Agile Product Management: Getting from Backlog to Value

Introductions

Adam Asch

adam@leadingagile.comadam.asch@gmail.com212.321.0553www.leadingagile.comtwitter.com/leadingagiletwitter.com/adamaschfacebook.com/leadingagilelinkedin.com/in/adamasch

Lean+Agile Atlanta Unconference – Nov. 4

http://www.leanagileatlanta.com/

4

Teams: Scaled• Defines/ Articulate strategic business goals

• Defines success criteria for what we are trying to achieve

• Gets funding

Portfolio Team

• Defines epics, features, & stories to align with & execute on strategic business goals

• Manages the backlog• Accepts “Done” work

Product Owner Team

• Defines How we will deliver• Defines technical stories• Responsible for quality

Delivery Team

5

Team Focus Epics & Releases

How can we release value incrementally?What subset of business objectives will each release achieve?What user constituencies will the release serve?What general capabilities (big stories) will the release offer?Stories & Quality

What user or stakeholder need will the story serve?How will it specifically look and behave?How will I determine if it’s completed?

Product & Project Goals & StrategyWhat business objectives will the product fulfill?Features & Iterations

What specifically will we build? (user stories)How will this iteration move us toward release objectives?Iteration GoalDevelopment & Delivery Tasks

Team

Portfolio Team

Product Owner Team

Delivery Team

ScrumBacklog Planning

Iteration Planning

Sprint w/ Daily Stand-

up

Demo

Release

Retrospective

24 hrs.

2 weeks

ProductBacklog

SprintBacklog

“Fit for Release” Product Increment

Feedback

Continuous Improvement

Example Product Lifecycle

7

Discovery* Vision* Goals* Scope•Success Criteria

Inception* Business Epics * Technology Epics* High-Level Estimates* Milestones

Iteration Zero* Environments* User Stories* Release Planning* Iteration Planning

Delivery* Build* Test* Demo* Deploy

Closing* Final Delivery* Partner Training* User Documentation* Technical Documentation

Benefit & Support* Track Functionality* Measure Benefit* Capture Feedback* Define Need

Project Lifecycle

8

Discovery* Vision* Goals* Scope•Success Criteria

Inception* Business Epics * Technology Epics* High-Level Estimates* Milestones

Iteration Zero* Environments* User Stories* Release Planning* Iteration Planning

Closing* Final Delivery* Partner Training* User Documentation* Technical Documentation

Benefit & Support* Track Functionality* Measure Benefit* Capture Feedback* Define Need

Backlog Planning

Iteration Planning

Sprint w/ Daily

Stand-up

Demo

Release

Retrospective

Plan-Driven vs. Value-Driven

9

Plan-Driven Value-Driven

Scope

ScopeCost Time

Cost TimeFIXED

VARIABLE

Agile Requirements – Increments of Value

10

• Epics are collections of related features that solve a business problem. (Example: “Shopping Cart Checkout”)

• Features are smaller than epics and are a specific piece of functionality. (Example: “Checkout using credit card”)

• Stories are the smallest increment of value, and should be contained within a sprint. (Example: “Checkout using Visa”)

Epic

Feature

Story

Working Tested Product

11

Working Tested Product

Progress

Working Tested Value

12

Working Tested Product

In Production

Value

The Horizon of Predictability

13

HOP helps us to determine when we create consumable requirements.

The Cone of Uncertainty

14

Product Backlog: Prioritization & Ordering

15

• Product backlogs are prioritized by business value, where the drivers of business value are:– Increasing revenue– Reducing cost– Maintaining compliance– Improving service– Learning

• Product owners must work with team to also order the backlog. Ordering is based on:– Risk– Complexity– Demand– Dependencies (from/ to other projects or systems)

Exercise

16

• You will receive a list of foods• Working in groups, list the foods in

order of difficulty to prepare for consumption

• Anyone on the team can move the foods around until consensus is reached

PerformancePerformance is the measure of ability for the capability to satisfy our expectation of the delivered results of that capability. What we are asking is what level does this capability perform or need to perform in order to achieve the result we expect to be able to achieve our goal?

• Currently Largely unknown

• From the perspective of satisfaction from the end user or target segment• Does this capability support perform suitably?

• Content – Can the User Find Information, Is the Information Valuable?

• Technology – Is the technology reliable and available?

• Features – Can the User perform the tasks they need to?

• UX/Process – Is the experience optimized for the User?

Performance - Applied• Does the current level of performance (speed, bandwidth,

calculations, response time, user interaction) fulfill the need we are trying to address?

• Is the performance gap a factor of technology or content?• Can we address the goal with current capabilities – Is what

we currently have Adequate for what we need to do?• If we improve the performance of the capability will we see

a large enough return to warrant the effort?

Business Value

• Question: If we could improve the performance of this capability 10x would it improve our ability to achieve our strategy?– Assumptions

• Current performance is adequate– Local Goals and Organizational Strategy must be aligned

• Business Value is a definitive quantifiable behavior, action or outcome that can be measured and mapped against our expected result; aligns with Business Strategy.

