Backlog prioritization is a key part of agile product improvement. Nevertheless, it will possibly get overwhelming when there are a number of stakeholders: All of them make requests unbiased of each other and asynchronously, whereas the product supervisor spends lengthy hours in one-on-one conferences, negotiating with them over what objects will make it into the subsequent dash. The result’s typically wasted time and sources.
To bridge this division and save time, the perfect resolution is a prioritization workshop that allows them to come back to a consensus on the relative precedence of their requests. On this intensive session, all of the stakeholders can work collectively to agree on a plan that charts the trail ahead.
The Downside
Let’s contemplate a typical state of affairs. An organization’s product workforce discovered itself in a problematic state of affairs with the corporate’s flagship product. The event workforce and the architects had set a difficult aim to maneuver the product to a cloud-based platform. Nevertheless, progress was very sluggish as a result of builders had been busy with product function enhancements and bug fixes. There was a substantial amount of technical debt to pay down, which stifled the workforce’s capability to make enhancements and proceed with their deliberate sprints. On the similar time, the stakeholders, who had been all account managers and labored instantly with finish customers, continued to request function enhancements to fulfill the shoppers they represented. Though stakeholders had been conscious that the event workforce pulled objects from the backlog solely after they grew to become out there, stakeholders nonetheless felt deserted and ignored. Lead time was excessive for any request that was not an emergency, and firefighting was all too frequent. On prime of that, stakeholders’ requests usually had been in battle.
Stakeholders had been sad and felt like their requests largely went right into a black gap. Their prospects had been pissed off with how lengthy it took to handle easy bug studies and for his or her requested enhancements to be delivered. Consequently, the event workforce felt prefer it was being pulled in lots of instructions and easily couldn’t make the technical enhancements to allow a quicker cycle and lead time to maintain up with stakeholder and consumer wants. The event workforce wanted path about the place to focus its power, methods to steadiness tech debt in opposition to new requests, and methods to prioritize the work.
The product proprietor determined to place everybody in a single room and see what occurred.
Promoting the Workshop to Stakeholders
Step one is to achieve buy-in from the stakeholders. On this case, the product proprietor approached the stakeholders’ supervisor and defined the advantages of the proposed workshop. He communicated that the aim was to prioritize the backlog objects in an order that each one stakeholders might agree upon. These had been the promoting factors:
- Saving time
- Driving collaboration
- Aligning communication so that everybody hears the identical info and leaves with a typical understanding of what the event workforce will ship subsequent
- Giving stakeholders a discussion board the place they’ll converse and be heard
Offering stakeholders with a structured, facilitated discussion board through which they’ll categorical their wants and align with each other empowers them and offers them a greater understanding of everything of what goes into constructing an incredible product. In my very own work, I discovered that my stakeholders had been much more prone to notify me of a request, present particulars, and reply my questions after I hosted a number of product backlog prioritization workshops.
How you can Run a Workshop
The workshop’s capability to realize its targets is closely influenced by who’s within the room. Be sure to invite all related specialists:
- Key stakeholders of the product: account managers, account director, customer support supervisor, and many others.
- Product supervisor (or product proprietor)
- Scrum grasp
- Subject material specialists
You’ll want to ship out an in depth agenda forward of time explaining what will probably be mentioned and when. This can present the stakeholders with a possibility to ask questions or make strategies beforehand and hold everybody centered through the assembly.
How you can Put together the Room
Earlier than the contributors arrive, put together the assembly room in order that contributors can dive proper into the workshop workouts. First, you’ll have to current the product backlog objects on the wall—print out the backlog objects or write them down on index playing cards.
These playing cards characterize the options and enhancements that your workforce plans to implement within the close to future. Tape them on the assembly room’s wall and organize them within the present backlog order—from highest precedence at one finish to the bottom precedence on the different. Be ready to show extra detailed request descriptions and extra particulars on the projector or TV display.
Roles of Individuals
The product supervisor is the principle facilitator for the workouts, monitoring the time and guiding prioritization by offering context from the product imaginative and prescient. Product managers ought to keep away from getting concerned within the discussions and let the stakeholders drive the priority-setting. After the stakeholders agree upon a choice, a product supervisor can nonetheless transfer backlog objects as wanted to accommodate different priorities that come up over time. Product managers retain their decision-making energy over the backlog, however this train helps them to collect info to make future precedence selections.
If a scrum grasp attends the workshop, ask them to notice contributors’ suggestions on the train itself when you are facilitating the occasion—it is going to be useful for future enhancements. Subject material specialists take part within the workshop to supply context and extra info for stakeholders.
How you can Facilitate Prioritization
Prioritization might be dealt with in two levels.
Within the first prioritizing stage, encourage the contributors to resolve what objects usually are not vital. Placing the low-priority objects apart will permit the group to spend its useful time on higher-priority objects. If there’s nonetheless no consensus, a product supervisor ought to counsel setting the merchandise apart for a extra in-depth dialogue.
Through the second prioritizing stage, an incredible technique for serving to individuals attain an settlement is to make the most of the Effort Influence Matrix—a easy but highly effective instrument for facilitating a gaggle dialog that clarifies priorities. Gadgets that require the bottom effort for the very best affect rise to the highest of the checklist, and objects that require better effort however can have a decrease affect sink to the underside. You could find a number of variations of this system and methods to enhance it.
If stakeholders hold shifting a backlog merchandise backwards and forwards with no consensus, the product supervisor ought to have the ultimate say on its precedence.
Earlier than closing the assembly, the product supervisor ought to examine in with the contributors and ask for his or her last ideas. After they depart, be sure to quantity or code the agreed-upon requests in an effort to simply switch them to the product administration product backlog instrument—begin with one as the very best precedence.
Constantly Enhance the Workshop
The product backlog workshop ought to be an everyday assembly in your Scrum cycle, and it will possibly match right into a Kanban workforce’s ceremonies. In case you can conduct this train mid-sprint in a Scrum cycle, you’ll obtain stakeholders’ priorities forward of dash planning. For a Kanban workforce, the workshop may very well be performed weekly or in no matter cadence is greatest to realign a roadmap to prioritize the Kanban checklist.
For my workforce, having a prioritization workshop each three weeks was adequate to refresh the backlog’s priorities. Discovering the correct cadence is vital for the workshop’s success—be sure to discover the wonderful line between contributors’ wants and precise demand. Test in usually with contributors about whether or not the present frequency meets their wants.
Additionally, create a channel for contributors to supply suggestions on the workshop. Having a devoted individual to take notes about future enhancements to the workshop is useful—a scrum grasp can fill this position completely. Doc the workshop’s enhancements to indicate your dedication to reaching a smoother expertise.
Often using a devoted workshop for backlog prioritization can profit an organization on a number of completely different ranges. Product managers can use their time and sources extra successfully and effectively. The corporate might be extra agile and obtain higher outcomes quicker. Asking stakeholders to take part early on might be an extremely highly effective instrument to achieve their assist for product initiatives and get useful suggestions. Executives might additionally use this workshop to judge priorities on a tactical and strategic stage with a purpose to advance workers’ alignment with the corporate’s targets, workforce processes, and general communication.
