Myron Kokhanovskyi: From Chaos to Clarity: R&D Way of Working Framework (UA)
Ukraine Online PMO Day 2023 Autumn
Website – www.pmday.org/pmo
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/startuplviv
FB – https://www.facebook.com/pmdayconference
4. Use Case | Background
● Startup up to 500 people
● R&D dept. - up to 260
○ UX
○ Engineering
○ Product
○ Data Analytics
○ Project Management
● New CPO
● “Stalling” company metrics
12. Use Case | Stakeholder Alignment
● Get the “decision makers” in one room:
○ Use Case: Dir. UX, VP of Engineering, CPO
○ Expensive meeting - make sure to have a clear agenda and plan
● Go through the expectations & identified problems
● Ask to vote for most pressing issues that need to be solved (5 mins)
● Discussion: Use “time-box” approach (10 min per item)
○ C-level/Leadership are visionaries, they can talk/discuss topics for hours without any
outcomes…
○ Full Alignment? - No need to discuss
○ Disagreement? - Lean back on OKRs / Strategic goals
13. Use Case | Stakeholder Alignment
Example:
“We are struggling with team performance evaluation, we need to create metrics
for this ASAP!”
Strategic Goal: “Organize the Way of Working of an R&D Dept. to maximise
outcomes & achieve OKRs.”
Decision: Every Epic/Opportunity needs to have target & actual outcomes. Lets
measure Team Performance based on Outcomes, not outputs (features done,
releases, etc.)
15. Use Case | Solution Definition
● Brainstorming
○ Define a working group
○ Allocate 1-2 hours for research and idea generation
○ Present ideas
○ Vote
○ Select & agree on the best
● Decide on Implementation
○ Tools
○ Process
○ What will be needed
○ Assign ownership
17. Use Case | Prioritise
● Value (Impact of achieving the Strategic Goal) vs Effort (how complex will
be the implementation)
● Look for MVP/POC
● Break things down
20. Use Case | Rollout
● Get buy-in & support from stakeholders as well as senior team members
(team leads, etc.)
● Create onboarding materials (confluence pages, videos, etc.)
● Promote - use All Hands meetings, team meetings:
○ Explain the benefits
○ “How this change/new tool/new process will make “your” lifes better!”
● Meet with your end users to get feedback, gain feedback and make them a
part of the solution.
23. Use Case | End Result
● 5 day workshop for PMs, Tech Leads & UX on Product Discovery & Delivery
(by Jeff Patton author of User Story Mapping)
● New planning and resource allocation strategy (Quarterly + 6 weeks check
in)
● Establishing Product Council
○ Reviewing data after discovery
○ Making Go/No Go decision based on data, OKRs, expected outcomes