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The Portfolio WIP Pilot

2X

Throughput Increase

How a 3-Month Pilot Unlocked 2X Throughput and 46-65% Faster Delivery

The Situation

I ran this pilot with two different kinds of teams: an Enterprise Platform Team and a Customer-Facing Application Team. Both were classic examples of a common problem: trying to do too many things at once. With no constraints on the number of active projects, high-priority work would get started, then stall, as the teams were pulled onto other "urgent" tasks. This constant context switching was destroying their predictability and morale.

The Approach

I proposed and led a formal, 3-month Portfolio WIP Limits Pilot. The goal was simple: prove that by forcing these different teams to focus on fewer parallel initiatives, we could dramatically accelerate the delivery of what mattered most. I measured the 85th percentile cycle time of both teams to get a clear "before" picture.

The Team-Level Results

The results from the pilot exceeded expectations.

Platform Team

Cut their 85th percentile cycle time from 172 days to 80 days (53% improvement).

Application Team

Cut their 85th percentile cycle time from 121 days to 43 days (65% improvement).

The Leadership Verdict

One P&L-owning Product Director put it best:

"It's like getting a second team for free. Our delivery speed has transformed completely."

Ready to Unlock Your Team's Hidden Capacity?

Contact Flow Capital Group to discuss implementing a Portfolio WIP Limits Pilot for your teams.