06. PMR: Finding Your Sweet Spot
Let's wrap up this trilogy of PMR blogs. Traditionally, PMR "manages all changes to the portfolio of products, or services, making and routinely reviewing an achievable plan of activities designed to improve portfolio health across the entire product lifecycle." That's the textbook definition (thanks to Oliver Wight) - but how you achieve this can vary. In my last couple of blogs, we went from dead-simple PMR (three basics of your innovation pipeline) to exploring broader possibilities. Today, let's find your sweet spot -- because forcing a global enterprise approach onto a regional manufacturer is senseless.
You can think of PMR scope like camera settings - sometimes you need a tight macro shot, sometimes you need the full pano. Let's zoom in (and out) on what I see as the three core options.
The Innovation Focus: Pure and Simple
This is PMR stripped down to its essentials - pure innovation pipeline focus. Like using macro mode to capture a single flower. You'll miss the garden, but you'll see every pollen grain that matters.
The basics here are clear and discussed in detail in an earlier blog:
IN: New product ideas (both the crazy and the brilliant)
THROUGH: Development velocity and smoothness
OUT: Launch success (or those educational failures we all pretend we saw coming)
This is ideal for organisations where innovation is oxygen -- tech startups, disruptive players, companies where speed trumps size. But watch out for resource conflicts lurking outside your frame.
The Portfolio Balance: The Sweet Spot
Here's where you adjust your lens to capture both innovation and existing products. Think of it as "portrait mode" -- keeping your subject sharp while maintaining enough context to tell the story.
Your focus expands to cover:
Innovation across both new and existing products
Performance-based portfolio pruning (saying goodbye to yesterday's stars)
Meaningful whole-of-portfolio health metrics
Resource allocation across your key products (everything can't be a priority)
Market alignment (making sure you're shooting at the right targets)
This sweet spot works best for companies juggling both innovation and operational excellence (whether they're manufacturing products or delivering services). It's where most organisations should probably live -- complex enough to be meaningful, simple enough to be manageable, and aligned with PMR's traditional purpose of maintaining portfolio health across the entire product lifecycle.
While the Portfolio Balance approach suits many organisations, some may find themselves ready for an even broader perspective. This brings us to our final and most comprehensive option:
The Enterprise View: An Emerging Frontier
Here's where I've seen the boundaries being pushed - combining traditional PMR with enterprise program office (EPO) functions to create a comprehensive view of ALL major initiatives -- product & portfolio, capital expenditure and transformations to name a few. It's an approach that challenges conventional thinking about the PMR.
In this expanded view, you're looking at:
Whole-of-portfolio view of product and service initiatives
All major capital expenditure programs (including IT)
Business transformation activities
Expansions, mergers & acquisitions
This broad enterprise-wide scope looks at everything that consumes a company's scarce resources -- in effect, it asks, and answers the questions -- can we, and should we, do all this work?
This is a new approach, but I think it shows promise for organisations with mature product portfolios where the real complexity lies in managing multiple concurrent transformational programmes, or those seeking to align previously disparate initiatives toward company strategic objectives. It requires robust processes, organisational readiness and a level of bravery for this level of integrated oversight. While intriguing, it's definitely not for everyone - and certainly not a starting point for most organisations.
Real Talk: Finding Your Fit
Before you define (or redefine) your PMR scope, ask yourself:
How mature is our product/service offering?
Do we have the resources to do this work?
What's our capacity for change?
Are we ready for this level of transparency?
Does our current PMR process deliver on its core purpose?
To determine your readiness for each approach, consider:
Innovation Focus: Suitable if you're a startup, in a rapidly evolving industry or simply just want to focus on the bright-shiny objects. You're ready if you can effectively manage your innovation pipeline and have a clear process for idea generation, development, and launch.
Portfolio Balance: Appropriate for established companies with a mix of new and existing products. You're prepared if you can balance innovation with maintaining current offerings, have robust portfolio health metrics, and can allocate resources effectively across your product range.
Enterprise View: Suitable for large, complex organisations with mature portfolios. You're ready if you really need strong cross-functional collaboration, possess the capability to integrate product, capital, and transformation initiatives into a cohesive strategy, and need to know if you have the resources to do all that looming work.
Here's a truth: While all organisations must innovate or die, the pace and scope of that innovation varies dramatically. In their PMR, many companies succeed with a focused Innovation view - and that's perfectly fine. Others find their sweet spot in the Portfolio Balance approach, managing both innovation and existing products effectively. A select few might be ready to experiment with a broader Enterprise View, but only if they've mastered the basics first. The key is to start where you are, not where you think you should be.
Remember, whether you go narrow or wide, your PMR still needs to deliver on its core purpose - managing portfolio changes and maintaining portfolio health. The best PMR isn't the most complex or the simplest -- it's the one that drives better decisions in your business.
Success comes from thoughtful design: understanding what to include, but more importantly, what to deliberately leave out. Like any great design, PMR excellence isn't about adding more elements, but about reaching that point of perfect balance where nothing more needs to be added or removed.
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Do you have a PMR sweet spot? Share your experience -- your reality might help someone else.
About me: An IBP practitioner who believes that finding your perfect PMR setup is like finding the right lens -- it's not about having the most expensive gear, it's about knowing what you need to capture.
Want more straight talk about IBP and portfolio management? Find me at www.planninglab.co.nz
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