Prioritizing the product backlog aipmm webinar v2

Real World Strategies for Prioritizing the Product Backlog Greg Cohen Ron Lichty Principal Consultant Interim VP of Engineering 280 Group LLC RonLichty@sbcGlobal.net greg@280group.com 1 v20100318 ©2009 280 Group LLC

About Us Greg Cohen Ron Lichty • Fifteen years of PM Experience • Twenty years Eng Mgmt Experience – Med diagnostics and devices – Apple • Chiron – Fujitsu • Smith & Nephew – Charles Schwab – Pandesic (SAP and Intel) – Razorfish – IdealLab! – Zone Alarm – Instill – startups • Principal Consultant, 280 Group • Consulting VPE • Certified Scrum Master • Certified Scrum Master • SVPMA Board Member and former • SDForum Board Member President • Co-Author of next year’s • Author “Agile Excellence for Product “Managing the Unmanageable: Managers” Rules, Tools & Wisdom for Managing Software People and Projects” 2 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Agenda • Overview • Prioritizing by value • Mitigating risk • How to leverage emergent architecture • Managing costs • Impact of time on priority 4 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Prioritize product backlog by business value • Determine business value • Value is often only realized by a collection of features (e.g. multiple stories that work together) • Value determination usually requires judgment • Individual’s value judgments based on tacit knowledge 5 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Market Opportunity Scores Desired Outcomes Importance Satisfaction Opportunity Be able to know if an accessory 8.5 2.1 14.9 is compatible with my camera Minimize the time it takes to find a camera that meets my skills 9.2 7.2 11.2 and budget Be able to track my order from 7.3 9.0 5.6 purchase thru delivery Algorithm: Opportunity = Importance + (Importance – Satisfaction) Anthony W. Ulwick, What Customers Want, 2005 7 v20100318 ©2009 280 Group LLC

Buying Features • Buy a feature1 – Create list of features – Play with 4 to 7 customers at a time – Price some feature so customers have to pool money • Spend $100 of R&D – Create list of features – Ask customer to allocate R&D budget to the list of features 1Luke Hohmann, Innovation Games, 2007. Online version http://innovationgames.com/online-games/ 8 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Subjective Value Determination • Set a vision for the product and place each requirement in the context of that vision • Establish criteria and rank requirements – Prioritization Matrix – Buy-in is reinforced when criteria and rankings are done as a group activity 9 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Mitigating Risk • Practice Risk-First Development – Identify project risks – Weigh the risk • your project can tolerate • your organization can tolerate – Give priority to stories and tasks that mitigate unacceptable risk – Consistent risk: UI (need to iterate UI) 11 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Leveraging Emergent Architecture • “Gift” features: gifts from development • Based on: – Chartering – “Commander’s Intent” – Communicating vision • Also based on listening for brainstorms, insights – Encourage them – (but stop short of encouraging out-of-process dev) 12 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Maximizing technical investment and learning • Let your team invest in work with technical pay-off – Early learning and maximal understanding – Slash technical debt – Reduce uncertainty – Choosing / prioritizing backlog items that facilitate design to emerge, prove workflow, test architecture 13 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Managing Costs • Collaboration – Development can provide cost - at least relative cost – Product Owner can ask: What can I do to reduce that cost - to get the ROI I want? • Splitting • MMF • Alternatives 14 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Impact of time on priority High risk New industry standard Return Return Time Time Maintenance Microprocessor Upgrades Return Return Time Time Denne & Cleland-Huang, Software by Numbers, 2004 15 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Summary • Prioritizing by value is complicated • Mitigate project risks by doing risk first development • At times it makes sense to place a high risk item before a higher value item • Need to balance Return, Cost, and Risk • What you want and what it costs are a conversation 17 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

Additional Resources 1. Books Agile Excellence for Product Managers by Greg Cohen 2. Discussion Groups a) “LeanPM” Yahoo! discussion group b) 280 Group LinkedIn Group 3. Free PM Templates www.280Group.com  Resources 4. Training Agile Product Management Excellence Course • AIPMM PMEC West Conference, May 24 - 26 • San Jose, June 11 (www.280group.com, Save 15% AGPME15) • New York, June 25 (www.280group.com, Save 15% AGPME15) 18 v20100410 v20100318 © 2010280 Group LLC ©2009 280 Group LLC

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Prioritizing the product backlog aipmm webinar v2

by AIPMM Administration on May 14, 2010

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