Scoping a Scattered Pilot Portfolio for a Fashion Retail Chain
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Overview
What we built
A fashion retailer had eleven technology pilots running at once and no way to tell which deserved real money. Six weeks later it had two funded scale-ups, three time-boxed retests, and a standing rule for every idea after that.
In plain terms: this 42-store fashion retailer was trialling technology everywhere, virtual try-on kiosks, an AI styling assistant, RFID stock tags and more, with eleven pilots in flight at once. Each was championed by a different department, none had success criteria or a decision owner, and vendor contracts quietly renewed without review. The board wanted to invest in what worked but could not tell what, if anything, actually did.
We ran a six-week discovery and scoping engagement to force the question. We catalogued every pilot and its contract, interviewed store teams and head-office stakeholders, and scored each initiative on a common scorecard covering customer impact, unit economics and integration effort. The portfolio shrank from 11 pilots to 2 funded scale-ups and 3 time-boxed retests, releasing around $300,000 a year in vendor contracts for the retired ones, and the scorecard now gates every new store-technology idea.
The Problem
Eleven pilots, no scale criteria
Pilot culture had run ahead of pilot discipline. Over time, eleven separate technology trials had accumulated across the 42 stores: virtual try-on kiosks in some locations, an AI styling assistant in others, RFID stock tags elsewhere, each backed by a different department with its own vendor relationship and its own private version of what success would look like.
None of the pilots had written success criteria, so none could fail. None had a decision owner, so none could be stopped. Budget visibility was fragmented across departmental lines, and vendor contracts renewed unreviewed simply because no renewal had a name attached to it. The RFID stock-accuracy pilot, arguably the strongest of the lot, had run for 14 months without anyone deciding whether to scale it.
For store teams the portfolio was noise: another device to maintain, another login, another head-office initiative of unclear status. For the board it was worse, a growing line of spend that could not be defended or cut, because nobody could say which pilots, if any, deserved real investment. Every quarter the question was deferred, and every quarter the deferral got more expensive.
No success criteria
Not one of the eleven pilots had a written definition of success, so no trial could ever conclude, and every initiative drifted on indefinitely.
No decision owners
Each pilot was championed by a department but owned by no one, leaving nobody accountable for the call to scale, park or retire it.
Contracts on autopilot
Vendor agreements renewed unreviewed because renewal dates were not tracked anywhere central, locking in spend for pilots nobody had evaluated.
Blind portfolio spend
Budget sat scattered across departmental lines with no consolidated view, so the board could not weigh the pilots against each other or against anything else.
What it was costing them
Eleven concurrent pilots meant eleven vendor relationships, eleven maintenance burdens on store teams, and a portfolio bill that renewed itself without scrutiny: around $300,000 a year was eventually found tied up in contracts for pilots that would be retired. Meanwhile the genuinely promising initiatives were starved of a decision, with the RFID pilot waiting 14 months for a scale call that ultimately took 6 weeks to reach.
The Solution
Scorecard-driven pilot triage
We started with a plain inventory: every pilot, its vendor contract, its renewal date, its actual footprint in stores. Simply seeing the full list in one place changed the conversation, because it was the first time anyone had counted. Alongside the catalogue we interviewed store teams and head-office stakeholders, capturing how each pilot performed on the shop floor rather than in its champion's slide deck.
Then we built the evaluation scorecard: a common frame weighing customer impact, unit economics and integration effort, applied identically to all eleven pilots. Each was assessed against store-level data rather than vendor claims, and every assessment ended in one of three verdicts: scale, park or retire. The verdicts came with reasons attached, which is what made the retirements stick.
For the two pilots worth scaling we went further, delivering a scoped plan covering rollout sequencing, integration work and ownership. The scorecard itself was designed to outlive the engagement: it became the standing gate for store-technology proposals, so new ideas now earn investment through the same test the survivors passed.
Key decisions
One scorecard for every pilot
All eleven pilots were judged on the same dimensions, customer impact, unit economics and integration effort, ending the era of department-by-department special pleading.
Store data over vendor claims
Assessments used store-level data and frontline interviews, so verdicts reflected what happened on shop floors rather than what vendor decks promised.
Every verdict gets an owner
Each scale, park or retire call was attached to a named decision owner, so no pilot could ever again drift without someone accountable for its future.
Retire at renewal, not mid-term
Retired pilots were wound down at their contract renewal dates, releasing spend cleanly without penalties or abrupt removals from stores.
Make the gate permanent
The scorecard was handed over as a standing evaluation gate for store-technology proposals, so the discipline survives beyond the engagement itself.
Measurable Impact
What changed after launch
The portfolio went from 11 concurrent initiatives to 2 funded scale-ups and 3 time-boxed retests, each retest now carrying the success criteria and decision owner it had always lacked. Retiring the rest released around $300,000 a year in vendor contracts at their first renewal date, spend the board can now redirect deliberately.
The RFID stock-accuracy pilot finally got its answer: a scale decision approved in 6 weeks after 14 months without one. And the discipline outlasted the project. The evaluation scorecard became the standing gate for store-technology proposals, with 5 new ideas assessed through it the following quarter, each arriving with criteria, an owner and a comparable score from day one.
Pilot portfolio
11 concurrent pilots with no shared evaluation
2 funded scale-ups and 3 time-boxed retests
Vendor spend
Contracts renewing unreviewed across departments
Around $300,000 a year released at first renewal
Decision speed
RFID pilot unresolved after 14 months
Scale decision approved in 6 weeks
New proposals
Championed department by department, no gate
5 ideas assessed through the standing scorecard next quarter
Headline results
Pilot portfolio consolidated from 11 concurrent initiatives to 2 funded scale-ups and 3 time-boxed retests
Around $300,000 a year in vendor contracts for retired pilots released at their first renewal date
Scale decision for the RFID stock-accuracy pilot approved in 6 weeks after 14 months without one
Evaluation scorecard adopted as the standing gate for store-technology proposals, with 5 new ideas assessed through it the following quarter
Tech & Tools Used
What powered the build
Every tool below earned its place in this engagement. Here is the part each one played.
Miro
Hosted the portfolio-mapping workshops where every pilot's purpose, footprint and champion were laid out side by side for the first time.
Airtable
Held the pilot and contract register, tracking vendors, renewal dates, departmental owners and scorecard verdicts in one queryable place.
Figma
Used to document each pilot's in-store customer experience and to sketch how the two scale-up journeys would work across the wider estate.
Looker Studio
Powered the scorecard readouts, presenting every pilot's customer impact, unit economics and integration effort in one comparable view for the board.
Google BigQuery
Brought store-level transaction and stock data together so each pilot's real effect could be assessed against evidence rather than vendor claims.
Notion
The home of the evaluation scorecard, the verdict rationales and the standing-gate documentation new store-technology proposals now pass through.
Jira
Carries the scoped delivery plans for the two scale-ups, with rollout sequencing and integration work broken into owned tickets.
Google Workspace
Supported stakeholder interviews and shared working documents throughout the engagement, from store-team conversation notes to the final recommendation pack.
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