Ideas are never a problem. Each team working on a software project knows how easy is to fill the backlog with 100 new things to build. The most challenging part comes when it’s necessary to make decisions about what to include or exclude. How can we connect the work to high-level business results, and at the same time, leave the space for exploring uncertainty? This talk describes an outcome-first approach to strategy and prioritization. With examples coming from the real-life experience, it shows how it’s possible to balance team autonomy and a global product direction. How a value-based prioritization creates an adaptive, learning culture, enabling cross-functional and collaborative decision making.
3. Shut up, you chump! We know already
what to build. Have a look at our
product strategy.
Let’s make experiments for our
product, so we’ll find out what to build!
4. Shut up, you chump! We know already
what to build. Have a look at our
product strategy.
Let’s make experiments for our
product, so we’ll find out what to build!
…and we had a design sprint
3 months ago. Get back to work!
5. The important things I have to say today
• You can’t create a successful product
without having people aligned on
purpose and goals.
• The product strategy is a visual tool to
connect business and delivery.
• Prioritising by value and outcomes
requires continuous validation.
7. Matteo Cavucci
• Italian, but living in Berlin
• Ex ThoughtWorks, now independent
• Supporting executives, managers, and teams
improving ideation, planning, and delivery of
software products.
• I’ve been hired as a dev, designer, PM,
Scrum Master, PO, etc…
• A process nerd!
@matteoMCED
11. Issues with traditional product strategy
• General lack of alignment and
accountability to a common business goal.
• Decision making is not enabled by people
doing the work.
• Work is measured and prioritised by output,
not value delivered.
• Too many handoffs between silos leading to
poor execution and delays.
14. Verschlimmbesserung
An action that is supposed to improve something,
but ends up making it worse.
“It’s not an improvement; it’s a Verschlimmbesserung!”
17. The challenge
• A large org producing one of the most
beloved software product of the internet
history.
• Based in North America, but with team
members distributed all around the globe.
• A large base of contributors, from semi-
professional partitioners to corporations.
18. Find new ways to attract
and delight the next
four million users.
19. A cross-functional team
of domain experts
Tech lead
UX designer
Product owner
Community
Program manager
Tech lead
User researcher
Marketing
20. A different set of principles
• Focus on learnings, instead of the mere
creation of artefacts with a continuous
process of discovery.
• Prioritise according the desired impact, not
the expected deliverable.
• Empower distributed, autonomous teams to
take the right decisions, keeping a consistent
focus on the global product.
28. What is eventstorming?
Accelerate group learning using DDD
principles and Gamestorming approach
Eventstorming is a rapid, lightweight and
intense group modelling technique. It
makes easy to quickly understand
domains and accelerate business and
tech teams in designing complex and
powerful solutions for their products and
processes.
29. Why it works so well
Everybody is involved - Eventstorming
is designed to create conversations
between many people at the same time
Driven by participants - The focus and
the deepness of the conversation is
decided by the crowd.
Incremental notation - Introduce
specific notations when is needed, if is
needed.
Complex, not linear - Reality is rarely a
linear journey. Eventstorming captures
the hidden complexity of products.
A common language for all - Precise
and powerful language, familiar and
easy to learn by people with different
backgrounds.
30.
31. How does it works
Describe what you know in events
• Orange sticky note
• Verb at past tense
• Relevant for domain experts
Examples:
• New extension submitted for review.
• Extension rated as excellent by end user.
• Extension promoted as featured.
…and place them along a timeline
• What do we need to have this
event happening?
• What other event is triggered by
this event?
32. From insights to opportunities
exploration structure boundaries frictions opportunities
35. Set a leading Vision
• A description of what place in the market
the organization seeks to achieve.
• Ambitious enough to inspire and set a
clear direction.
• Actionable in a reasonable timeframe
(6/12 months).
• Relevant for the business and
meaningful for the teams.
36. Take a look into the future
• What do we want to feel when working with the community of developers?
• What do we want the developers to feel when working with us?
• What do we want the extension makers to feel about our work together?
• What do we want the end user think about our service?
• What do we want the end user to say about our service?
• How would we describe the future service?
38. topic A topic B topic C topic D topic E
Grouping opportunities
39. topic A topic B topic C topic D topic E
Leading Vision
Visualising relations
40. Initiative
The Lean Value Tree
• The Lean Value Tree is a visual tool to
facilitate capturing and sharing the
product strategy
• An effective way to share and analyse
desired outcomes, examine risks, and
continuously prioritize what is
needed.
Leading Vision
Bet
Experiment
Bet
Goal
GoalGoal
41. Goal A Goal B Goal C Goal D Goal E
Leading Vision
From topics to high-level Goals
42. GOAL:
CURRENT SITUATION:
IMPACT:
INDICATORS:
USER:
A name capturing the high-level goal
Customer selection & focus
Observations and insights from the current implementation
The result we’d like to achieve in terms of behavioural change
How are we going to observe the change
44. BET:
PEOPLE:POTENTIAL RISKS:
INDICATORS:
HYPOTHESIS:
A name capturing the Bet
We believe that _________ will result in ________________
Who need to be involved, and how
THE SCENARIO:
A brief description of the desired scenario
from user’s perspective
How are we going to observe the change
Whatever we need to keep in mind when validating this Bet
EXP. IMPACT: Hi/Mid/Low
53. Becoming the 2019 go-to conference
for managers and PO in Europe.
An immersive
attendee experience
Attracting
enthusiast sponsors
Cutting edge
presentations
Growing
a community
54. Becoming the 2019 go-to conference
for managers and POs in Europe
An immersive
attendee experience
Attracting
enthusiast sponsors
Cutting edge
presentations
Growing
a community
Offering spaces
for networking
Connect with
speakers
Get feedback
on real life challenges
55. Becoming the 2019 go-to conference
for managers and POs in Europe
An immersive
attendee experience
Attracting
enthusiast sponsors
Cutting edge
presentations
Growing
a community
Get feedback
on real life challenges
Unconference
space
Coaching
corner by speakers
Q&A panel with
moderated questions from the audience