2. Have you ever heard of...
“The customer said that the feature does not resolve his
problem.
“But we did what he asked for!”
3. Sort Alerts
I want to sort alerts by sender. I need to
sort by attributes. Sender must be the
first column.
How is it possible you cannot sort alerts?
Request example
4. Sort Alerts
I want to sort alerts by sender. I need to
sort by attributes. Sender must be the
first column.
How is it possible you cannot sort alerts?
Why do you need to sort alerts?
Filter Alerts
Tina gets many alerts but she only needs to
know about the ones requiring action on her
part so that she does not miss important ones
by browsing among hundreds of them.
5. Sort Alerts
I want to sort alerts by sender. I need to
sort by attributes. Sender must be the
first column.
How is it possible you cannot sort alerts?
See the difference?
Filter Alerts
Tina gets many alerts but she only needs to
know about the ones requiring action on her
part so that she does not miss important ones
by browsing among hundreds of them.
Request
Requirement
6. Customer is telling us the solution
All solutions make sense per se
We need to understand the problem that the customer
needs to solve
Solution vs. problem
7. Customers often have a narrow perspective
The latest pain in a specific scenario
We need to elicit the root cause of the problem.
Solution vs. problem
8. Ask 5 times WHY
▪ Why it is important for you ?
▪ Why you want this and not that?
▪ What happens if not we do it this other way?
▪ What is the worst thing that can happen if not
implemented?
▪ Why user X complains? Is it this or maybe that?
The root cause. How do we get it?
9. Then:
You will recognize when you have got the root cause
And the customer will too!
So, Tina gets upset because she gets so many alerts that she misses
the ones she should act upon immediately?
Yes! That’s it!
10. The customer is not using the feature!
- Feature works only in one of the many scenarios
- Feature does not address the problem end-to-end
- The customer demanded a feature that they didn't
really need
Features built w/o the problem in mind
11. Describe a user persona that needs to resolve a
problem so that she gets a benefit
As a <Persona>
I want to <Intent>
so that <Valuable>
The formula
12. As a <Persona>
I want to <Intent>
so that <Valuable>
The formula
Filter Alerts
Tina gets many alerts but she only needs to
know about the ones requiring action on her
part so that she does not miss important ones
by browsing among hundreds of them.
14. Are easier to:
- Prioritize
- Agree upon
- Compare/group with others (patterns, use cases)
- Design for
- Providing better and faster estimates
The formula provides requirements that
19. " We have found that stressing the current value of the product and having short
release cycles, we can present the prospect with a roadmap that they are
comfortable with without disrupting our development cycles.“
Parker Harris, SVP Products, Salesforce.com
But customers ruthlessly ask for features!
20. Recap
- Separate want from need
- Look for the problem
- Look for the root cause (5x Why)
- Group by problems (not wants)
- Use the formula