Imagine you’ve been looking forward to a dinner with friends. Great food, great company. The food turns up and its disappointing. Clearly the chef and team have great skills but the ingredients were lacking. Not a happy customer. This could be a problem with software delivery too – the customer is eagerly awaiting greatness yet what turns up does not meet expectations. If the ingredients are poor, irrespective of how good the team is, the result could be disappointing. Here we delve deeper into some of the secrets of great analysis and how to pick the right ingredients. Join Sam Moody in her workshop, where she will unveil the “missing framework”. FEATUR is a powerful and engaging Agile business analysis framework which challenges the status quo and helps to define a best practice that we can all benefit from. Its concepts “bolt” neatly to existing frameworks such as Scrum, SAFe, LeSS and is designed to not just focus on the practices but the mindset too. FEATUR incorporates Design Thinking, Design Sprint, Lean Startup approaches as well as some additional ingredients based upon over 20 years of Business Analysis experience.

1. ba-beyond.eu — #BABeyond20
26 October 2020
Turn radical ideas
into awesome outcomes!
Sam Moody

2. FEATUR: Turn Radical Ideas
into Awesome Outcomes
with Sam Moody
HELLO!
Register for your chance to receive a free course module: https://forms.gle/uNnkSBJaRqm6ZcMY8

3. Welcome!
Let’s get creative – pick two items nearby, how could you
combine them to make something totally different?
I’m Sam Moody, CO-Founder at FEATUR Labs Ltd
and former Head of Agile Engagement for
Deutsche Bank.

4. What is FEATUR?
FEATUR is a bridge between the ‘What’ we deliver and the ‘How’.
WHAT HOW

5. Reflect
Understand
Try
Agree
Frame
Explore
Identify Vision & Goals
FEATUR MAP
Opportunities &
solutions
Features, constraints,
priority & metrics
Simple experiments
Feedback & insight
Decision making &
pivot time

6. Case study: Jo
This is Jo
Works at Central Electric Utility
Senior BA for Security and Safety Applications
Enjoys weekend cycling trips

7. Central Electric Utility
Hi Jo.
This year has been tough, our customers and employees alike are really struggling. Employees are reporting burn out at
record levels.
We’re looking for ways to radically change how some of our processes work so we can help employees. I know you’ve been
experimenting with a framework. Let’s see how it can help us out!
To begin, we know that employees are struggling to feel connected with their colleagues.

8. E
U
T
A
R

9. In Frame we build a strategic vision for the future.
It is particularly important to identify goals that
motivate teams to take ownership for identifying
solutions, goals should be challenging and vision
aligned.
frame
GOALS
VISION

10. Vision Techniques
Make your vision and goals!

11. Goal and Vision
Improved employee well-being.
Better communication between employees.
Radical change of process.
Vision: As a national electric system employee I need to build
connection with my colleagues so that I am better supported and
do not experience burn out.

12. Vision: As a national electric system
employee I need to build connection with
my colleagues so that I am better
supported and do not experience burn
out.

13. EXPLORE
U
T
A
R

14. Explore
In Explore we begin synthesising opportunities and
direction.
Through iteration those ideas develop into likely
solutions, where we can begin to understand the
possible features and constraints that may influence
the decisions we make later.
OPPORTUNITIES
SOLUTIONS
IDEAS

15. Persona/Actor
Stage/Step
Tools/Interface
Time
Satisfaction
Employee
logs in
Laptop / PC
Employee
meeting with
team
Employee &
stakeholder
meeting
Meeting with
dev team
Meeting with
manager
Daily risks
call
5 mins
30 mins
90 mins
0 mins
60 mins 30 mins 60 mins 60 mins
15 mins 60 mins 30 mins
Meeting Times =
Working Times =
Value Stream Empathy
Virtual conf. /
webcam
7 hour 20 minutes
Virtual conf. /
webcam
Virtual conf. /
webcam
Virtual conf. /
webcam
Virtual conf. /
webcam

16. Opportunity
1. Lunch experience.
2. Time in meetings / meeting length and approach.

17. Ideas Choose one method
Crazy 8
Divide a piece of paper into 8
boxes.
In 4 minutes (30s per box)
create 8 totally different ideas.
RULES:
- You must draw pictures
- You must create 8 ideas
- No alphanumeric writing
unless to illustrate a
picture.
Add or Remove
Take 1 minute to draw your idea.
Add/Remove rounds:
1. 30s to add one new thing to
your idea.
2. 30s to remove one old thing
from your idea.
3. 30s to add one new thing to
your idea.
4. 30s to remove one old thing.
5. 1 minute to draw a final idea
What are your ideas?

18. Initial Solutions
Create a virtual lunch space
employees can join, with a
delivery service option for
meals.
Implement a meeting
timebox system that
automatically alerts people
if their days are too
meeting heavy.

19. FEATURES & Constraints Storymap

20. FEATURES & Constraints Storymap
Data Processing
(Food)
Processing
(Lunch Room)
User
Interaction
Reporting
When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will have the opportunity to order food,
receive it and be assigned to a Lunch table to interact with other employees.
Employee dietary
preferences.
Employee address.
Menu selection.
Vendor order
trigger.
Notification of
delivery.
Match employee to
a lunch group.
Use report.
Employee feedback
data.
Order food.
Sign in to virtual
lunch room.
Rate experience.
Self select lunch
group.

21. When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will
have the opportunity to order food, receive it and be assigned to a
Lunch table to interact with other employees.
Vision: As a national electric system
employee I need to build connection with
my colleagues so that I am better
supported and do not experience burn
out.

