Innovation Portfolio Mapping
Innovation Portfolio Mapping is a group exercise in which a leadership or innovation team plots every running innovation project on a grid of strategic objectives against type of innovation. The template published by Board of Innovation puts the objectives from the business strategy across the top and four innovation types down the side: continuous improvement, incremental, radical or disruptive, and architectural. The finished picture shows whether the portfolio is balanced, which objectives have no projects behind them, and whether money and people follow the stated strategy.
Facilitation script
- 1
Open with the purpose: one shared picture of the portfolio, not a performance review of project owners. Walk through the grid, the objectives in the columns and the definition of each innovation type, and adjust the rows if the group asks for a sub-category.
10 min - 2
Check the project list for completeness. Ask what is running that is not on the list and add it. Write one note per project with name, owner and rough budget or headcount.
10 min - 3
Place projects by objective. Owners put their notes in the column of the main objective served. Projects that fit no column go in a marked parking area beside the grid.
15 min - 4
Place projects by innovation type. Go column by column, ask the owner for the row, then ask one other person whether they would place it differently and why.
20 min - 5
Challenge round. As the neutral facilitator, pick the placements that drew disagreement or look optimistic and ask for the evidence. Move notes where the group agrees.
15 min - 6
Read the map together. Ask where it is crowded, where it is empty, what sits in the parking area, and how the spread compares with the actual budget split. Record the observations beside the grid.
20 min - 7
Decide next steps: which projects to stop, merge or re-scope, which objectives need new work, who owns each decision and by when. Photograph the map.
15 min
Tips
Size the notes or add a number for budget or headcount, otherwise ten small experiments look like more commitment than one large programme.
Expect most projects to land in the two lower rows; that is common and only a problem if the strategy claims otherwise.
Keep project owners from defending their own placement for too long by asking a colleague to argue the alternative row first.
Common pitfalls
Letting a project sit in several columns to keep its owner happy, which hides the fact that it serves no objective clearly and makes the map unreadable
Running the session with a facilitator who owns projects on the map, so placements go unchallenged and the picture flatters the status quo
Treating all notes as equal in size, so a row of small pilots looks like a serious commitment to radical innovation when almost all the budget sits elsewhere
Arguing about the definitions of the innovation types during placement instead of fixing them at the start, which uses up the time meant for the balance discussion
Ending with a photographed map and no decisions, after which the portfolio stays exactly as it was
Variations
For a large portfolio, split into groups per business unit, map separately and merge the maps in plenary. Remote teams can run it on a shared whiteboard with one coloured dot per project and a legend for budget size. A lighter version maps only the projects that started in the last twelve months to check whether recent decisions follow the strategy. Pair it with the Innovation Ambition Matrix when you also want to see how far each project moves from the current market and product.
Where it fits
When to use it
The organisation runs more innovation projects than anyone can list from memory and nobody has seen them in one picture
A new or revised strategy has been agreed and you need to check whether the existing projects still serve it
Budget season is close and the leadership team has to decide what to fund, stop or merge
Leaders describe the company as doing radical innovation and you suspect the project list says something else
Several units run similar projects without knowing about each other
When not to use it
There are no agreed strategic objectives yet; the horizontal axis would be invented in the room, so run a strategy session first
You need to rank a handful of ideas against each other; an Impact & Effort Matrix or a decision matrix does that faster
The portfolio has fewer than about six projects; a plain discussion of each one is enough
The people who control budgets are not in the room and will not act on the result; the map then documents a problem nobody present can fix
You want to judge how far each project stretches into new markets and products; use the Innovation Ambition Matrix for that view
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Innovation Portfolio Mapping?▾
It is a workshop exercise for plotting all of an organisation's innovation projects on one grid. Strategic objectives run across the top and types of innovation run down the side, so each project gets one position. The team then reads the map to judge balance, gaps and whether resources follow the strategy.
Which innovation types does the grid use?▾
The Board of Innovation template lists four: continuous improvement, incremental, radical or disruptive, and architectural. The tool invites you to add sub-categories where your context needs them. Agree the definitions before placing projects, because most disputes in the session come from people using the same word differently.
How long does Innovation Portfolio Mapping take?▾
The source gives no duration. In practice, plan 60 to 120 minutes for a portfolio of 15 to 40 projects with a prepared project list. Collecting the list beforehand saves the most time.
Who should be in the room?▾
The people who own the projects, the people who own the strategy, and at least one person with authority over budget. Add a facilitator who has no project on the map. Four to twelve participants is workable; above that, split by business unit and merge the maps.
How is it different from the Innovation Ambition Matrix?▾
The Innovation Ambition Matrix sorts initiatives into core, adjacent and transformational by how new the market and the offering are. Innovation Portfolio Mapping ties each project to a named strategic objective and to an innovation type. Use the first to discuss how bold the portfolio is and the second to check whether it serves the strategy you have written down.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Board of Innovation.