Story Telling for Product Owners

Copyright 2013, cPrime Inc. 11

Effective Story Telling Techniques


Who is cPrime?Engaged for Your Project Management Success


Today’s Presenter

Jeff Howey, Agile Coach o Trains & coaches teams and

companies in Scrum and other Agile processes

• 10 years practicing Agile• Certified Scrum

Professional & Scrum Master

• 5 years mentoring, coaching & training

• 20 years in Software Development: QA, Development, Business Analysis, Project Management and Business Architecture


A Few Logistics

Large-group webinar, limited interaction and primarily one-wayo Other online training and public or private training

options are more personalized and interactive if you want those

Questions can be addressed to me (Presenter) or our Moderator o Will try to address themes and patterns of questions

where they fit in the materialo May use examples or questions posed by individualso Other feedback collected and will be used for:

• Comments and thoughts available with the recorded session

• Future Blog Posts or Updates• Input for future iterations of this presentation

Raise your hand or address the Moderator if you need technical help or have difficulty and we will try to help


After the webinar…

We will send information to collect the PDU you will earn from this webinar

We will also send a links to the recorded webinar and presentation slides once they are posted online

For more information, visit www.cprime.com


Why are we here?

Understand and Learn CONCEPTS and TECHNIQUES Collectively, raise the bar on Requirements Elicitation

and Product Development activities across the Agile environment

Build competency around Just In Time requirements management

Demonstrate the importance of including “those who do the work” in defining what the work is

Manifest the Agile Principles through concepts and techniques that can be practiced in any environment, regardless of organizational structure, size, rules, etc.o Welcome Changeo Collaborate, work together o Continuous focus on what’s importanto Achieving simple, but elegant solutions

Make it your own


What is Story Telling?

Method of developing requirements

o Product Innovationo Collaboration with

Customerso Collaboration with

Technologyo Consistent User

Experience

Method of planningo Prioritizationo Release Planningo Architecture and

approacho Estimationo Task Breakdown

Progressive Elaboration


Why is Story Telling Important?

Traditional approach to requirements elicitation is wasteful

Agile Story Telling allows for early focus on high value features

Progressive Elaboration creates an intentional approach to refining details – from both the customer and technology perspectives


Who Leads Story Telling?

Genericallyo Product Managerso Business/Systems

Analystso Developerso Architectso Testerso Project Managers

Scrum: o Product Owner & Team

Kanban: o Requestors & Doers of

Work

Make it your own


ImplementationWhat How

Prioritization & PlanningValue Timing

Product InnovationGet Ideas

Strategize

CustomersProduct ManagersProject ManagersArchitectsBusiness & Systems AnalystsDevelopersQuality AnalystsOperations (Sys Admins, DBAs)Help Desk, Prod Support Team

What is best given youro Product?o Culture?o Environment?

Who Participates in Story Telling?


The Setup for Our Example


With Visions of

We Are


Customers & their needsOur Customers

Saraho Frequent traveler for

work and pleasureo Checking, Savings,

Visa, MortgageJulie

o College studento Checking, Savings

Lisa (owner of TacoTote)o Business Owner,

Travelero Business & Personal

Checking, Savings, Money Market, Visa

Their Need = Our Goal

As a Customer of Agile Academy Credit Union, I want to access my account balance on my mobile device.




Generating Ideas and Standards

Product InnovationGet

IdeasStrategiz

e




Balancing Priorities and Knowing Impacts

Prioritization & Planning

Value Timing

Most of our

customers are

consumers

Most of our revenue is from business customers

We have a few

developers who

know iOS, but no

Android devs

Our existing

web-services for

account data are

reusable for

mobile

Will this impact our Q3 merger with

Waterfall Bank from a resource or system

perspective??

We are losing customers who want mobile!




Getting it Done!

ImplementationWhat How

Goals:1. Integrate with Waterfall Bank2. Build iOS version of Mobile App3. Learn or acquire team members

can develop Android App4. Build Android version of Mobile App

GREAT! We know priority!

You know, we

can do some

of this iOS

stuff now!


The Goals of Story TellingTo whom do you tell your Story and why?


Story Telling Starts with the Customer

Know the Customer’s communication channels

o Formalo Informal

Understand the Product Vision

o Does a Customer’s request fit?

Let the Customer know you’ve heard themContinue to refine the details


Refined User Stories

After discussion with customers, reading feedback from their suggestion box and online comment forms, our Product Owner learns:o Sarah wants to see her account balances using a

mobile app on her Android Smartphone.o Julie at least wants to see the available balance of her

checking account in a text message on her iPhone. She would love an app that she can use to login and see more detail about her balance and transactions.

o TacoTote wants to see the balance of their business checking account using their 4G mobile-enabled Android tablet.


Story Telling Builds Momentum

Collaborate to review Customer feedback, wants & needs with other Product Management team membersInnovate to satisfy new needs

o Or old needs in new waysIdentify competing or conflicting requests & priorities

o Project/Portfolio alignment

Identify dependencies & synergies

o Reusable skills & toolso Needs for training or

technology

Through discussion with other Product and Project Managers, our Product Owner learns:

o The system integration with Waterfall Bank is the highest company priority to avoid overhead costs

o Sales has been asking for “mobile app” support for awhile (an eternity, if you ask them) to avoid losing customers to larger or more “modern” banks

o A Project Manager on the team has experience with deploying mobile apps elsewhere


Meet with Architects, Technical Leaders and key Technical Staff to understand the abilities (and limitations) of existing infrastructureRefine details (and often, priorities) based on what is valuable and what is feasibleGet ahead of long lead-times needed to acquire new skills, tools or infrastructureUnderstand where existing capabilities can get key features to market quickly

