Roadmapping Talk for APLN

Tonight's Flow • I talk about me • I talk about Enthiosys • I talk about gifts for you • We talk about product roadmaps • We talk about tonight’s task • You do tonight’s task • You get gifts © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 2

Scott Gilbert • President of Enthiosys and Agile practice lead – Satisfy customers, Manage partnerships, Run the office – Delivered several major software releases using Agile – Coached 12’s of teams, through 100’s of sprints – Blessed by Scrum Alliance with CSM, CPO & CSP • Helped start-ups raise $11M in venture capital • Founding member of Inferscape, Inc. a predictive analytics software company in the CRM space • BearingPoint’s High Technology Strategy Practice © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 3

Enthiosys, Inc. • An Agile product management consulting firm founded in 2003 by Luke Hohmann. • We help clients achieve business agility: delivering great results, not just great software. • Services designed to improve products, processes and the people who drive them. © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 5

A Set of Services continuous customer collaboration to understand complex markets and provide input throughout the development process agile transformation of your entire company to leverage the power of Agile product development and management pricing, licensing and creation of business models to capture the full value of your solutions product roadmaps for individual products and portfolios with processes and best practices to sustain them over time service design to improve the customer experience by delivering a whole product solution and additional revenue © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 6

Enthiosys Team • 20 F/T and P/T consultants – Luke Hohmann, Founder/CEO – Scott Gilbert, President – Rich Mironov, CMO – Dan O’Leary, CTO • Thought leaders – 4 books, monthly newsletter, Agile blog – Frequent webinar and conference speakers – Leaders in our industry associations © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 8

Our Experience Covers… • Software solutions including single user, enterprise, infrastructure, consumer, web • Hardware platforms as embedded systems, consumer electronics, industrial, on-chip • Roles as product managers, developers, marketers, sales, service and support • All levels of management in public, private, and venture-backed companies © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 9

Engagement Types • Collaboration – We jointly define goal, creating results with client • Projects – Customer defines goal, we deliver a result to client • Interim management – Enthiosys experts as product managers or executives • Training – Mostly private but some public classes © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 10

Agile Planning Is… • About participating in the infinite game • Top down, bottoms up and continuous • Emergent yet deterministic • About making/reversing decisions • Focused on the future while acting in the present • About the planning not the plan © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 15

Planning Time Horizons 5+ Years Strategy 3-5 Years Exec’s Portfolio 18-24 Months Product PM’s Release 2-9 Months 2-4 Weeks Sprint Dev’s Daily © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 16

Connects to and Correlates with the Backlog Sprint INVEST Release Epics, Stories, Use Cases, Themes Roadmap Epics, Features, Big Ideas © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 17 Inspired by Mike Cohn

Benefits of a Roadmap • Roadmaps can identify and clarify both the tactical and strategic intent of your product • Internally: – Becomes a filter for prioritizing development activities – Builds consensus around direction – Ensures the “ship is headed in the right direction” – Avoids the “last/loudest” priority problem • Externally: – Provides customers with access to near-term commitments and long term “points of view” – Binds customers to your company (especially in B2B markets) © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 19

Typically See Feature Wish Lists Sept 09 June 09 Mar 10 June 10 Dec 09 Idaho Thundercloud Version 4.0 SaaS Offering Jayko Version 3.01 Extra fast install Security Patch Comprehensive Platforms Better Scalability Version 3.2 Multi-site Collaboration Client Access SDK New platform support Oracle Support Security Management Scalability enhancements Usability improvements Better Integration* © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 20

Typical Roadmap Failures • No visible logic • Created unilaterally – Lack of buy-in – Poor technical and market inputs • No plan for internal or external sharing © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 21

A Roadmap Should Be… • A living internal planning document designed to answer strategic questions such as: – Who are my markets/segments? – What do they care about? – When should I serve them? – What factors must I consider? – What technologies / systems can I leverage? – How should I adjust my plans and goals relative to the answers to these and possibly other questions? © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 22

A Simple Template Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 What technology Architecture & Support Biometrics should we use? Linux Systems auto send Physical supplies Features & Security Benefits Saves time Audit Trails & money Markets & Users Enterprise Small Office Events & Rhythms © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 23

A More Complex Template Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Support Biometrics Architecture Linux Managed Capabilities services auto send Physical Features supplies Security Saves time Audit Trails Benefits & money Enterprise Small Office Markets Events & Rhythms © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 Schedule 26

Still Build it Iteratively Markets & Events & Users Rhythms Benefits Capabilities Schedule Architecture & Systems Features © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 27

A Low-Tech Approach to Start • Speeds collaboration • Easy to change • Can be transcribed into tools for easy digital sharing once the plan settles © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 29

Market Events & Rhythms • These are things that are knowable but out of your direct control. • However, you might be able to influence them. • Market events occur on a one time basis • Example: Regulatory-related dates • Market rhythms occur on a recurring basis • Example: Industry conferences © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 30

Markets & Users • Provide short name and possibly some short description or segmentation characteristics • These can be very simple. You can attach common Personas found in each segment • Focus on the markets this product serves • Example: Small Office • < 75 employees • Limited CapEx budgets • Need support and services • Buy from trusted referrals © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 31

