What is product portfolio management and how does it differ from product prioritization?

1 Product portfolio management

Product portfolio management (PPM) is the process of managing the collection of products or services that a company offers to its customers. It involves evaluating the performance, alignment, and potential of each product or service in relation to the company's vision, mission, and objectives. PPM helps you decide which products or services to invest in, maintain, grow, or retire, based on criteria such as market demand, customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, profitability, and strategic fit. PPM also helps you balance the risks and rewards of your product portfolio, and optimize the allocation of resources across different products or services.

2 Product prioritization

Product prioritization is the process of ranking the features, enhancements, or improvements that you want to add to a specific product or service. It involves assessing the value, effort, and impact of each item on your product backlog, and selecting the ones that will deliver the most benefits to your customers and your business. Product prioritization helps you focus on the most important and urgent problems or opportunities that your product or service can solve or address, and avoid wasting time and resources on low-value or low-priority items. Product prioritization also helps you communicate your product vision and roadmap to your stakeholders, and align your product development efforts with your customer needs and expectations.

3 How they differ

Product portfolio management and product prioritization differ in several ways. First, they operate at different levels of granularity and scope. PPM deals with the whole set of products or services that a company offers, while product prioritization deals with the individual features or enhancements of a single product or service. Second, they have different time horizons and frequencies. PPM is a long-term and strategic process that requires periodic reviews and adjustments, while product prioritization is a short-term and tactical process that requires continuous feedback and validation. Third, they have different objectives and outcomes. PPM aims to maximize the value and performance of the entire product portfolio, while product prioritization aims to maximize the value and performance of a specific product or service.

4 How they work together

Product portfolio management and product prioritization are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary processes that can work together to achieve your business goals. PPM provides the context and direction for product prioritization, by defining the strategic vision, mission, and objectives of your company, and identifying the key products or services that support them. Product prioritization provides the execution and delivery for PPM, by defining the specific features, enhancements, or improvements that will make your products or services more valuable, usable, and desirable for your customers. By aligning your product portfolio management and product prioritization processes, you can ensure that you are investing in the right products or services, and delivering the right features or enhancements, to create value for your customers and your business.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?