Agile Kolkata 2022 Backlog for Value, Clarit and Outcome Alignment Sushant Joshi Product Manager Thoughtworks

1. © 2022 Thoughtworks
Backlog for value, clarity and
outcome alignment
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2. © 2022 Thoughtworks
About Me
Product Principal at ThoughtWorks. His work includes working
with clients to assess product-market-fit, create goal aligned
roadmaps and product delivery. He brings in his ever-curious
mindset, business knowledge, and interdisciplinary thinking to
solve problems that form our surroundings. His primary focus
area is - product discovery - through which he helps address
key product risks in the early stages of the product
Sushant is passionate about Indian
digital ecosystems. He is working with
Indian companies to create better
products.
Sushant Joshi
Sushant Joshi
Product Principal
@sushantjoshi
https://sushant-joshi.medium.c
om
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Managing product backlog
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What we will and will not talk about
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Backlog
How to align for value
How to create them
How to know how fit your backlog is
Release plans
Spilovers
Showcases
Velocity
Writing stories
Every organisation has it’s own way in dealing with
these elements
Our Focus : Building right things through
effective backlog
Shift Left
We will talk about We will not talk about

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Product Roadmaps
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Product Backlog
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Product Roadmaps
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Product Backlog
Strategy
Vision
External facing
High level Comes after
Roadmap
Prioritised list
Development team
For customers
For Marketing Detailed task list
Value
Prioritised list
Plan
Shippable product
Tangible
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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What comes first ?
What’s the difference between these
two?
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Ahh, this is not what I wanted!
Our recent feature bombed, no one is
using it, our entire work has been
wasted.
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Communication
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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As A XXX
I want to XXX
So that XXX
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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As A XXX
I want to XXX
So that XXX
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Develop
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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As A XXX
I want to XXX
So that XXX
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5%
90%
5%
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Purpose
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Purpose -
Alignment
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Vision
Goals
Product Roadmap
Development
Backlog
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Idea ?
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Vision
Goals
Product Roadmap
Development
Backlog
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Idea
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Vision
Goals
Product Roadmap
Development
Backlog
Product Backlog
● Feasible
● Valuable
● Usable
● Viable
Approach
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Lean Value Tree
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Tools and
Techniques
Executive vision
Goal based
1
4
Goal Goal
Goal
Vision
Bet Bet
Product strategy
Own the problem
shape the
approach
Portfolio
management
Value based
investment
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Product
architecture
Actionable thin
slice
Iterative
incremental
creation
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Autonomous
teams
Measure value
Outcomes not output
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Agile
delivery
2
Vision
Goal Goal Goal
Bet
Initiative
Bet
Initiative Initiative
POD 1 POD 1
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Purpose - Alignment
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Purpose aligned backlog goes a long way in ensuring
building right things
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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I understand, but we need much more
than purpose
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Creating a backlog
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Who is it for ?
What is our user intending to achieve?
What are the various options available for achieving the goal?
Is the option / Feature evaluated against four key risks?
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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High level flow
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Features
User
● Feasible
● Valuable
● Usable
● Viable
Prioritisation Elaboration Development Ship it out
Validate
Will fail key
risks test
During detailing we may
have to drop some
Approach
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Journey representation
Visualise user journey
If no extensive user research, use proto-persona
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Goal
Activity
Story maps by Jeff Patton
Goal Goal
Activity Activity
Activity Activity Activity
Activity Activity Activity
Tools and
Techniques
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Continuous Discovery
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Ideas - Generated by team based on market study,
learnings from customers, platform, competitors, Business
Ideas - Validated for Value, Usability, Viability,
Feasibility through quick PoCs, spikes, user testing
Validated ideas make to backlog and are
prioritised for development iteration
Dev Team Working
in iterations
Small team including
Business, Tech and
Design thinking and
running PoCs also
working in iteration
TIME
Iteration Iteration Iteration
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary
Tools and
Techniques

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What all think typical Backlog contains?
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Clarity emerges as we move left to right
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Features
User
● Feasible
● Valuable
● Usable
● Viable
Prioritisation Elaboration Development Ship it out
Validate
Will fail key
risks test
During detailing we
may have to drop some
Clarity
● Completeness
● Volatility
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Volatility & Completeness
Volatility
● Measure of how likely our
requirements are likely to change
High Volatility
● Unvalidated requirements
● Completely uncharted area
● Journey is evolving
● Tech design is evolving
● Stakeholders not aligned
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Completeness
● Do we know enough to develop the
feature / story
Low Completeness
● Wireframes / visual design are not available
● Upstream or downstream expectations are not
clear
● Integration dependencies not sorted
● Too many assumptions
… knowing the health and gaining the confidence
L M H L
M
H Tools and
Techniques
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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Immediate / Now Next Later
Volatility
Completeness
L
H
Expected backlog
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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H
L
Volatility
Completeness
L
H
Expected backlog
Ideas
Experiments
Development
High commitment
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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● Stakeholder oriented representation
○ Management
○ Sales
○ Engineering team
● Over period of time only engineering backlog gets
updated
● Over the time divergence in expectation and what is
being created
Story of
roadmap and
backlog
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

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● Stakeholder oriented representation
○ Management
○ Sales
○ Engineering team
● Over period of time only engineering backlog gets updated
● Over the time divergence in expectation and what is being
created
● Single Base
● Varying representations based on the same raw data
● Treat them as a flow
Note on roadmap and a backlog
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Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary
Story of
roadmap
and backlog

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Summary
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● Look at Backlog with a holistic view than sequential artefact for dev team
● Alignment with Purpose & Value ensures relevant backlog
● Visualise backlog wrt benefits at users hand than points or efforts or person
month
● Always refer User or actor or beneficiary for staying focussed
● Track completeness and volatility across features and stories for healthy backlog
○ Highly volatile or lacking completeness suggests you need to slow down & explore alternative
● There is one backlog and it’s not only for development purpose
Context Value alignment Backlog building Backlog KPIs Summary

33. © 2022 Thoughtworks
Thank you
Sushant Joshi
Twitter: @sushantjoshi
https://sushant-joshi.medium.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sushantjoshi/
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