Holly Green Principal Business Analyst Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI)

1. Getting to “No” quickly
A Demand Management Case Study
Holly Green, Principal Business Analyst
Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI)

2. Objectives
1) Kanban:
Become familiar with a process for intake and evaluation of
cross-divisional work requests using a Kanban approach
2) ‘Just Enough’:
Learn how to constrain analysis to ‘just enough’; ‘just enough’ to
facilitate a go/no-go decision quickly and foster a broad
understanding of potential future challenges that may be
encountered
3) Prioritize:
Learn how to use BA skills and techniques to maintain a
prioritized backlog with a focus on doing the right work at the
right time

3. Pressures

4. Options

5. A Vision

6. REI’s Demand Management Team
Mission: “Our aim is to build a process that is scalable, visible, and driven by the
customer.”
Provide
Stated Set Steps to
Full
of Goals Prioritize
Visibility

7. Kanban (看板)
“Visualizes a unit of value, limits WIP,
and manages flow.
The pull system of kanban tends to
quickly expose impediments,
blocking issues, and bottlenecks in
the flow.”
Agile Software Requirements by Leffingwell

8. REI’s Kanban Board
1. Intake
2. Initial Review
3. Analysis
4. Prioritize
5. Execute
6. Measure
7. Blocked
8. Denied

9. Intake Form – ‘Just Enough’

10. Assessment Form – Saying ‘No’

11. Release Plan

12. Exercise: Define Problem, Opportunity, Scope
Recommendations Engine
• Nile specializes in selling just about everything.
• Nile wants to use the information that it gathers about customer habits to build a new
Recommendations engine.
• Recommendations will be available to shoppers on www.nile.com, m.nile.com, various Nile
apps, and in Nile’s stores.
• Recommendations will go beyond basic product recommendations; to keep people
engaged, Nile will also recommend communities that shoppers may be interested in
following as well as classes and activities that they may be interested in signing up for.

13. Exercise:
Create Kanban Cards & Prioritize
Recommendations Engine
Consider:
• Value
• Dependencies
• Risk

14. My Prioritized Kanban Board

15. Value of BAs in the Demand Management process
• Up-front scoping and benefits analysis:
– Go/no-go assessment is made early in the process
• Guide Stakeholders to promote adherence to:
– Enterprise strategy (keeping the big picture in sight)
– Best practices
• Promote improved communication across disjointed channels
– Break down barriers around organizational functions
– Enable multiple parties to come together to collaborate toward common
goals
• Bring perspective to:
– Risks
– Impediments
– Opportunities

16. BAs Build Bridges
• BA’s work closely with the Business to:
– Ensure enterprise strategy remains at forefront
– Help maintain cross-divisional perspective
– Identify problems/root causes
– Define value of requests
– Promote understanding of technology; costs, complexities, implications
– Consider alternatives when value doesn’t outweigh cost
• BA’s work with each other to:
– Synergize and build efficiencies across divisions
– Consider impacts, opportunities and priorities across divisions
• BA’s work with Architects to:
– Ensure Business need is well-understood
– Ensure Business value is well-understood
• BA’s are the unbiased middle ground between the
Business and Technology

17. Wins
Demand vs. Capacity
250
200
150
100
50
0
Demand (sprints) Capacity (sprints)

18. Communication Tactics
Collaboration Consistency
Transparency

19. Avoid Pitfalls
Stay out of the weeds
Be flexible
Be open and honest
Communicate
Exercise caution with the squeaky wheel

20. Considerations:
Is this something your organization can implement?
Leadership
Commitment
Appetite for change

21. Objectives
1) Kanban:
Become familiar with a process for intake and evaluation of
cross-divisional work requests using a Kanban approach
2) ‘Just Enough’:
Learn how to constrain analysis to ‘just enough’; ‘just enough’ to
facilitate a go/no-go decision quickly and foster a broad
understanding of potential future challenges that may be
encountered
3) Prioritize:
Learn how to use BA skills and techniques to maintain a
prioritized backlog with a focus on doing the right work at the
right time

22. Questions
?

23. Information
Email: hgreen@rei.com
Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/HollyGreen/
getting-to-no-quickly