Agile Product Management - Mike Cohn...Process and project management consulting and training 2...

1

Agile Product Management

Mike CohnSeptember 29, 2005

Slides copyright 2000-2004, Michael W. CohnAll slides copyright 2003-2005, Mountain Goat Software

Mike Cohn—background

Programming for 20 years

Author ofUser Stories Applied

Agile Estimating and Planning

Java, C++, database programmingbooks

Founding member and director ofthe Agile Alliance and the ScrumAlliance

Founder of Mountain GoatSoftware

Process and project managementconsulting and training

2


The planning onion

Agile ProductManagement is

mostly concernedwith the space fromProduct to Iteration


Today’s agenda

Prioritizing

Project chartering

Working with the developers

Establish a financial model

3


Prioritizing

Why prioritize?

Percent of features used in Word and PowerPoint:

Users workingalone

Used 12%–16% offeatures

Used 26%–29% offeatures

10-persongroups

Source: International Software EngineeringResearch Network Workshop (2000).


Factors in prioritization

Business value

Risk reduction

Change in relative cost

Learning / uncertainty

Business valuetrumps other

factors…

…but there are otherfactors to consider

4


Learning / uncertainty

Product knowledgeWhat should we develop?

Project knowledgeHow should we develop it?

The purpose of a projectis to:

Deliver new capabilities

Generate new knowledge


One view of reducing uncertainty

Low

High

LowHigh

Means Uncertainty(How)

End U

nce

rtain

ty(W

hat)

A waterfall approach

5


An agile approach to uncertainty

Low

High

LowHigh

Means Uncertainty(How)

End U

nce

rtain

ty(W

hat)

An agile approach


Sliders

Think of

risk reduction

knowledge generation

change in relative cost

as sliders that move business priority forwardor back

6


Example: User interface design

Will this cost more orless letter?

Do sooner Do laterPrioritization basedsolely on business

value

Will designing the UIreduce risk?

Will doing thisgenerate useful

knowledge?


Example: a security framework

Do sooner Do later

Will this cost more orless letter?

Prioritization basedsolely on business

value

Will doing thisgenerate useful

knowledge?

Will doing this reducerisk?

7


Prioritizing with Kano analysis

Three types of features

Threshold /Baseline

Must be present in orderfor users to be satisfied

Linear The more of it, the better

Exciters /Delighters

Features a user doesn’tknow she wants, until

she sees it


Surveying users

To assess whether a feature is baseline,linear, or exciting we can:

Sometimes guess

Or survey a small set of users (20-30)

We ask two questionsA functional question

How do you feel if a feature is present?

And a dysfunctional questionHow do you feel if that feature is absent?

8


Functional and dysfunctional forms

I expect it to be that way.

I like it that way.

I am neutral.

I dislike it that way.

I can live with it that way.

If your hotel roomincludes a freebottle of water,

how do you feel?

I expect it to be that way.

I like it that way.

I am neutral.

I dislike it that way.

I can live with it that way.

If your hotel roomdoes not include afree bottle of water,how do you feel?

Functionalform of

question

Dysfunctionalform of

question

X

X


Categorizing from a question pair

E

I

I

I

R

E

I

I

I

R

E

I

I

I

R

Q

R

R

R

R

L

M

M

M

Q

Liv

e W

ith

Dis

like

Lik

e

Expect

Neutr

al

Live With

Dislike

Like

Expect

Neutral

Functio

nal Q

uestio

n

DysfunctionalQuestion

MandatoryM

LinearL

ExciterE

QuestionableQ

ReverseR

IndifferentI

9


Aggregating results

Apply formatting themes

Automate report execution

Export reports to PowerPoint

Theme Exciter

6

8

42

Lin

ear

21

43

18

Mandato

ry

62

39

27

Indiffe

rent

2

8

9

Revers

e

5

2

2

Questionable

4

0

2


What to include

All of the baseline features

By definition, these must be present

Some amount of linear features

But leaving room for at least some amountof exciters

10


Today’s agenda

Prioritizing

Project chartering




Establishing a shared vision

Teams do best when they have a “clear,elevating goal” and “unified commitment”†

It’s the product manager’s job to focus the teamand find this clear, elevating goal

Tools for establishing a shared vision:

Source: †Teamwork by Carl Larson and Frank LaFasto

Elevator statement‡

Press release

Vision box‡

Magazine review

11


Elevator statement

A short statement of the product’s positioning

Explains the product to someone in 2 minutes

Follows this syntax

For (customer)

Who (statement of need or opportunity)

The (product name) is a (product category)

That (key benefit, compelling reason to buy).

Unlike (primary competitor)

Our product (statement of primary differentiation).

Sources: Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore


Example elevator statement

For dentists and their assistants

who need to efficiently schedule appointments

Dental Clinic 2.0 is desktop and web-basedappointment scheduling software

that supports office and remote access.

Unlike competitive products,

Dental Clinic 2.0 is easy to use andaggressively priced.

