Backlog Refinery - Adarsh Sridhar and Rajeev Nair, ThoughtWorks
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Rajiv Nair - @rajeev_nair_tw Adarsh - @aadarsh__
description
From our experience of working with various clients, we would like to share the various innovative methods the Product/Project directors use to prioritize the feature/product backlog and how it varies from business to business. For eg: Concept triage, Email campaigns etc.
Transcript of Backlog Refinery - Adarsh Sridhar and Rajeev Nair, ThoughtWorks
Rajiv Nair - @rajeev_nair_tw Adarsh - @aadarsh__
What forms your Backlog? ü New Features ü Defects ü Code Refactors, Redesigns, Technology Upgrades
Backlog - Challenges
Flickr photo courtesy - Jaaron
Backlog - Challenges
Backlog - Challenges
Need for a Refined Backlog
ü Value Maximization ü Balance ü Business Alignment
Steve Scale
Research
Intuitive
Concept Triage
Concept Triage - What?
ü What ? Product Sponsor/Owner is responsible for creating a business case that demonstrates why we should do a project and where the business value is derived from.
Concept Triage - How?
ü How is it done ? PO/Business presents the case to a larger audience. Like pitching a new Idea to a bunch of VC’s…
Concept Triage - Who?
ü Who is involved? – PO’s, – Tech leads, – BA’s, – QA’s, – Marketing, – Ops, – IS – Legal – Compliance
Concept Triage - Key Inputs ü Problem/Opportunity Statement – Implementation approach should be avoided as much as possible.
ü Financial (Business Case & Business Value) – Regulatory/Mandatory – Maintenance/Replacement – Enhancements – ROI Projects – Risk Mitigation – Client Funded
Concept Triage - Key Inputs ü Key Drivers
– Why should this feature be in our Product
ü Benefit Analysis – Increases or protects Revenue – Increases or protects Cash Flow
– Decreases or protects Cost in line with Company Strategy
ü Success Criteria – how would we define success – This should tie directly back to the benefit analysis
Concept Triage - Key Inputs ü Trade Offs
14
Budget Most negotiatiable
Least negotiatiable
Time Most negotiatiable
Least negotiatiable
Most negotiatiable
Least negotiatiable
Scope
Most negotiatiable
Least negotiatiable
Quality Most negotiatiable
Least negotiatiable
Customer Experience
Concept Triage - Key Outputs ü T-Shirt Size(s)
ü Concept Evaluation Recommendation
– Can this concept go to discovery
– Back to the customer for more feedback
– If the business case doesn't match the high level T-Shirt size, call it out now, rather than recommending a full discovery.
T-Shirt Cost (Lower) Iterations Cost (Upper) Iterations Band Size
XXS < £25,000 0.5 £25,000
XS £25,000 0.5 £50,000 1 £25,000
S £50,000 1 £100,000 2 £50,000
M £100,000 2 £250,000 5 £150,000
L £250,000 5 £500,000 10 £250,000
XL £500,000 10 £1,000,000 20 £500,000
XXL £1,000,000 20 £2,000,000 40 £1,000,000
E > £2,000,000 40
Concept Triage
ü Ideas get questioned ü Business case gets validated ü Involvement of business, IT,
compliance, IS ü Rough idea of size & cost ü Collective Wisdom!
Concept Triage ü Good ideas may get trashed
due to cost
ü Another process before development
Customer Insights
Customer Insights - What ü What ? – Include customers in the process
of Refining Backlog. Engage customers until you get to understand the minimum set of features required to satisfy what you try to achieve/what the customer need.
Customer Insights - How
ü How is it done ? – A simple communication is sent to customers
briefing them about the new product/Feature - what the feature does and why it exists - what are the features and benefits
– Ask for their interest or feedback about a product (yet to be launched).
– A twitter handler is created and circulated to understand market sentiments
Silver Users
Platinum Users
Gold Users
48+ tx in 12mnts 6 - 12+
trxn in 12months
12 - 48+ trxn in 12months
ü Who is involved? – PO's. – Marketing Team – Customers (Platinum or gold customers) – Internal Employees
Customer Insights - How
Customer Insights - Pros
ü Tap the loyal customer base who are power users
ü Feedback valuable and as they will use n market the product
ü fleshing out the concept and achieving clarity of thought about what we will ultimately go off and build
Customer Insights - Pros ü One section of users are
ignored
ü Customers do not like to fill surveys without incentive
ü People may not really know What they want
The Systemico Model
Source : http://barryoreilly.com/
Common anti patterns ü Focus on managing cost and
not value. ü Prioritize with size as the
most important input.
We create value !
But how do we prioritize value ?
Sytemico model
User goals
“I want to login” “I want to search for tickets” “I want to select different delivery options”
User engagement
ü Core – Functionality that satisfies users’ basic needs
ü Use – Enhanced functionality that increases the usability of the product
ü Engage – Functionality that draws the user to interact with the product
ü Explore – Functionality that entices the user to go beyond simple interactions
Applying user stories to the Systemico model
Example
That’s what we need to build !!
That’s when we will build !
Systemico : Pros
ü Provides additional dimensions which helps in prioritization
ü Very useful when there is little validated learning in the product space
Systemico : Cons
ü May not be the best framework for matured products
Lets recap..
Concept Triage Customer Insights Systemico Model
What ? Present the business case
Seek feedback from actual users
Prioritize value
How ? Like you pitch to a VC
Email campaigns, Social media
User goal & User engagement
Ideas gets questioned & sized
Feedback from early adapters/power users
Additional dimensions
Too much focus on cost
Feedback limited to the chosen customer set
Matured products ?
Thank You!
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2007-05-10/
