Agile Roadmap Prioritization
Discussion
Agile Roadmap Prioritization:
– Corporate Goals and Initiatives
 Market Goals
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Customer Feedback
Partner Input
Alpha/Beta Feedback
Market Research
Cross-functional Input
 Strategic Goals
– Board Template
– Corporate Goals
– Corporate Initiatives
Rolling
Release
Roadmap
 Business Unit Goals
– Independent Initiatives
– Business Unit Goals
2
Agile Roadmap Prioritization:
– Input, Review & Iterate
 Agile Process
– Iterative process begins with the roadmap priorities
– Roadmap leads to sprint planning
– Each product has it’s own development/QA cycle and plan
– Release planning – 1 locked, 1 in planning stage
– Release Management – Product/Operational Readiness
 Product Changes
– Product change captured in database - new items triaged regularly
– Product changes prioritized for release by cross-functional team
 Release Announcements
– Major / Minor release announcements
– Platform changes
– End of Life (if applicable)
Roadmap Process
– Overview
Straw-Man Roadmap
– Candidate List
Tin-Man Roadmap
– E-Staff Approval / Plan of Record
Iron-Man Roadmap
– Features/Fixes committed by
Release/Sprint
Cross-functional Rollout/Iterate
– Detailed cross-functional requirements
gathering
– Revise base-line ROI based on input
– Revise PoR until committed
(consensus?)
Product Lifecycle Management
– Product Readiness
– Operational Readiness
– Release, Rinse & Repeat
– End of Life
Roadmap Process
– Overview
Straw-Man Roadmap
Brainstormed proposal
PM creates draft  intended to generate discussion and further brainstorming
• Cross-functional feedback
• Cross-functional input and prioritization of Features/Epics
• PM/Dev/QA JIRA Triage and Review
• Prioritized Feature Candidates
• Establish base-line ROI
• High-level LOEs -v- Resources
Goal:
• Feature/ Epic Candidates by Quarter
• Architectural/Fixes/Feature mix determined
• Cross-functional buy-in
• Executive sign-off
Roadmap Process
– Overview
Tin-Man Roadmap
Feature/ Epic Candidates by Release
Architectural Features by Release
Release in-planning
• Feature/Epic Candidates by Release
• Architectural/Fixes/Feature mix determined
• Capacity / Feature Sizing
• Establish base-line ROI
• Cross-functional input and prioritization refinement of Features/Epics
• PM/Dev/QA JIRA Triage and Review
Roadmap Process
– Overview
Iron-Man Roadmap
Release in-development
• Feature/ Epic by Release/Sprint
• Architectural/Fixes/Feature Release/Sprint
Release (Sprint) Planning  Lock
• Features/Epics defined in Stories
• Architectural/Fixes defined in Stories
• Operational Readiness – Cross-functional Release Review
• Milestones set – GA Release date finalized as soon as practical
Convergence
Roadmap – Iron Man
ROADMAP PROCESS
– Overview
Roadmap Prioritization:
– Playground Rules
All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten
1. Share and play fair
2. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
3. Put things back where you found them
4. Clean up your own mess
5. When you go out in the world…
a) … watch out for traffic
b) … hold hands and stick together
Roadmap Prioritization:
– Playground Rules
Share and play fair
•
What we do impacts other systems just as we are
impacted by them.
•
We know our product but we are also part of a larger
Customer workflow - we are not the center of the
universe.
•
Be cognizant of other systems in play – ERP;
Underwriting, Claims management; reporting/data warehouses;
and 3rd Party data providers – do our part to share the data
we have.
Roadmap Prioritization:
– Playground Rules
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
•
Total User Experience (not just UI) is much of what
we sell and should be business process and workflow
driven
•
End-to-end review of use cases, user feedback,
POCs, and beta programs are best practices that
should be employed where possible
•
Our solutions are complex, integrating multiple
systems, and should be consumed together – We
strive to deliver holistic releases
Roadmap Prioritization:
– Playground Rules
Put things back where you found them
•
Be sure to consider business systems and process
•
If we take control of a business process, then improve
it – but first, do no harm
•
If we ask the a source system to send us data, then
we should provide the data in our control that is
required by that source system in return
Roadmap Prioritization:
– Playground Rules
Clean up your own mess
• There are plenty of things we need to fix or improve –
emphasize the clean-up of our mess over the mess of
others
• We should document and explain what we sell and sell
what we document and explain
– there is significant cost to selling ahead of the roadmap
• Things that don’t work the way we built them or the
way they are suppose to work should get our focus
Roadmap Prioritization:
– Playground Rules
When you go out in the world…
… watch out for traffic
–
We need to be mindful of the end-to-end and take everything we
know into account when making decisions (Financial Systems,
Integrations, Partners, Competitors, etc.)
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Mind the Gap – When we make decisions that effect our internal
and external clients, we must communicate clearly what we are
doing and what we are not doing
… hold hands and stick together
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Ensure that we consider other platforms, products, and features in
our plans
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The roadmap requires coordination, communication, and teamwork