Mentoring

Mentoring for Lean Portfolio Management Success

If you’re stepping into or navigating the complex world of Lean Portfolio Management (LPM), you’re likely balancing strategic alignment, governance, and flow of value across portfolios. You don’t need to go it alone.

As a SAFe SPC6-certified Enterprise Transformation Coach and Consultant with over 30 years in technology, more than 20 years of coaching, and 15+ years of hands-on Agile experience across Fortune 50 enterprises and high-complexity environments, I’m here to help.

Why My Experience Matters to You

I’ve led transformations where Lean Portfolio Management wasn’t just a theory — it was a necessary evolution. I partner with LPM leaders, Lean Portfolio Managers, and supporting roles to:

• Navigate governance and strategic themes while maintaining agile flow and decentralized decision-making
• Coach LACE teams and enterprise executives to align investment funding to value streams
• Drive adoption of portfolio kanban, OKRs, KPIs, and metrics that connect strategy to execution
• Facilitate operational cadence, lean budgeting conversations, and participatory decision-making across leadership coalitions
• Establish and mature portfolio-level tools and workflows, including Jira Align, Rally, Clarity, and others

Direct LPM Experience from My Career

• At Chevron, I coached portfolio leaders during the launch of 13 digital platforms using lean portfolio structures to drive product-based delivery and strategic alignment.
• At Visa, I conducted Value Stream Mapping across six portfolios, reducing waste and enabling better flow from strategy to execution in their Agile Development Framework.
• At Southwest Airlines, I embedded within ARTs and helped form SAFe portfolios that aligned governance with delivery while enabling sustainable flow of value.
• At NextGen, I crafted an 18-month transformation roadmap, helped establish 7 ARTs, introduced OKRs and performance metrics, and helped shift from legacy planning models to quarterly release cadences.
• At Anthem, I partnered with executives to define transformation strategy and operating model alignment, directly supporting Lean Portfolio Management objectives.

Let’s Elevate Your LPM Practice

Whether you’re a Lean Portfolio Manager, an executive sponsor, or a transformation leader looking to shift from project-centric to product-centric thinking, I offer tailored mentorship that meets you where you are — with a human-centered, systems-thinking approach.

This isn’t one-size-fits-all. Together, we’ll explore:

• How to enable strategic agility and funding models that flow to the most valuable work
• How to use tools like Jira Align, Clarity, or Rally to manage LPM work effectively
• How to build operating models and metrics that support continuous improvement and stakeholder confidence

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📩 Ready to transform your LPM approach? Let’s talk.
Email Me | Connect on LinkedIn

Mentoring for SAFe Release Train Engineers (RTEs): Now Accepting Mentees!

Are you an RTE looking to accelerate your growth and effectiveness within your SAFe Agile Release Train? I’m excited to offer 1:1 mentoring for RTEs at any stage of their journey.

🌟 Why Work With Me?

* Proven Success: I’ve mentored RTEs over multi-year periods, helping them rapidly develop both core and advanced capabilities.
* Personalized Guidance: Get practical, actionable advice tailored to your unique challenges and goals.
* Skill Acceleration: Fast-track your leadership, facilitation, and program management skills with hands-on support.

🌟 What You’ll Gain:
* Confidence in navigating ART events and stakeholder management
* Advanced techniques for continuous improvement and value delivery
* A trusted partner for problem-solving and professional growth

🌟 Let’s Ensure the Right Fit! I’m offering a free one-hour session for cultural alignment and to ensure mentor/mentee fit, no obligation.

If you’re ready to take your RTE journey to the next level, let’s connect!

Mentoring for Product Managers: Navigating Lean Portfolio Management

Empowering Product Leaders to Drive Real Value at Scale

Are you a Product Manager navigating the complexities of Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) or working with an Agile Release Train (ART)? Are you looking to strengthen your strategic alignment, optimize your feature flow, or level up your performance in a SAFe environment?

As a certified SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC 6.0) with over 30 years in technology and more than 15 years of Agile experience, much of it guiding product professionals like you across Fortune 50 enterprises, I’m here to help. My background spans both the strategic and executional layers of Lean-Agile transformation, enabling me to guide Product Manager mentoring with clarity, empathy, and precision.

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Why Product Managers Choose Me as a Mentor

As a Product Manager, you’re expected to connect high-level strategy to day-to-day execution—no small feat. My mentoring goes beyond theory. I work side-by-side with you to:

• Clarify and operationalize strategic themes and OKRs.
• Map value streams and align products to measurable business outcomes.
• Translate epics and features into meaningful, prioritized backlogs.
• Design and execute effective PI Planning and Product Increment goals.
• Balance stakeholder needs while maintaining customer-centric focus.
• Interpret data using LPM tools like Broadcom Rally, Clarity, Jira Align, and eazyBI.

Together, we’ll build your confidence as a product leader who can thrive in a dynamic portfolio context.

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Where Experience Meets Empathy

My mentoring is rooted in years of hands-on transformation work:

• At Chevron, I helped launch 13 digital platforms within a product-based LPM structure, coaching Product Managers to internalize lean-agile mindsets and define backlogs aligned to business value.
• At NextGen, I worked with executives and Product Managers to redefine an enterprise-wide operating model. This included lean product development, backlog hygiene, and measurable results—like an 80% reduction in WIP and moving from multi-year to quarterly delivery cycles.
• At Visa, I supported Product Managers through the transition to the Visa Agile Development Framework. We mapped value streams across six portfolios and refined planning and execution cadence in quarterly PIs.
• At Southwest Airlines, I advised Product and Portfolio leaders on sustaining flow and aligning SAFe Portfolio-level practices with business strategy during their cloud transition initiative.
• My work at Anthem and Northwestern Mutual focused heavily on building product management capability within newly formed ARTs—facilitating collaborative planning workshops and coaching on backlog decomposition and feature readiness.

In every case, I serve as a guide—not just to SAFe mechanics, but to product management excellence. I help Product Managers navigate complex stakeholder dynamics, evolving market needs, and shifting organizational priorities.

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What You Can Expect

When we work together, you get more than a mentor—you get a thinking partner:

• Personalized guidance based on your domain, maturity, and business context
• Tactical tools and frameworks you can use immediately—no fluff
• Hands-on mentoring in the tools you use: Jira, Align, Rally, Clarity, eazyBI
• Support for your leadership growth—navigating upward, outward, and across

You’ll develop not only better products but also a stronger presence and purpose as a product leader.