As product managers, or leaders in other roles, colleagues often look to us to decide which features to invest in, and when. The reality is there’s rarely a simple answer to the question “what next?”, but rather than guessing, there are several approaches being used in the industry that greatly help in finding opportunities, analysing their impact and shipping them efficiently. We’ve put some of these to the test at Property Finder and wanted to share several effective backlog creation and prioritisation techniques that are having a real impact on our product development.

1. ROSE MARSH, JUNE 2019
Better Backlog Creation
and Prioritisation

2. ● Senior Product Manager at
Property Finder
● Previously and
MoneySuperMarket Group
and Pearson PLC in London
● I’m a student of Product
(always looking to learn and
improve!)
● I love swimming, cycling
and running
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BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
HI, I’M ROSE!

3. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
WHAT WE’LL
DISCUSS TODAY
1. Objective decision-making
2. Finding ideas using the
Opportunity Solution Tree
3. Prioritising your backlog with
RICE
4. Taking a consistent approach
to creating and prioritising
your backlog
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4. OBJECTIVE
DECISION
MAKING
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5. BACKLOG PRIORITISATION & CREATION
COGNITIVE BIAS:
A cognitive bias is a shortcut or error in the way our brain makes decisions
or judgments.
The human brain is powerful but subject to limitations. Cognitive biases are
the result of your brain's attempt to simplify information processing.

6. Bias isn’t all bad, but we should be
aware that it affects the way we
make decisions.
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

7. So what can we do about the
flaws in our decision making?
We can acknowledge them….
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

8. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
Articulate what we
don’t know and strive
to fill the gaps in our
knowledge (with
quantitative and
qualitative research)
before spending days,
weeks, months
building a product.
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Acknowledging the flaws in our
decision-making allows us to:

9. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
Acknowledge that
failure is a possibility,
encouraging us to
start small and test.
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Acknowledging the flaws in our
decision-making allows us to:

10. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
Identify, and quantify,
the risks in our
decisions and use
small tests and
product iterations to
validate or invalidate
these risks (e.g.
through Riskiest
Assumption Testing).
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Acknowledging the flaws in our
decision-making allows us to:

11. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
Further reading...
Thinking in Bets
by Annie Duke
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12. GENERATING
IDEAS USING
THE
OPPORTUNITY
SOLUTION TREE
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13. Have you ever been set a goal and
struggled to work out how you’re
going to achieve it?
I know I have….
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

14. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
The Opportunity
Solution tree provides
a structured way to
find ideas that will
help you meet a
desired outcome.
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15. There’s three main stages to the
opportunity solution mapping:
1. Perform research to understand what is currently
driving, or holding back, your desired outcome
2. Use this research to list out a set of opportunities
(challenges)
3. Use these opportunities to brainstorm solutions
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

16. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

17. There
opportunity
solution tree
is great for...
1. Generating ideas that are
strongly aligned to a
business goal
2. Involving a large group
of people in
brainstorming ideas
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

18. USING RICE FOR
BACKLOG
PRIORITISATION
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19. Once you have your backlog of
ideas, it’s often hard to know
where to start...
I’ve found RICE to be the most
effective backlog prioritisation
method
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

20. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
RICE is a prioritisation
method pioneered by
the Product team at
Intercom.
It asks you to consider
several factors when
prioritising in order to
assess the likely
impact of each idea.
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21. RICE stands for:
Reach — How many people you estimate your idea will reach
within a given period.
Impact — The impact your idea will have on an individual
person.
Confidence — The confidence you have in your estimations.
Effort — An estimate of the total amount of time required
from all involved team members to deliver your idea.
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

22. RICE is a powerful prioritisation method because
it not only takes into account Reach, Impact and
Effort, but it also asks you to think about your
Confidence in the estimates you’ve given.
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
As mentioned earlier, prioritising and making
good decisions is not just about quantifying
impact, but also about understanding the
limitations of your decisions and predictions.

23. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION

24. RICE is
great for...
1. Objectively prioritising
several ideas, tasks or
features
2. Longer-term planning
and prioritisation
BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
3. Ensuring you get
maximum value for the
effort you put into a
project

25. CONSISTENCY
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26. BACKLOG CREATION & PRIORITISATION
All of the approaches
mentioned today should
not be done once and
then forgotten about.
Great product
management comes from
being consistent as well
as making improvements
to your approach where
possible.
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27. AND NOW
OVER TO
YOU….
THANK YOU!