Here’s what the Product Owner learns in early Story Telling discussions with the Architect and some technical team members:

o Our team can do some basic iOS development but does not yet have all the tools/skills for Android App development

o Our existing web-services could be used for mobile access to Account Data with minimal rework

o We have a basic web-enabled application that works in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Safari

Story Telling Defines Solution Options


Story Telling defines “What” to Build

Product Owners literally tell the Story, answer questions and identify where the requirements need to be clarified

o Avoids huge up-front effort detailing every specification, field, value and data transformation that developers may already know

o Avoids giving a 2-line requirement and being disappointed in the review (or worse, in production)


“Julie at least wants to see the available balance of her checking account in a text message on her iPhone. She would love an app that she can use to login and see more detail about her balance and transactions”

Which is refined to:1. Julie wants the available

balance of her checking account in a text message.

2. Julie wants to see her available balances for all accounts in her iPhone app.

3. Julie wants to see the last 30 days of transaction history in her iPhone app.

For Example

Sounds like 2 Stories to me What do you

mean “at least?”

Actually, I think that there is a 3rd story to see transaction history

How far back in time should we show the transactions?

Is it the “Posted” balance or the “Available” balance

Hey, we can reuse our Login scripts with this

Should I start on building an Android version, too?


Effective Story TellingTechniques, Tips and Suggestions


Plan Ahead!

Schedule ahead of timeo Regular, recurring

sessionso As-Needed by You or

TeamSend drafts of Stories ahead

o Links to your Stories, oro Drafts in a “digest”

Invite additional people when needed

o Always the Teamo Often some key

supporterso When needed SME’s


Be a strong facilitator

Stick to your agendao DWYSYWDo Begin on time

Use a parking loto Avoid distractionso Identify what “is

needed, just not now”Timebox and Timecheck

o Stick to your plano Give updates on

progressWatch for body language

o Who is engaged?o Who is tuning out?

Set the toneTell the Story

o Just the story, not the entire history of the universe

Listeno Story Telling actually

isn’t about you. It’s about them.

Keep things movingo Now is not the time to

do your housekeepingTame bulliesEncourage wallflowersMake it fun


Pair-up

Product Owner – your job is to focus on telling the Story, answering questions and facilitating the discussiono NOT fiddling around with issue-tracking tools,

spreadsheets, etc. Story Telling Buddy – your job is to focus on making “on-

the-spot updates” to the details of the Storyo If you are quick and effective with the tools, great –

still have a backup with notepad and working peno You are the timekeeper – have signals worked out to

indicate time and an agreement to keep the Product Owner accountable

o Maintain the Parking Lot


Know when to move on... And Iterate

Rule #1: Timeboxo Timebox each story to

10 minutes for discussion, Q&A, and “on-the-spot” clarification/updates

o Estimate the story “as-is”

o Determine if the story needs further refinement and review in upcoming sessions

• How will you know?Rule #2: Move on

o When the timebox expires

o When the Story detail is deemed “Good Enough”

• How will you know?

Six LettersTwo WordsEasy to Say

Hard to ExplainHarder to Do:

Move On


When Good Enough is Good Enough

Know your team! Know your organizational requirements

o “Good enough” Story details may or may not fully satisfy stringent PMO requirements

Do your homeworko Try to meet the

definition before taking a Story to Telling sessions

o Do follow-up and detailing to meet PMO or other rules when needed

Good is a high standardo But not Perfect

Good enough changes over time

o With team knowledge, composition, confidence, etc.

The Team defines “Good Enough”

o How will you know?


Retrospect

Each Sessiono Spend the last 5 minutes with simple Retro activity – the focus

is on the Story Telling activity (if focus diverts to Team activity, defer to Team Retrospective)• What are we not doing that we should Start doing?• What are we doing that we should Stop doing?• What are we doing that works particularly well and should

Continue to do? On a periodic basis with the Team and other Stakeholders for a

focused session (30-45 minutes)o What is working well and why?o What is not working well or we should try differently and why?

• Asking why informs with more information but often requires TIME to dig into and understand

o Prioritize action items and “Test & Learn” approach changes• When needed/requested, or • At key milestones (e.g. quarterly, after major releases, etc.)


Additional Resources


Available Now

Certified Scrum Product Ownero Train and prepare for the

CSPO certification through the Scrum Alliance

Agile Development Requirements Workshop

o Facilitated sessions led by an experienced Agile Practitioner with intent to lead by example and demonstrate good User Story definition, understanding when and how to manage Epics/Stories and define Done

Stay Tuned!

Business Analysis Tools & Techniques Certification

o Follow the BABOK and prepare for the CBAP certification with IIBA

The Agile Product Owner Series

o Learn and practice advanced techniques required for effective Product Development, Requirements Management and Getting Things Done

Current and Upcoming cPrime Resources


Ask Us

[email protected]

Format of this webinar was large-group and focused presentation, but… if you have pressing questions or want to discuss how we can support you with targeted, focused email responses and personalized training options…

Our ability to respond is limited to time and resources - knowing that, we will usually respond to simple, succinct feedback and questions, but may defer or point to other resources for:o Specific questions related to your environment that require deeper

knowledgeo Complex questions or those that indicate a need for competency-

development We are open to feedback to iterate our material and to identify areas of

training and knowledge-sharing that are important to youo Our priority is based on your input

If you want a private delivery of this webinar for your team, company, professional group, etc. let us know

How will we know?

Just Ask!

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Story Telling for Product Owners

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Transcript of Story Telling for Product Owners