Knowing the business priorities and implications of the stuff you do is essential for lean and agile development. Without that knowledge economic decisions and re-planning cannot be delegated into the organization. In spite of that there are very few organizations where development teams can base their decisions on business priorities. For this Cost of Delay is the most important economic factor in development and basis for prioritization (D. Reinertsen, The Principles of Product Development Flow). Ranking and prioritization should be based solely on economics and use a Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) algorithm. Scaled Agile Framework takes on and simplifies this WSJF. In this talk I will present the principles behind WSJF prioritization, the simplification suggested in SAFe and how it can be applied practically outside of a SAFe context. I will also show a suggestion for even simpler WSJF ranking based on relative comparison only, which is easy to keep up to date in the daily work. As I see it, this simplification leads to slightly less accurate rankings, but will be kept up to date and performed more often, which should lead to better overall prioritization results. A discussion about the pros and cons will conclude the session.

1. Ranking and prioritization as regularRanking and prioritization as regular
activity and prerequisite to scaling agileactivity and prerequisite to scaling agile
Erik Schumann
Erik.schumann@sellegi.se
@Schumann_Erik http://sellegi.se

2. The economic system consists of
interconnected variables
”We are like the drunk under the
lamppost looking for his keys where
the light is best, instead of where he
dropped them.”
Don Reinertsen,
The Principles of Product Development Flow
Cycle TimeCycle Time Product CostProduct Cost
Product ValueProduct Value Development
Expense
Development
Expense
RiskRisk

3. We focus on cycle time! Why?
”Developers measure development
cycle time and seek to make it
shorter. However, when you ask
them how much life-cycle profit will
decrease due to a week of delay
they don’t know”
Don Reinertsen,
The Principles of Product Development Flow
Cycle TimeCycle Time Product CostProduct Cost
Product ValueProduct Value Development
Expense
Development
Expense
RiskRisk

4. While you may ignore economics, it won’t
ignore you.
”If you only quantify one thing,
quantify the cost of delay”
Don Reinertsen,
The Principles of Product Development Flow
Cycle TimeCycle Time Product CostProduct Cost
Product ValueProduct Value Development
Expense
Development
Expense
RiskRisk

5. Estimated
Variable
Parameters
Restrictive
Fixed
Parameters
Set of requirements
Working featuresCost
Delivery timeCost
Delivery time
Agile
development
Predictive
development
Agile development turns the world around

6. Prioritization:
Fixed Cost of Delay and variable duration

7. Prioritization:
Fastest delivery of business value with WSJF
Focus on remaining duration!
Do not consider money already spent.

8. Cost of Delay / WSJF according to SAFe
User|Business Value + Time Criticality + RR|OE Value
WSJF =
Job Size
SAFe Suggestion:
Use the relative fibonacci
scale for each variable

9. Simplified WSJF:
Relative prioritization with stacked ranking
High
Low

10. Simplified WSJF:
Relative prioritization with stacked ranking
High
Low

11. Simplified WSJF:
Relative prioritization with stacked ranking
High
Low

12. Simplified WSJF:
Relative prioritization with stacked ranking
High
Low

13. Simplified WSJF:
Relative prioritization with stacked ranking
High
Low

14. Simplified WSJF:
Relative prioritization with stacked ranking
High
Low

15. Summary
• If you only quantify one thing, quantify the cost of delay
• Prioritization is based on estimates and guesses
• Prioritization is a dynamic activity. Do it regularly
• Prioritization can be simplified using relative, stacked
ranking