12


Product vision box

Design a box for the software

Even if the software won’t ship ina box

Write 3-4 key bullet points to sellthe software

Easier to come up with 15

The challenge is distilling the listto 3-4 key points

Sources: Agile Project Management by Jim Highsmith.


Sample product vision box

Easy integration with mostinsurance systems

Support for multiple chairswith appointment setting bychair

Multi-language support

One click database backup

13


Press release to come

Collaboratively write the press releaseyou’d like to see released at the end

What are the key points you’d make about theproduct

What quotes would you have and who wouldthey be from?

CEO? Team members? Customers?


Press release templateThe _______company announced today the successful completion of the_________project. This project provides __________________________________________________. The customer for this project,________________, indicated in a recent interview that they selected___________ as their supplier due to the following key benefits:

1. ______________________________________2. ______________________________________3. ______________________________________

________________ also identified several features that they felt wereparticularly useful. These include:

1. ______________________________________2. ______________________________________3. ______________________________________

____________ noted that the single most important benefit of theirsuccessful project was “_______________________________________________________________________.”

14


Magazine review

Write the review you’d like to see in PCMagazine

Use whatever magazine you’d like or evenmake one up

What key features would be singled out?

What will be said about your productcompared to the prior version?Competitors?


Today’s agenda

Prioritizing

Project chartering



15


Communicate the driving factor

Be clear about what’s driving the projectUsually date or features

But NOT both

Feature-driven projectsProject will ship when the desired featureshave been developed

Date-driven projectsProject will ship on the date, regardless ofwhether all desired features are included


Example date-driven projects

Tax softwareSoftware to comply with periodic changesin government regulationsSoftware for fantasy footballThe Olympics

16


Value-driven projects

Making appropriatetradeoff decisionsbetween date andfeatures

Committing tomaximizing value

Deferring tradeoffdecisions

Acknowledginguncertainty about theproduct and theproject

1.6x

1.25x

1.15x

1.10x

x

0.9x

0.85x

0.8x

0.6x

Project Schedule

InitialProductDef ini tion

Approved Product

Definit ion

Requirements Specification

Product Design

Speci fica tion

Deta iled Design

Specif ication

AcceptedSoftware


Tradeoff matrix

Scope

Schedule

Resources

Low Defects

Fixed Firm Flexible Target

300+story points

4-5 months

$400k

1 high bugper month

Tradeoff Matrix

17


Set high expectations

You do not control HOW the developmentteam does its work

But you do get to say WHAT they produceand WHEN it’s produced

I don’t tell a mechanic how to fix my car, but Ido ask for an estimate, say what type of partsto use, approve work, and may call for aprogress report if it’s a big job


Some expectations you should have

“At least once a month, Iwant my hands on the

keyboard to try out newfeatures.”

Ensures a focus on user-visible features, not justframeworks andarchitecture.Avoids a demo of a snake.

“I want to be able to seeprogress at least once a

month. And I’m only goingto measure progress

through working, testedfeatures.”

Encourages iterations.Stresses importance ofconsistent focus on quality.Provides insight intoprogress.

18


Some more expectations

“My computer runsautomated tests when Iturn it on. I expect this

application to have similarautomated tests.”

Ensures team willautomate tests.

Set realistic deadlines.

Too aggressive or too laxare not motivating.Teams work fastest withrealistic deadlines.Be careful of making it allabout the date.


Today’s agenda

Prioritizing

Project chartering



19


Understand product financials

Business model

Cur

rent

cus

tom

ers

Futur

e cu

stom

ers

Mar

ket a

ccep

tanc

e

Com

petit

ion

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3

Communicate this model to the whole team!


Typical sources of return

New revenue

Incrementalrevenue

Retainedrevenue

Operationalefficiency

20


An example

36,500$15,000$4,000$10,000$7,50008

36,500$15,000$4,000$10,000$7,50007

29,000$7,500$4,000$10,000$7,50006

29,000$7,500$4,000$10,000$7,50005

20,750$7,500$2,000$7,500$3,75004

$3,750

$2,500

0

New

Revenue

$5,000

$1,600

0

Incr.

Revenue

$2,000

$2,000

$2,000

Retained

Revenue

$7,500

0

0

Oper.

Efficiencies

18,25003

–23,900–30,0002

–88,000–90,0001

Net Cash

Flow

Dev.

Cost

Q


Useful financial measures

Net present value

The present value of the money the project willearn

Return on investment / internal rate of return

The rate of return earned by the project per aperiod of time

Discounted payback period

The amount of time until a project pays back itsinitial investment

21


Project (theme) comparison matrix


Themes and stories on theplanning onion

Compare financials and desirability (Kanoanalysis) Compare projects to

select a portfolio

Compare themes to layout a multi-release

product plan

Compare themes andstories to create a

release plan

22


Mike Cohn contact information

[email protected](303) 810–2190 (mobile)(720) 890–6110 (office)www.mountaingoatsoftware.com

Agile Product Management - Mike Cohn...Process and project management consulting and training 2...

Documents

Transcript of Agile Product Management - Mike Cohn...Process and project management consulting and training 2...