Slides from a product management training workshop with our partners at the Department of the Interior's Office of Natural Resources Revenue as a part of work together on revenuedata.doi.gov

1. The process of
building a backlog
Alex Pandel & Nikki Lee, 18F
In partnership with the Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue

2. Turning a vision statement and a
roadmap into an actionable backlog
is an iterative process.

3. You start with something large and
continuously break it into smaller
and smaller pieces, until you have
something small enough to take
action on.

4. The key is to continually focus on
user needs and outcomes (rather
than specific implementation details)

5. milestone

6. component component component
milestone

7. component
milestone
task
group
sub-
epic
component component

8. component
milestone
sub-
epic
component component
individual tasks

9. The way you build your backlog sets
the tone for your entire milestone.
You need to make sure your
teammates are actively involved and
bought in at every point.

10. The way you build your backlog sets
the tone for your entire milestone.
You need to make sure your
teammates are actively involved and
bought in at every point.

11. Once your team has aligned on big
picture priorities, pick the first one
and consider:

12. Whose needs are you addressing?

13. What are the unknowns?

14. What activities/teams are involved?

15. What outcome(s) are you trying to
achieve?

16. How will you know you’ve
succeeded?

17. The act of breaking down the work
will help make priorities clearer. It
will also highlight any dependencies
between team members, which need
to be tracked.

18. The act of breaking down the work
will help make priorities clearer. It
will also highlight any dependencies
between team members, which need
to be tracked.

19. Your teammates should be helping
you understand, prioritize, and
sequence the team’s work.

20. Systematically
breaking it down

21. Look at the
desired
outcome

22. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there

23. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome

24. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components

25. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components
Decide what’s
in and what’s
out for this
cycle

26. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components
Decide what’s
in and what’s
out for this
cycle
For everything
that’s in...

27. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components
Decide what’s
in and what’s
out for this
cycle
For everything
that’s in...

28. Look at the
desired
outcome
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components
Decide what’s
in and what’s
out for this
cycle
For everything
that’s in...
And so on…
until you have bite-sized tasks.

29. Imagine your team as a drain pipe:
the larger the object you try to push
through it the more likely it is that
blockages and bottlenecks will
occur. Bite-sized tasks keep the flow
going.

30. Keep the team focused on the goal.
Don’t let them get lost in the details
of implementation, so that you can
quickly deliver value to your users.

31. How do I know when something is
bite-sized?

32. Reasonably sized
The work is relatively small and well
understood.

33. Independent
The work is self-contained, such that
it can be worked on by itself.

34. Negotiable
Implementation is flexible, without a
specific approach defined.

35. Valuable
The team understands who the user
is and how this work provides value
to them.

36. Verifiable
The team has a clear idea of what it
takes to do the work.

37. There will be larger and smaller units
of bite-sized work. The goal is to
scope each task to the smallest
chunk of understandable work that
still provides clear value to users

38. There will be larger and smaller units
of bite-sized work. The goal is to
scope each task to the smallest
chunk of understandable work that
still provides clear value to users

39. An example

40. Let’s say you want to make it easier
for the public to identify affordable
healthy food options in their area

41. Public can find affordable food options in
their area

42. Public can find
affordable food
options in their
area
Define the
outcome

43. Desired outcome:
Public can find
affordable food
options in their area
Technology that
lets users search
for food options
Ask the team how
to get there

44. Desired outcome:
Public can find
affordable food
options in their area
What it takes to get
there:
Technology that lets
users search for food
options
Database, search
tool, suggestion
engine
Identify
components of
the outcome

45. Desired outcome:
Public can find
affordable food
options in their area
What it takes to get
there:
Technology that lets
users search for food
options
Components:
Database of healthy
food sources, search
tool, suggestion
engine
1. Collect data
2. Build database
3. Search tool
4. Suggestion
engine
Prioritize and
sequence work

