PITA 040
Product nerds, deep in thought
TOPIC 1 How to manage demand for dates on a roadmap
Put in very rough - and wide - timeframes for anything in the NEXT or LATER parts of the roadmap.
Include confidence numbers/% on anything past the next quarter
Do a retro on the strategy - how much came true? What changed and why? Get a good chat with the boss regarding how much a long term roadmap is a work of fiction
Overcommunicte about change as it happens
Show both a Roadmap AND a Release Plan - separate tabs in the same doc
Understand WHY they have a need for dates
TOPIC 2 Tips on persuading management they need a strategy?!
Show the impact on recruitment, retention, team health
Can you point to any issues that the lack of a strategy creates? Use this to illustrate why
You need to be able to articulate why this is important - what problem it solves
Use a template doc and co-create it
Create it yourself and get feedback
maybe drive the need for a strategy to FOCUS - which will reduce costs/waste (since revenue is not driving)
TOPIC 3 (I'm almost ashamed to mention the next 2 words but...) business cases and agile - waaahhhh - anyone done one lately in a public sector org?!!
Create regular reviews, VC-style funding, to make sure that the work is still needed, appropriate, etc
The point of these is to make prioritisation decisions. How can you make them useful?
Finance runs in Waterfall; we’re trying to be responsive, the two are incompatible - try to have a good conversation about this with the people requiring it
Ensure that the case is comprehensible in 1 screen and review the assumptions together - it will be inaccurate and wrong, but make sure you agree on what the assumptions are
Does it matter if the business case is wrong? Don’t beat yourself about being super accurate; it’s just organisational process & politics
Run a retro on the previous business case to help influence how to write the next one (aka pre-mortem for the new one)
Lay out the options, from DO NOTHING to FULL FAT to come to an acceptable level and validate needs (a Clear choice review)
TOPIC 4 Best way to gather metrics for a B2B solution
Look at leading & lagging metrics, and metrics per persona (users and purchasers)
Align your metrics with customers realising value, not just your corp KPIs
Usage, time to onboarding
Measure sentiment/CSAT in usage
TOPIC 5 What's the difference between a Scrum master and an Agile Delivery Manager/Lead
Scrum Master runs scrum ceremonies; Delivery helps ensure that value is achieved; it's more iterative/nimble
DMs have a wider remit; SM’s remit is a subset of the DM responsibilities
The UK government has a good description
If you’ve ever worked with a good DM, you’ll understand!
The line does blur between a PM and DM’s responsibilities at time - but it means that the PM no longer has to be a project manager
See Part 2 of The Product Experience podcast with Marty Cagan for more on this!