22. E
U
T
AGREE
R

23. Agree
Once we have some ideas we want to have space to
experiment and iterate.
In this stage we make some basic choices on priority;
which ideas do we want to test first, how will we test
them and how do we know that it outcome was correct?
By agreeing these in advance we are able to adapt
quickly at later stages.
PRIORITIES
METRICS

24. Dimensions of Value

25. Prioritise Storymap
Lets agree!
Data Processing
(Food)
Processing
(Lunch Room)
User
Interaction
Reporting
When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will have the opportunity to order food,
receive it and be assigned to a Lunch table to interact with other employees.
Employee dietary
preferences.
Employee address.
Menu selection.
Vendor order
trigger.
Notification of
delivery.
Match employee to
a lunch group.
Use report.
Employee feedback
data.
Order food.
Sign in to virtual
lunch room.
Rate experience.
Self select lunch
group.

26. Prioritise Storymap
Data Processing
(Food)
Processing
(Lunch Room)
User
Interaction
Reporting
When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will have the opportunity to order food,
receive it and be assigned to a Lunch table to interact with other employees.
Employee dietary
preferences.
Employee address.
Menu selection.
Vendor order
trigger.
Notification of
delivery.
Match employee to
a lunch group.
Use report.
Order food.
Sign in to virtual
lunch room.
Rate experience.
Employee feedback
data.
Self select lunch
group.

27. Metrics
Inputs Outputs Outcome Impact
What’s the solution? What does it deliver? Why is it valuable?
“As a national electric system employee I need to build connection with my colleagues so
that I am better supported and do not experience burn out.”
How might we measure the impact of the proposed change?

28. Metrics
Employee stress related absence reduced by X
Retention of lunch scheme users is >50%

29. Vision: As a national electric system
employee I need to build connection with
my colleagues so that I am better
supported and do not experience burn
out.
When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will
have the opportunity to order food, receive it and be assigned to a
Lunch table to interact with other employees.

30. E
U
TRY
A
R

31. Try
Experimentation and insight gathering is essential.
Strategy is often a best guess estimate of the direction
a business might take. By using small experiments we
reduce waste and risk.
It sets our delivery teams up for success too, as they
see early user interactions and preferences.
EXPERIMENTS

32. ExperimentingThe goal of experimenting is to generate something that enables you to gain valuable feedback, there are a number
of different types of experiment you may wish to try.
Low Fidelity Prototype
Use screen wire frames,
models, and/or role play to
come up with a way for potential
users to experience the solution.
Prototypes can be made entirely
virtually or entirely physically if
so desired but MUST enable a
user to interact with the
proposed solution.
Working Iteration
Build the simplest elements of the
solution into a release, study
metric impact for feedback and
adjustment.

33. Experimenting
Jo decides to use a low fidelity prototype approach and builds a set of wireframes with assumed logic.
Employee Name
Dietary
Location
FILE
Report

34. Employee wireframe interviews
Vision: As a national electric system
employee I need to build connection with
my colleagues so that I am better
supported and do not experience burn
out.
When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will
have the opportunity to order food, receive it and be assigned to a
Lunch table to interact with other employees.

35. E
UNDERSTAND
T
A
R

36. Understand
In the Understand stage we focus on gathering
feedback from real users and stakeholders.
The goal of this stage is to find points of insight where
we may later decide to pivot.
All feedback is good feedback, even if you discover that
the solution is totally wrong. By identifying this early
you generate less waste.
INSIGHTS

37. FEEDBACK
User Interview
Using your solution so far,
request that users interact with
it and narrate their interaction.
Structure a combination of
action tasks and observer how
they interact with the solution
i.e. ‘Show me how to do X’
Interviews should be 15-20
minutes, for between 4-9
individuals.
Visual Retrospective
Using an image as a metaphor,
demonstrate your solution and
request they answer:
- What works
- What might be risky
- What could be
added/improved
- What might delay/hold back
the solution
Metrics
Gather all leading and lagging data
and calculate any movement in
identified metrics.
How might else might we gather feedback?

38. FEEDBACK
I’d like an option to select my lunch group instead of
starting with a random group.
Could a menu be published ahead of time? Then I could
pick which days I wanted to join and which I didn’t.

39. Preference for self selection.
Retention is linked to menu options rather than
interaction.
Vision: As a national electric system
employee I need to build connection with
my colleagues so that I am better
supported and do not experience burn
out.
When an employee selects to be included in Virtual Lunch they will
have the opportunity to order food, receive it and be assigned to a
Lunch table to interact with other employees.
Employee wireframe interviews

40. E
U
T
A
REFLECT

41. Reflect
It is vital to have a key decision making moment, and
capture that decision.
By including this in our process we form horizons
within our strategy to assess and change course as
necessary.
DECISIONS

42. Pivot
There are two key pieces of feedback where it might be important to pivot:
- Food options limit use of the service.
- Selection of the lunch group vs random assignment.
Based on the feedback what decision would you make?

43. What happens next?
Development approved, for small scale pilot.
Development
• Build menu system.
• Identify local sourcing.
Simple working increment
version 1
Preference for self selection.
Retention is linked to menu options rather than
interaction.
Vision: As a national electric system employee I need to
build connection with my colleagues so that I am better
supported and do not experience burn out.
Employee wireframe interviews

44. QUESTIONS
sam@featur.org / www.featur.org
Register for your chance to receive a free course module: https://forms.gle/uNnkSBJaRqm6ZcMY8