46. Desired outcome:
Public can find
affordable food
options in their area
What it takes to get
there:
Technology that lets
users search for food
options
Components:
Database of healthy
food sources, search
tool, suggestion
engine
Priority and
sequence:
1. Collect data, 2.
Build database, 3.
Search tool, 4.
Suggestion engine
1. Collect data
2. Build database
3. Search tool
4. Suggestion
engine
Decide what’s in
and out this cycle

47. Database Search tool Suggestion
engine
People can find affordable food options

48. Desired outcome:
People can find
affordable food
options
What it takes to get
there: Technology
that lets users search
for food options
Components:
Database of healthy
food sources, search
tool, suggestion
engine
Priority and
sequence: 1. Collect
data, 2. Build
database, 3. Search
tool, 4. Suggestion
engine
In order to
collect data
for the
database...
1. Collect data
2. Build database
3. Search tool
4. Suggestion
engine

49. Comprehensive
data source for
healthy food to
provide good
information
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components
Decide what’s
in and what’s
out for this
cycle
Define the
outcome
In order to
collect data
for the
database...

50. Desired outcome:
Comprehensive data
source for healthy
food so the system
can provide valuable
information to users
A good sense of
what data is
available and a
quality ranking
Ask the team how
to get there

51. Desired outcome:
Comprehensive data
source for healthy
food so the system
can provide valuable
information to users
What it takes to get
there:
A good sense of what
data is available and
a quality ranking
Research around
sources of data, a
rubric to assess
quality
Identify
components of
the outcome

52. Desired outcome:
Comprehensive data
source for healthy
food so the system
can provide valuable
information to users
What it takes to get
there:
A good sense of what
data is available and
a quality ranking
Components:
Research around
sources of data, a
rubric to assess
quality
1. Research
2. Document
3. Develop rubric
to assess quality
Prioritize and
sequence work

53. Desired outcome:
Comprehensive data
source for healthy
food so the system
can provide valuable
information to users
What it takes to get
there:
A good sense of what
data is available and
a quality ranking
Components:
Research around
sources of data, a
rubric to assess
quality
Priority and
sequence:
1. Research, 2.
Document 3. Develop
rubric to assess
quality
1. Research
2. Document
3. Develop rubric
to assess quality
Decide what’s in
and out this cycle

54. Database
People can find affordable food options
Research
sub-
epic
Search tool Suggestion
engine

55. Desired outcome:
Comprehensive data
source for healthy
food so the system
can provide valuable
information to users
What it takes to get
there:
A good sense of what
data is available and
a quality ranking
Components:
Research around
sources of data, a
rubric to assess
quality
Priority and
sequence:
1. Research, 2.
Document 3. Develop
rubric to assess
quality
In order to do
research...
1. Research
2. Document
3. Develop rubric
to assess quality

56. Enough research
to be confident
that the info will
help people find
good options
Talk to the
team about
what it takes
to get there
Identify
components
of your
outcome
Prioritize and
sequence the
components
Decide what’s
in and what’s
out for this
cycle
In order to do
research...
Define the
outcome

57. And, so on ...

58. Until you get down to a small unit:
Research healthy food options in
Austin, TX

59. Reasonable size
Relative to other work in the queue
the team estimates this is a medium
sized task

60. Independent
Limited to Austin, TX with no
dependencies on other cities

61. Negotiable
The research method isn’t specified;
just the outcome

62. Valuable
Understanding the food options in
Austin, TX will allow us to help
people there find healthy food
options

63. Verifiable
A list of healthy food options in
Austin, including location and type of
food

64. People can find affordable food options

65. Database Search tool Suggestion
engine
People can find affordable food options

66. Database
People can find affordable food options
Research
sub-
epic
Search tool Suggestion
engine

67. Database
People can find affordable food options
sub-
epic
Search tool Suggestion
engine
Austin, TX

68. Tips for splitting tasks
http://agileforall.com/wp-content/upl
oads/2012/01/Story-Splitting-Flowch
art.pdf

69. Practice

70. Let’s break down one of your
milestones