Tying Roadmap Strategy to Agile Planning

Today’s Speakers

Andre TheusDirector of Marketing

Jim SemickFounder / Chief Strategist

MODERATORPRESENTER

Themes1. What level of detail?2. Metrics for prioritization 3. Planning Timelines & Methods4. Communication / Transparency5. Tools

Poll 1: Who is joining us today?

Overview

Strategy vs. ExecutionTHE ROADMAP THE BACKLOG

Think big initiatives, themes or epics Think tasks or “stories”

Strategy vs. ExecutionThe Roadmap The Backlog

Big Picture DetailedLonger term horizon Shorter term horizonNo dates / rough dates Often has datesCommunication focus Execution focusPrioritize less often Prioritize frequentlyHigh-level estimates Granular estimatesCommunication Tools: ProductPlan, PowerPoint

Project Mgmt. Tools: JIRA, Pivotal Tracker, Spreadsheets

It’s All About StrategyRoadmap Prioritization Backlog Prioritization

Specifics not known yet Details typically known

Based on strategic goals Dev order not yet known

Prioritization based on many factors:

• E.g. customer value, competitive differentiation, development effort, support cost, risk, business goals, stakeholder needs

Prioritization based on fewer factors:

• E.g. customer value, story points, available resources

Poll 2: What roadmap prioritization challenges do you have?

Strategies for PrioritizingYour Roadmap

Weigh business value against complexity to implement.Value vs. Effort Model

Score initiatives based on value versus cost.Weighted Scoring

Prioritize customer delight versus type of feature.Kano Model

Poll 3: What agile methods do you practice?

Executing Your Roadmap: Prioritizing Your Agile Backlog

(whether you are Scrum, Kanban, XP, or whatever)

Agile = Iterative Development

Source: Jeff Patton

Release 1 Release 2 Release 3

Customer Value vs. Dev Effort - These All Work

Story Mapping

MoSCoW Analysis• Must have • Should have if possible • Could have if possible • Won’t have at this time

(but would like in the future)

Release ThemesGroup and order stories together.

• “Increase shopping cart completion”• “Technical debt release”• “Improve website performance"

Poll 4: What tools do you use to manage the backlog?

Tying the Roadmap and Backlog Together

Questions?productplan.com/bookproductplan.com/blog

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