Scaling Agile: Agile Portfolio Management
Your portfolio is fragmented across teams—and waterfall governance is strangling velocity. This course shows you how to scale agile practices across multiple teams without losing control, using proven portfolio management techniques that Fortune 500 companies rely on.
AIU.ac Verdict: Ideal for engineering leads and programme managers juggling multiple agile teams and competing priorities. You’ll gain practical frameworks for dependency management and cross-team alignment. Note: assumes foundational agile knowledge; not a primer on Scrum basics.
What This Course Covers
You’ll explore portfolio-level agile governance, including how to structure backlogs across teams, manage inter-team dependencies, and maintain visibility without micromanagement. The course covers SAFe principles, metrics that matter (velocity trends, cycle time, predictability), and how to communicate roadmaps to stakeholders without reverting to Gantt charts.
Practical modules focus on real scenarios: prioritising work across competing teams, handling blocked dependencies, scaling ceremonies (planning, reviews, retrospectives), and adapting portfolio practices when teams operate at different cadences. Jarrell uses case studies to show how alignment breaks down and how to fix it—essential for anyone managing more than three agile teams.
Who Is This Course For?
Ideal for:
- Engineering Managers & Tech Leads: Managing 3+ agile teams and struggling with cross-team coordination, dependency hell, or stakeholder visibility.
- Programme & Portfolio Managers: Responsible for delivery across multiple teams and need frameworks to scale agile without bureaucracy.
- Scrum Masters & Agile Coaches: Supporting organisations moving beyond single-team Scrum and needing portfolio-level patterns and anti-patterns.
May not suit:
- Agile Beginners: No grounding in Scrum, Kanban, or sprint-based delivery; start with foundational agile courses first.
- Individual Contributors: If you’re not managing teams or influencing portfolio decisions, the strategic focus won’t apply to your day-to-day work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does Scaling Agile: Agile Portfolio Management take?
1 hour 4 minutes. Designed for busy practitioners—digestible in one sitting or split across two sessions.
Do I need SAFe certification to take this course?
No. The course covers SAFe principles and portfolio patterns, but doesn’t require prior SAFe knowledge. Foundational agile experience (Scrum, sprints, backlogs) is assumed.
Will this help if my teams use Kanban instead of Scrum?
Yes. Portfolio management principles—dependency mapping, capacity planning, cross-team alignment—apply across cadence-based and flow-based delivery models.
Who is Jeremy Jarrell?
Pluralsight author and agile practitioner with deep experience scaling delivery across enterprise teams. Only 5.5% of applicants are accepted as Pluralsight course authors, reflecting the rigour of content.
Course by Jeremy Jarrell on Pluralsight. Duration: 1h 4m. Last verified by AIU.ac: March 2026.
