Austin Fall 2018 - Product Development -

2. • 20+ years leading product management & development teams
– Mostly focused on building software for telecom companies
• Combination of startup, mid-size, and large corporate experience
– Last 10+ years running large global organizations for Oracle, Ixia, and Nokia
• Passion for building – great teams, great products, and great
organizations
• Currently SVP/GM for Digital Experience at Nokia
Andy
Fruhling

3. • Introduction: What do all these terms mean? Why do I care?
– Andy Fruhling
• Focus Area 1: How do I get my first version built? What if don’t know
anything about writing code?
– Kevin Mayes
• Focus Area 2: How do I build my roadmap based on real user needs?
– Michael Morton

4. • Outlines where you are going and conveys the strategic direction of
your product: high-level overview of what is to be built and by when
• Ties back to your overall strategy and go-to-market activities
• Provides the foundation for working
with development: backlog, use cases,
requirements, epics, features, etc.
• While priorities are important, it is
not just a prioritized list!
Good overview of roadmap basics: https://www.productplan.com/roadmap-basics/

5. • Stories, also called “user stories,” are short
requirements or requests written from the
perspective of an end user.
• Epics are large bodies of work that can be
broken down into a number of smaller tasks
(called stories).
• Initiatives are collections of epics that drive
toward a common goal.
• Themes are large focus areas that span the
organization.
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/project-management/epics-stories-themes

6. • Agile: common development
methodology intended to deliver better
quality faster
• Scrum: framework within Agile
methodology and often describes the
cross-functional team
• Product Owner (probably you!)
conveys the vision to the team
• Backlog is your product “To do” list
https://www.boost.co.nz/blog/2018/03/what-is-scrum-product-owner-primer
https://www.scrum-institute.org/The_Scrum_Product_Backlog.php

7. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3
Description Priority Priority Priority Communication
Critical items that must be delivered in this
release. The release will NOT ship without
these items.
MUST 3 High Communicate externally
upon commitment to
release.
Important items for product, but not critical.
Schedule to engineering effort to complete;
however, can be dropped to ensure critical
items are delivered on schedule.
SHOULD 2 or 1 Medium Do not communicate
externally.
Usually future items defined to provide
visibility to future direction.
WISH 0 Low Do NOT communicate
externally.
Ultimately, think in terms “1..n” list where everything is ranked from 1 through the last item in your list.
I start with MUST/SHOULD/WISH and then stack rank within each category with focus on MUST.

8. • Roadmap is a vital part of your overall
strategy and business planning
• Write it down! If it is not written somewhere, it is NOT REAL.
• Prioritize so that you can make hard decisions when necessary.
• Communicate roadmap carefully – don’t extend too far in the sales
process…
• Focus efficient execution