Features & Benefits • Features – Only list major features that motivate customers to take the release / pay you $ • Benefits – Describe in business terms what benefits each feature will deliver to the customer or to the company • Reduce costs, Avoid costs, Increase revenue © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 32

Architecture & Systems • Typically just the large pieces – Required product technologies – Required back-office or operational systems • Break “development” into exploration and proof of concepts. Have them span several quarters • Example: VoiceXML for voice service features • Example: Billing and accounting systems to support foreign currencies © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 33

Capabilities • Major components of the application that enable multiple features • Not all systems will have these, so don’t force it • Example: Notification Engine – Allows users to send schedule, event, or conditional based notifications via any communication channel. © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 34

Schedule • Internal events & rhythms • Knowable, limited control, possible to influence • Holidays & vacations • Customer commitments • Product dependencies • Other SDLC milestones • Example: Quarterly earnings calls • Example: Annual peer reviews © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 35

Some Good Practices • Extended in-person working sessions – Start by scheduling two session 1 month apart – Need time to research issues that come out of first • Participation by key constituents – Product Management, Engineering, Marketing – Document participants that created each version • Should align with business plan & model • Quarterly reviews and updates to keep alignment © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 40

Some More Better Practices • Use versions & dates • Document who helped create each version • Document key assumptions, facts & decisions • Use legends to make it walk up easy to understand. Colors, shapes, etc. • Use corporate rules to make it walk up easy to understand. 6+ months is uncommitted, no selling • Have clear distribution and communication plan • Easy to say, hard to do…consistently! © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 41

A Few Agile Characteristics • Built by x-functional teams, hopefully face to face • Takes an iterative approach • Makes a great information radiator to promote transparency and communication • Helps identify the release time box or window • Provides good opportunity for initial prioritization • Maps to the User Story pattern (who, what, why) • Makes architecture explicit in planning and always gives technologists an early voice © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 42

Our Proposed Template • Constituents – Our market segments • Services & Benefits – What we do for the above and what they get from it • Platform – This is our infrastructure website, etc. • Events & Rhythms – Other things that happen • People – Folks who make all of the above real • Time – 1 calendar year, in quarters starts in April © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 45

Our Process 1. Self organize into groups at one of the stations 2. Cesar will provide the vision and inspiration 3. You will have XX minutes to iterate through your plan and capture supplemental information • You can pick a leader to facilitate • You can do a group splat, then rationalize 4. You can change the template (time & rows) 5. You can capture other supplemental info 6. We will de-brief each map at the end © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 47

Contact Information Enthiosys, Inc. 615 National Ave., Suite 220 Mountain View, CA 94043 650.528.4000 Office 650.528.4004 Fax follow us at www.twitter.com/Enthiosys follow me at www.twitter.com/AgileProductMgr www.enthiosys.com/insights-tools for Books, Bytes, Blogs www.InnovationGames.com for Innovation Games Online © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 49

Roadmap of Roadmaps • A look at a portfolio of products over the same time period • Identify possible synergies or conflicts • Plan for roll-outs of product bundles / lines • Creates a strategic view that can be driven back down to individual products. © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 52

Building a Roadmap of Roadmaps • Slightly different set of participants – PM Directors, Senior Architects, Business Unit Managers, other senior stakeholders • Roll up individual roadmaps – Show releases of all products w/ major features – Architecture may include systems & infrastructure • Adjust based on decisions or observations • Changes roll back down to individual products © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 53

Exploring Possible Futures • Scenarios are descriptive narratives of plausible alternative futures. • Useful for: – Identifying potential opportunities / threats – Limiting “business as usual in the future” behavior – Testing roadmaps against various possible futures – Understanding how and when to react to changes – Staying focused on the likely case while building 1st drafts of primary / current roadmaps © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 55

Roadmapping for Scenarios Primary Roadmap Roadmap Scenario A Scenario A 1. This 2. That 3. The Other 4. Then Release Release Release Release 5. Finally…. A B A B Primary Roadmap Roadmap Scenario B Scenario B 1. This 2. That 3. The Other Release Release 4. Then Release A B A 5. Finally…. © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 56

Generating Useful Scenarios • Articulate questions that will have long term consequences. • Create a detailed scenario (story) to illustrate the risk/change • Explore alternative roadmaps to address scenarios • Map the decision point: what events should trigger adoption of alternative strategy? © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 57

Example Scenario Questions • What if we lost our largest customer? • What if the market demands the product early? • What if labor unions curb outsourcing? • What if regulatory changes impact us? • What if we acquire one or more competitors? • What if we expand internationally? © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 58

On-Line Agile Resources Agile Alliance: http://www.agilealliance.org/ Scrum Alliance: http://www.scrumalliance.org/ Agile Project Leadership Network: http://www.apln.org/ Agile Journal: http://www.agilejournal.com Enthiosys Blog Roll: http://www.enthiosys.com/ Agile Manifesto: http://agilemanifesto.org/ © 2009, Enthiosys Inc. All rights reserved. www.enthiosys.com or 650.528.4000 60

Roadmapping Talk for APLN

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