The document discusses the importance of using business objectives to prioritize product features and improve product delivery by selecting features that add the most value. It highlights common issues in identifying business objectives, such as confusion among stakeholders and lack of measurement. It also provides examples of how features can be evaluated based on their impact on revenue and costs.

1. Using Business
Objectives to Kill
Scope and
Launch Better
Products
Joy Beatty
Vice President of Blue Ocean Services
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3. A long time ago
in a galaxy far,
far away…
Project Managers
and Product
Managers focused
their battle
strategies on
on-time delivery!
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4. How do we save the patient?
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5. So Now What?
How do we decide what features to cut?
• Does the squeakiest wheel get to build their features?
• Does the most senior member of the team pick?
• Why don’t we roll the dice?
• Can you justify the value of your most needed features?
Proposal: Select features
that add the most value
by using ….
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES!
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6. Activity
PDM Secrets October. Issue 007
Revealed
Inside!
The Work with a partner
Popular to identify your best
Product
Manager
Attire Best & and your worst
business objectives
Monkey
Wins
Elicitation
Contest
Worst
See inside
for “Our
Top BA
Model”
of 2011
Cover story: Look at what companies set
as the best business objectives of the year
and where they simply fell flat
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7. Typical Product Definition Approach
SUCCESS
METRICS
PRODUCT
FEATURES
PRODUCT
CONCEPT
PRODUCT
QUALITIES
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8. A Business Objectives Approach
Features may
have changed
FEATURES
BUSINESS SUCCESS
OBJECTIVES METRICS
FEATURES
PRODUCT BUSINESS PRODUCT
CONCEPT PROBLEM CONCEPT
BUSINESS QUALITIES
GUIDING
STRATEGY PRINCIPLES
Product Concept
may have changed
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9. Using Business Objectives
Business Problems
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES Business Strategies
Product Concept
FEATURES QUALITIES Success Metrics
Guiding Principles
“Non-Functional Requirements”
FUNCTIONAL
REQUIREMENTS
PERFORMANCE USABILITY SECURITY
… LEGAL
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10. Why Don’t We Have Them?
Why Don’t You Have Business Objectives?
• Confusion about what business objectives are
• Management won’t tell
• Stakeholders don’t want to be measured
• Stakeholders don’t actually agree on the
objectives
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11. Identifying Business Objectives
• Interview key business and IT stakeholders WHY?
• Confidently ask “why” – it’s okay to not know! WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
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12. Focus on Money
Business Objectives relate to “money”
• Reduce Costs
• Increase Revenue
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13. Example
Business Objective 25% GROWTH How can we target
IN OTHER growth in other
MARKETS markets?
COMPETITION OH! What kind of
IS STILL growth do you
GROWING want?
Business Problems
15-30 YR Why are you
MARKET concerned about
SLOWING that growth?
NOT SELLING Why do you care if
OUTSIDE 15-30 the rest of the
BUILD A GAME ADVERTISE TO
YR OLD market buys? FOR RETIREMENT
7-13 YR OLDS AGE
GAMES ARE
Why do you care if
COMPLICATED your games are Business Strategies
complicated?
NINTENDO Why would you
WII GAME build a Wii Game? Product Concept
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14. Selecting Features
INCREASE REVENUE/
Evaluate the
DECREASE COSTS value of
features or sets
OBJECTIVE FACTOR
of features
OBJECTIVE FACTOR
OBJECTIVE FACTOR
OBJECTIVE FACTOR
FEATURES
OBJECTIVE DATA
EQUATIONS NEEDS
FEATURES
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15. Feature Value Example
INCREASE REVENUE Current state:
100 tests passed/wk
Sales/avg user = $1000/wk
INCREASING # PASSED TESTS Sales/passed user = $1200/wk
INCREASES REVENUE
PROVIDING TRAINING
BEFORE TESTS INCREASES TRAINING
# OF PASSED TESTS
Training increases
passed # tests by 50%
CREATING BETTER TESTS
INCREASES # OF (=50 new people pass/wk)
Passed tests increases PASSED TESTS
revenue by 20%
(=$200 sales/user each GETTING USER FEEDBACK ON
TRAINING
week) TESTS HELPS CREATE BETTER
SURVEYS
TESTS
PROVIDING OPTIONS TO
COMPLETE TRAINING ONLINE Downloading
DOWNLOADABLE
OR OFFLINE INCREASES increases
TRAINING passed #
# PASSED TESTS
tests by 2%
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16. Challenges in Measuring Value
Common difficulties in assigning
value to features:
• Complaints about time to write
and evaluate
• Data isn’t collected today
• Organizations don’t want to take
time to measure
• Business objectives aren’t
defined to use in prioritization
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17. What If I Can’t Identify Them?
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18. Questions?
Joy Beatty
Seilevel
joy.beatty@seilevel.com
www.seilevel.com/blog
www.seilevel.com/resources
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