Business Value - AppliedBusiness Value is measured as a rank relative to all of our Capabilities. That is since we have a limited amount of resources and capacity, what would be the most important capability to address – then the next – and so on.

This enables us to better determine where we should focus our investment dollars and resources, who should be accountable for the capability, where we should build it and how it should get built.

Speed of Change Need• Speed of Change refers to the measurement of the

Frequency, or how often a Capability Group Needs to change over time.

• Frequently means that the Capability Group or Capabilities within that group change many times per year (≥ 6x per year)

• Often (≥ 5x per year)• Regularly means that the Capability Group or Capabilities within

that group change some times per year (≈ 4x per year)• Sometimes (≤ 2x per year) • Stable means that the Capability Group or Capabilities within

that group change infrequently by year (≤ 1x per year)

Speed of Change Need - Applied– Content - What is presented to the user needs to

be updated or changes frequently– Technology - New technologies that need to be

supported and change frequently (Technology Innovation – New Patentable Technology, New application for existing technology)

– Features - The process or functionality that a user interacts with changes frequently

Ability to Execute• Ability to Execute refers to the measurement of our

current ability to change, update or enhance the capability group relative to the need we have defined in Speed of Change.

• Frequently means that the Capability Group or Capabilities within that group change many times per year (≥ 6x per year)

• Often (≥ 5x per year)• Regularly means that the Capability Group or Capabilities within

that group change some times per year (≈ 4x per year)• Sometimes (≤ 2x per year) • Stable means that the Capability Group or Capabilities within

that group change infrequently by year (≤ 1x per year)

Ability to Execute - Applied– Content - What is presented to the user needs to

be updated or changes frequently– Technology - New technologies that need to be

supported and change frequently (Technology Innovation – New Patentable Technology, New application for existing technology)

– Features - The process or functionality that a user interacts with changes frequently

– People - Do you have a Business Person that has Ownership of this Capability?

Speed of Change / Ability to Execute Assessment

Speed of Change NeedHighLow

Abi

lity

to E

xecu

te

High

Low

Ability to ExecuteFrequently (≥ 6x per year) - 5 -  GREENOften (≥ 5x per year) - 4 - LIGHT GREENRegularly (≈ 4x per year) - 3 - YELLOWSometimes (≤ 2x per year) - 2 - PINKLow/Unable (≤ 1x per year) - 1 - RED

Speed of Change NeedFrequently (≥ 6x per year) - 5 - REDOften (≥ 5x per year) - 4 - PINKRegularly (≈ 4x per year) - 3 - YELLOWSometimes (≤ 2x per year) - 2 – LIGHT GREENLow/No Need (≤ 1x per year) - 1 - GREEN

2

1

42 3

3

51

4

5

Ability to Execute

Speed of Change NeedHigh Priority

Business Value / Performance Assessment

Business ValueHighLow

Per

form

ance

High

Low

PerformanceHigh Performing - 5  -  GREENAbove Adequate - 4 - LIGHT GREENAdequate  - 3  - YELLOWBelow Adequate  - 2 - PINKPerforming Poorly / Does Not Exist  - 1 - RED

Business ValueHigh Value - 5  -  REDAbove Adequate Value - 4 - PINKAdequate Value  - 3  - YELLOWBelow Adequate Value  - 2 – LIGHT GREENLow Value / Does Not Exist  - 1 - GREEN

2

1

42 3

3

51

4

5

Performance

Business ValueHigh Priority

Business Value / Performance Assessment

Business Value HighLow

Per

form

ance

Low

High

Capability Group Business Value by RegionBusiness ValueHigh Value - 5  Above Adequate Value – 4 Adequate Value  - 3  Below Adequate Value  - 2Low Value / Does Not Exist  - 1

# Capability Group APAC China EIA Americas

1 Shopping 3 2 4 4

2 Checkout 3 2 3 3

3 ABO Ordering Administration 2 1 2 3

4 Order Management 2 1 3 3

5 Single Identity 1 1 1 1

6 Personalization/Targeting 4 5 3 5

7 Account Management/Preferences 1 1 2 1

8 Grow My Business 5 5 5 5

9 Motivation/Inspiration NA NA 4 NA

10 Digital Asset Management 2 3 1 2

11 Training 5 4 5 5

12 Selling/Support Tools 5 5 5 4

13 Registration 3 2 3 2

14 Brand Selling Tools/Programs 4 4 2 4

15 Digital Advertising 2 4 4 3

16 Positive Search Results/SEO 4 4 4 4

17 Digital Customer Services 1 3 3 2

18 Unified Search 3 2 1 1

19 User Insights & Analytics 5 5 5 2

20 Campaign Management 4 3 1 5

21 Loyalty Programs 1 3 2 NA

WRAP-UP

Thank You!