How to
Choose Your
Favorite Child
Regan Davis
VP of Product, Jellyvision
Makers of ALEX, an interactive conversation for explaining HR and benefits to employees
Previously VP of Product at info.com & Zenya
There can be only
one
A backlog is
an ordered list
It does not matter whether it is a story, task, bug, or spike.
Goal is to deliver on the highest business value items first.
if we don't Prioritize, someone else will
Invest in the product you want
sell the product you have
Factors
Financial Value
Cost
Learning
Risk
Risk/Learning Helps Determine Timing
Pick your levers
Pick 3-5 levers that you can affect and that will have an impact on your business.
Then pick measures of these levers that are trackable, actionable and distinct.
Before you sit down to prioritize anything you have to know what’s important for your business."
prioritization techniques
Desirability
Kano Model
3 types of features
Threshold ("must-have") features
Linear features
Exciters and Delighters
Indifferent
Reverse
5
What's the order?
Threshold
have to be in at least before launch
partial implementation may be adequate
Linear
complete as many as possible
BUT beware of feature bloat
Delighters
with time permitting
a few should be part of the release
1.
2.
3.
how to know which is which
Ask the Customer
Functional Question
If you can do X, how do you feel?
Dysfunctional question
I like it that way.
I expect it to be that way.
I am neutral.
I can live with it that way.
I dislike it that way.
If you cannot do X, how do you feel?
I like it that way.
I expect it to be that way.
I am neutral.
I can live with it that way.
I dislike it that way.
(Shopkeeper) add & edit new products for my shop
(Shopkeeper) prevent new orders during my holidays
(Visitor) see the list of top products
(Regular customer) edit my banking & contact info
-
(Regular customer) receive gift suggestions by email
(Visitor) share my wishes on social networks
(Customer) order via Paypal, credit card, or check
(Visitor) search for gifts by title; filter and sort by price
(Visitor) search for gifts by themes, colors, & materials
(Customer) get a receipt and tracking of my order
(Regular customer) create a customer account
Let's Try it
"ICE" Model
Relative weighting
Impact * Confidence * Ease
-
Group estimating the value
-
small scale for each (1-5, 1-10, etc.)
-
Done collaboratively
"Expert" judgement
Use ourselves instead of customers
-
Risk: We aren't actually our customers
Balance short- vs. long-term impact
credit: Itamar Gilad
(Shopkeeper) add & edit new products for my shop
(Shopkeeper) prevent new orders during my holidays
(Visitor) see the list of top products
(Regular customer) edit my banking & contact info
-
(Regular customer) receive gift suggestions by email
(Visitor) share my wishes on social networks
(Customer) order via Paypal, credit card, or check
(Visitor) search for gifts by title; filter and sort by price
(Visitor) search for gifts by themes, colors, & materials
(Customer) get a receipt and tracking of my order
(Regular customer) create a customer account
Let's Try it
Tradeoffs
Buy a feature
Need:
Rough Effort Estimated Features
3-7 customers
A small pool of money
Money can't buy everything
Total money is about 1/3 to 1/2 the total estimate.
Forces consensus to get features made.
(Shopkeeper) add & edit new products for my shop
(Shopkeeper) prevent new orders during my holidays
(Visitor) see the list of top products
(Regular customer) edit my banking & contact info
-
(Regular customer) receive gift suggestions by email
(Visitor) share my wishes on social networks
(Customer) order via Paypal, credit card, or check
(Visitor) search for gifts by title; filter and sort by price
(Visitor) search for gifts by themes, colors, & materials
(Customer) get a receipt and tracking of my order
(Regular customer) create a customer account
Let's Try it
$60
$5
$5
$35
$15
$5
$80
$20
$30
$10
$40
Rinse and repeat
Plan in short bursts
-
Weigh Costs against Value
-
Release Small Stories to Get Feedback
-
Use Analytics to Measure if Your Guess was Right
throw stuff out
Get rid of the features that don't move the needle
Make space for the things that will
Questions?
APpendix
What the heck is "business value"?
-
The financial value of having the features.
-
The cost of developing (and supporting) the new features.
-
The learning and new knowledge created by developing the features.
-
The risk removed by developing the features.
Financial Value
How much money does a new feature get us?
Why do our customers pay for our product?
Requires us to know our customers.
Requires us to prioritize our customers.
Cost to develop
Estimating --from all involved in building the feature-- is required.
Maximize simplicity -- what if we did less?
Spend a little to validate assumptions.
Learning
Product Knowledge
Learning about WHAT will be developed
Project knowledge
Learning about HOW it will be created
Risk
Schedule risk
Cost risk
Functionality risk
Measurement
Metric (KPI) based
Pick your levers
Pick 3-5 levers that you can affect and that will have an impact on your business.
Then pick measures of these levers that are trackable, actionable and distinct.
Before you sit down to prioritize anything you have to know what’s important for your business."
Simplify Scoring
Weight & Divide
Prioritization: How to Choose Your Favorite Child
By Regan Davis
