Planning your Agile Project – Part 1 - PowerPoint Presentation

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Planning your Agile Project – Part 1

Portfolio Planning and EnvisioningCHC5056, Innovative Product Development

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Objectives of the session

Understand the principles of Multi-level planning in AgileRecognize the need for Portfolio planningBe capable of producing a vision for a Software Product

Link elements of a vision to the Product Backlog for a new project

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Reading list for the module

Reading list for the module is provided in module handbook.“Essential Scrum: A practical guide to the most popular Agile process”, by K. S. RubinParts I and II deal with principles (covered in weeks 5 & 6)

Weeks 3 and 4 – read chapters 14 – 18 on planning

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Scrum Planning Principles

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Skiing analogy (see Chapter 14)

“Do you plan your entire route down?”Balance between up-front and just-in-time planning

Favour inspection and adaptation over conforming to an up-front plan

Really important – you must have an end-point in mind when you start!

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A quick note on the skiing analogy

There are some situations where more detailed planning is possibleThe balance between up-front and just-in-time planning can be adjusted according to the circumstances

‘

Pistes

’ can be thought of as well-tried and reliable plans for the descent

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Small incremental releases and pivoting

Release early (assuming some business value in release)Releases provide additional information about future direction

‘Pivoting’ is the process of changing direction – but only with evidence!

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Multi-level Planning (Chapter 15)

We are interested in Product Planning downwardsCompanies will plan an overall strategy, and refine the strategy to form a portfolio of projects (See Chapter 16 for more on this)

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Planning Level Details(Chapter 15)

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Product Planning – Main deliverables

Product VisionA clear description of the finished product, addressing the key concerns of the stakeholders, the developers and the customers (or end users)

The aim of today’s session is for you to create such a vision

High-level Product Backlog

A Product Backlog is ‘bite-sized’ description of features of the product, used in development. At this stage, we only need to consider ‘meals’ or ‘courses’

Product Roadmap

A plan for the planned releases, linked to 2. above

Architecture plans identify technologies to be used

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Product Planning – The Vision

(Chapter 17)Although this is a vital step in the Agile process, it is easy to miss the point.Common errors:

Over-emphasis of the technology employed to deliver the product

Including too many details

Missing the key benefits to users – it must include a sales pitch

Missing the advantages over competitor products

Read the ‘Visioning’ section of Chapter 17

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Envisioning is an Ongoing Activity

Remember the principles of Agile Planning (see Slide 4)

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Initial Vision

FOR: (target customer)WHO: (statement of need/opportunity

)

THE: (

product

)

IS A: (

product category

)

THAT: (

compelling benefit

)

UNLIKE: (

competitive alternative

)

Video: Agile Product Vision Statement

source of template

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Target customers

Ultimately – this is who is likely to buy/use your productStating a title for these people will force you to identify user characteristics and (a part of) their context for using the product“busy executives”, “students

at CDUT”,

“serious athletes” all suggest characteristics such as age, and wealth, as well as proposing a target market

There is also an implied context for the use of the product – “scarce down-time”, “campus-related activities”, “sporting events”, for example

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Statement of need or opportunity

One or two sentences should capture the main reason that the target customers would reach for your product.Examples:“Who wish to eat a healthy lunch in a short amount of time”;

“Who wish to exchange text books with students from the same course”;

“Who wish to track their training and performance”

These statements will lead to more detailed descriptions of the functionality later in the project (see next week)

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The product

This is simply a title or name of the product being proposed:Thai Express (this first example has been adapted from the linked youtube

video

Text Book Mart

Smart Athletics

Don’t worry too much about this – it becomes important only when marketing starts. Do give your product a name that captures the essence of the software

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Product category

What kind of software is it?“Food delivery app”“online forum for discussing and exchanging books”

“fitness tracker”

This might sound as though you are downgrading it to fit a standard template, but it is important to manage the users’ expectations. Differentiation comes next.

It is possible that you might have to invent a new category!

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Compelling benefit

This is the benefit that will, hopefully, sell your product. It is the start of the differentiation between what you are proposing, and what the customer already has.“Deliver a healthy lunch, quickly!”

“Help you excel in your modules, with a small bookcase!”

“Give you the information you need to beat the opposition!”

Note that this doesn’t say anything about the functions of the product, or describe the technology used. It captures the fulfilment of the need/opportunity described on Slide 14

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Unlike….

This is the main part of the differentiation.“… the reheated, fried food you get from other stalls”“… Amazon, that will gladly fill your flat with books you don’t need”

“… other fitness apps that only tell you about yourself”

Note that the last example implies some extra functionality – that needs to be delivered. All of the visions raise user expectations – and hence should guide the product development.

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Conclusion

We will see how the high-level Product Backlog and the Product Roadmap follow on from the vision, next week.

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