Portfolio Management

I recently wrote about the challenge of managing different versions of a platform when we have projects that use the same base, but have specificities inherent to each one. In addition to the different cores, we also have different versions for each device.

But another important point is portfolio management. Be it content or tools. To what extent should certain content be available to the user? How to measure it?

I remember when I was working on an educational portal project. The dilemma was the same because, obviously, the portfolio cannot grow indefinitely, since this entails an increase in the cost of managing the platform. In that project, one of the tools we had was the “Grade Bulletin”. This case is emblematic because consulting a grade, whether for a student or for their parents, is not an action that is done on a daily basis. You consult the grade of a period once and will only do it again in the following period. So if we measure the resource usage it will be low. But does anyone doubt that consulting the grade is important?

There doesn't seem to be a single measurement formula for the entire portfolio. The commercial, marketing and curation departments must understand the purpose of the asset and create models that define when content or a tool should be removed from the platform. Whether because there is already a small audience (movies, for example) or because a certain feature did not achieve the expected results.

The technical part must always be on the lookout for new solutions that can replace old resources with more modern technologies such as, for example, an effective search engine and interfaces that improve the user experience. After all, there is no point in having an extensive catalog if the user cannot access what interests him. In addition, of course, providing to othres departments reliable analytics to help them with portfolio management decision-making.