Leonardo’s Prototype Portfolio Review

Leonardo greeted me beside a flying machine, an armored vehicle, a portable bridge, and a mechanical lion that opened its chest during banquets. He explained that each was the highest priority. I explained that this was not prioritization. He sketched a device to prioritize them automatically.

We agreed to score each concept against usefulness, feasibility, patron commitment, learning value, and probability of humiliating the patron in public. Leonardo added elegance as a criterion and weighted it at seventy percent. I adjusted the formula while he was drawing wings on it.

The difficult decision

The portable bridge ranked first. It solved a real problem, used available materials, and could demonstrate value without waiting for the discovery of a lighter century. Leonardo accepted the result, then proposed that the bridge rotate, fold into a musical instrument, and release celebratory doves. Scope control became our next workstream.

“I do not abandon ideas. I merely place them in a future whose budget has not yet objected.”

Leonardo, during backlog refinement

We created three portfolios: Build Now, Learn Next, and Preserve for a More Accommodating Civilization. The third quickly became the largest. This was not failure. It protected extraordinary ideas from being forced into weak projects simply because enthusiasm had arrived before readiness.

At the next review, the bridge prototype worked. The patron crossed safely and asked why it did not roar. Leonardo looked at me. I opened the change log. Some forces are beyond engineering; none are beyond documentation.