The Hub: A Meta-Project for Managing Your Product Portfolio

What if you had a dashboard for managing your entire product portfolio?

As an indie hacker, I'm constantly juggling multiple product ideas and projects. It can be a real challenge to keep track of everything - the status of each project, the key documents and assets, the metrics and scores. I found myself drowning in a sea of spreadsheets, Notion pages, and Trello boards, with no clear way to get a high-level view of my entire portfolio.

That's why my team and I set out to build a centralized "Hub" - a meta-project that serves as the command center for managing all of our other products and projects. In this article, I'll share how we built our Hub and the key features that have helped us stay organized and make better portfolio-level decisions.

Introducing the Hub: A Centralized Portfolio Dashboard

At its core, the Hub is a visual dashboard that gives us a bird's-eye view of our entire product portfolio. It's not just another project management tool - it's a meta-project that helps us orchestrate and optimize the lifecycle of all our other products.

The Hub provides four key capabilities:

1. Portfolio Dashboard: A high-level overview of all our active projects, including key stats and scores.
2. Workflow Tracking: Visual progress tracking through our discovery and validation processes.
3. Document Discovery: Automatic discovery of all project-related documents, no matter where they're stored.
4. Cross-Navigation: Seamless navigation between the Hub, individual project workflows, and the full document library.

Let's dive into each of these features in more detail.

1. Portfolio Dashboard

This allows us to quickly identify our highest-priority opportunities, spot struggling projects that need attention, and make data-driven decisions about which ideas to focus on.

The dashboard also provides overall portfolio metrics, like total estimated MRR, average portfolio score, and the breakdown of projects by status (discovery, validation, engineering, growth, etc.).

2. Workflow Tracking

For example, when a new idea enters the discovery phase, the Hub will automatically create a "Discovery" card that shows the status of each step - from Niche Intel to JTBD to Opportunity Analysis. As the project moves through the workflow, the Hub updates the card in real-time.

This visual progress tracking helps us identify bottlenecks, celebrate milestones, and ensure that no project gets stuck in limbo.

3. Document Discovery

The Hub solves this by automatically discovering and indexing all project-related documents, no matter where they're stored. Whether it's a NARRATIVE from the discovery phase, a PRICING-TEST from validation, or a PRD from the engineering phase, the Hub will find it and make it easily accessible.

This document discovery feature is powered by a multi-directory search pattern that scans all the relevant folders - /docs/discovery/, /docs/validation/, /docs/product/, /docs/research/, /docs/ideas/, and even legacy project folders.

4. Cross-Navigation

From the dashboard, you can click on a project card to dive into its workflow and see all the associated documents. And from any document, you can quickly jump back to the relevant project or the overall portfolio view.

This tight integration allows us to easily move between the big picture and the granular details, without getting lost in the process.

Building the Hub: Lessons Learned

Creating the Hub wasn't a straightforward process - we faced a number of challenges and had to iterate on our approach. Here are some of the key lessons we learned along the way:

Embrace a Meta-Project Mindset

The most important realization was that the Hub itself needed to be treated as a first-class project, not just a tool or feature. By giving it the same level of attention and rigor as our other product ideas, we were able to build a more robust and sustainable system.

This "meta-project" mindset manifested in a few ways:

• We documented the Hub's vision, requirements, and roadmap just like any other product.
• We used our own discovery and validation processes to validate the Hub's desirability and feasibility.
• We built the Hub using the same frameworks and tooling as our other projects, ensuring consistency and maintainability.

Optimize for Portfolio-Level Decisions

When designing the Hub, we had to constantly keep in mind that its primary purpose was to support portfolio-level decision making, not just project-level management.

This meant prioritizing features and metrics that would help us understand the health and performance of our entire product ecosystem, rather than just the individual components. For example, we focused on aggregate portfolio metrics like total MRR and average portfolio score, rather than just project-specific KPIs.

Embrace Flexible, Multi-Directory Search

One of the key challenges we faced was ensuring that the Hub could discover all relevant project documents, regardless of where they were stored. Our initial approach of just looking in a single "project" directory quickly fell apart as we added more structure to our file system.

To solve this, we implemented a flexible, multi-directory search pattern that scans all the relevant folders - discovery, validation, product, research, ideas, and even legacy project folders. This ensures that the Hub always has a complete view of each project's assets.

Automate as Much as Possible

Building the Hub was a significant investment of time and effort, so we knew we needed to maximize its long-term sustainability and scalability. To achieve this, we focused heavily on automating as many processes as possible.

For example, the document discovery feature is fully automated, with the Hub continuously scanning for new files and updating the index. Similarly, the workflow tracking is driven by standardized templates and rules, rather than manual updates.

By automating these core functionalities, we've been able to scale the Hub to manage an ever-growing portfolio of products without becoming overwhelmed.

Applying the Hub to Your Own Product Portfolio

If you're an indie hacker juggling multiple product ideas and projects, I highly recommend building a centralized Hub like the one we've created. Here are a few steps to get you started:

1. Assess Your Current Situation: Take a step back and evaluate how you're currently managing your product portfolio. What pain points are you experiencing? What information do you wish you had at your fingertips?

2. Define the Hub's Scope and Requirements: Based on your assessment, determine the key capabilities your Hub needs to provide. Will it be a simple dashboard, or a more comprehensive orchestration system? What metrics and workflows do you need to track?

3. Establish a Multi-Directory Document Structure: Organize your project files and assets in a way that makes sense for your workflow. Consider using the directory patterns we've outlined (discovery, validation, product, research, ideas) as a starting point.

4. Automate Document Discovery: Implement a process to automatically scan your project directories and index all relevant documents. This will be a crucial foundation for the Hub's functionality.

5. Build the Portfolio Dashboard: Create a visual dashboard that gives you a high-level view of your entire product portfolio. Focus on the metrics and information that will support your portfolio-level decision making.

6. Integrate Workflow Tracking: Implement a standardized workflow for your discovery and validation processes, and build the Hub's ability to visually track progress through these workflows.

7. Enable Cross-Navigation: Make it easy for users to move between the portfolio dashboard, individual project workflows, and the full document library. This seamless navigation is key to unlocking the Hub's value.

8. Iterate and Improve: Treat the Hub as a living, evolving system. Continuously gather feedback, measure its impact, and make improvements to better serve your needs.

Remember, the Hub is not just a tool - it's a meta-project that should be given the same level of care and attention as your other product ideas. By building a centralized system to manage your entire portfolio, you'll be able to make better decisions, reduce overhead, and focus your energy on the most promising opportunities.

Wrapping Up

In today's fast-paced world of indie hacking, having a clear and organized view of your product portfolio is essential. The Hub provides a powerful solution, serving as a central command center for managing all your projects and ideas.

By giving you a visual dashboard, workflow tracking, document discovery, and seamless navigation, the Hub empowers you to make better portfolio-level decisions, reduce overhead, and focus your efforts on the most promising opportunities.

If you're an indie hacker struggling to keep track of multiple product ideas, I encourage you to consider building a Hub of your own. It's a meta-project that can truly transform the way you approach product creation and portfolio management.

Key Takeaways:

• The Hub is a centralized dashboard for managing your entire product portfolio
• It provides visibility into project status, metrics, and documentation
• Automating document discovery and workflow tracking are crucial for scalability
• Treat the Hub as a first-class meta-project, not just a tool
• Optimize the Hub for portfolio-level decision making, not just project management

What if you had a dashboard for managing your entire product portfolio? It's time to build your own Hub and take control of your indie hacking journey.