overview of the entire portfolio. Consider:

Progress in the development of new initiatives
The realised and expected savings and/or value creation
End-user satisfaction

A single source of truth, specifically tailored to the KPIs that are important to the organisation. Using this tool, decision-makers can see at a glance what is going well, where delays are occurring and where action is needed. In this way, Obeya facilitates discussions and prioritisation at the customer's site.

2. Facilitate switching at different levels.

The strength of Obeya lies not only in displaying data at portfolio level, but also in being able to zoom in.
The brewer's senior management can now:

Switch between portfolio, product or project level;
Analyse performance by continent, country and even regional level;
Compare trends over time, such as total duration, annually or quarterly.

When results fall short, it is important to zoom in on exactly where things are going wrong. For example: is the adoption of an initiative lagging behind across an entire continent, or within one specific country? And when realised savings from the portfolio are lagging behind, which specific projects are involved? By refining at this level, the underlying cause becomes visible and targeted interventions can be deployed to effectively remedy the situation.

3. Transparency is crucial

Obeya only really works when information is shared with everyone who has an influence on the success of the portfolio. By opening up dashboards to stakeholders at different levels, a shared understanding of goals, progress and impact is created among customers. Teams spoke the same language, worked from the same data and saw how their work contributed to the bigger picture.

It gives everyone involved a sense of ownership. They see how they contribute to the overall picture, but can also be held accountable for their specific responsibilities.

The impact: steering based on insight, not on feelings

Obeya is not just a tool, but facilitates effective portfolio management. By visualising information, revealing connections and ensuring transparency, it helps organisations grow from reactive reporting to proactive management.

For the customer, this meant:

A single, uniform view of the global innovation portfolio
Tackling barriers at their core
More responsible and better performance

At Improven, we believe that strong portfolio management is not just about where you are, but where you want to go and how you get there. Obeya makes that a reality!

Would you like to discover how your portfolio can guide strategy more effectively? We would be happy to show you how Obeya can work in your context in a short session.