Quarterly planning promises predictability but only ever delivers theatre. By the time the next steering meeting rolls around…
Speaker
Colleen Johnson
Agenda
6:30pm - Welcome
6:35pm - Intro from Chair
6:40pm - Talk
7:40pm - Questions and answers
8:00pm - Closing
Synopsis
Quarterly planning promises predictability but only ever delivers theatre.
By the time the next steering meeting rolls around, the data is stale, the risks have shifted, and the decisions you needed to make three weeks ago are now damage control.
Continuous portfolio flow replaces that cadence with something leaders can actually use: a live stream of signals - ageing initiatives, drifting forecasts, throughput shifts, and changing probabilities of delivery - that surface risk as it's moving, not after it's landed.
In this session, Colleen Johnson shares the portfolio-level flow metrics worth watching, the patterns that predict trouble, and how to build a decision rhythm that replaces opinion-driven steering with evidence.
If your quarterly reviews feel more like status theatre than strategic steering, this talk will give you a different game to play.
About the speaker
Colleen Johnson is the CEO of ProKanban.org and one of the most in-demand coaches, consultants, and speakers in the global flow community.
For more than 25 years, she has helped organisations apply systems thinking to align flow practices end-to-end, bringing deep expertise in portfolio and enterprise Kanban and a sharp eye for connecting decisions directly to economic outcomes.
Colleen is co-author of The Kanban Pocket Guide and The Flow Forecasting Pocket Guide, and co-founder of ScatterSpoke, an Atlassian Ventures portfolio company that turns feedback data into actionable improvements.
Her client work spans Home Depot, Southwest Airlines, Wells Fargo, eTrade, and many others across industries.
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