Nested Portfolio Hierarchy for Flexible Team Organization

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Solution Overview

Problem

Collaboration environments often present a rigid hierarchical organization of portfolios, projects, and units of work, which can be inflexible and not align with intuitive user approaches, limiting the ability to reflect team structures and efficiently monitor work health.

Innovation Solution

The system allows for the nesting of portfolios within other portfolios, enabling a multi-tiered, hierarchical arrangement where portfolios can be 'multi-homed' and nested, providing a more flexible organization that reflects team structures and improves navigation and communication of work health.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Stability of the object's composition

If portfolios are fixed at the top level of the hierarchy, then the organization structure is clear and precise, but the system becomes rigid and does not align with intuitive user approaches

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvehierarchical structure stabilityVSAvoidportfolio organization flexibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements portfolio nesting by allowing portfolios to contain subordinate portfolios, creating a hierarchical structure where portfolios can be nested within other portfolios. This enables flexible organization while maintaining clear hierarchical relationships, resolving the contradiction between structural stability and organizational flexibility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts portfolio hierarchy levels based on user needs, allowing portfolios to be placed at different levels rather than being fixed at the top level. This dynamic repositioning capability enables the structure to adapt to various organizational requirements while maintaining integrity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Loss of information

If a rigid top-down hierarchy is enforced, then information access is organized and controlled, but navigation becomes tedious and disruptive

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinformation organizationVSAvoidnavigation efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

By nesting portfolios within portfolios, the system creates a more intuitive navigation path that follows natural user mental models. Users can access information through nested portfolio relationships rather than being forced through rigid top-down levels, reducing navigation disruption while maintaining information organization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

3Adaptability or versatility

If portfolios are nested within other portfolios, then organizational flexibility increases and team structures are better reflected, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveportfolio organization flexibilityVSAvoidhierarchical structure complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The nesting mechanism provides a natural way to represent complex organizational structures without requiring separate complex systems. By allowing portfolios to contain subordinate portfolios, the system captures team structures and relationships in an intuitive manner that does not significantly increase operational complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

4Reliability

If multiple portfolio levels are created, then work health monitoring becomes more comprehensive, but the hierarchy becomes seemingly endless and difficult to navigate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvework health monitoring accuracyVSAvoidnavigation simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The nested portfolio structure enables comprehensive work health monitoring at multiple levels while maintaining navigation simplicity. Users can drill down through nested portfolios to monitor work health comprehensively, then easily navigate back up the hierarchy, avoiding the problem of seemingly endless flat structures.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Data Source

PatentUS20240378559A1Systems and methods to facilitate nesting of portfolios within a collaboration environment

Publication Date: 2024.11.14 ASANA INC

AI summary

Systems and methods to facilitate nesting of portfolios within a collaboration environment are described herein. Exemplary implementations may: manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment; obtain hierarchical information for work unit records, project records, and/or portfolio records; update the environment state information based on the role information; specify nested portfolio hierarchical information specific to the portfolio records and specifying individual portfolio records as being subordinate to other individual ones of the portfolio records; effectuate presentation of portfolio pages for the portfolio records within a user interface of the collaboration environment; and/or perform other operations.