1. From Chaos to Clarity
R&D Way of Working Framework

2. Myron Kokhanovskyi
Program Management, Product Operations, Product
Management (PMI-ACP, PAL I, Responsive PPM)
Currently:
Ex:

3. Use Case | Background

4. Use Case | Background
● Startup up to 500 people
● R&D dept. - up to 260
○ UX
○ Engineering
○ Product
○ Data Analytics
○ Project Management
● New CPO
● “Stalling” company metrics

5. Use Case | The Goal

6. Use Case | The Goal
“Organize the Way of Working of an R&D Dept. to maximise outcomes &
achieve OKRs.”

7. Use Case | “The Approach”

9. Use Case | Challenges

11. Use Case | Stakeholder
Alignment

12. Use Case | Stakeholder Alignment
● Get the “decision makers” in one room:
○ Use Case: Dir. UX, VP of Engineering, CPO
○ Expensive meeting - make sure to have a clear agenda and plan
● Go through the expectations & identified problems
● Ask to vote for most pressing issues that need to be solved (5 mins)
● Discussion: Use “time-box” approach (10 min per item)
○ C-level/Leadership are visionaries, they can talk/discuss topics for hours without any
outcomes…
○ Full Alignment? - No need to discuss
○ Disagreement? - Lean back on OKRs / Strategic goals

13. Use Case | Stakeholder Alignment
Example:
“We are struggling with team performance evaluation, we need to create metrics
for this ASAP!”
Strategic Goal: “Organize the Way of Working of an R&D Dept. to maximise
outcomes & achieve OKRs.”
Decision: Every Epic/Opportunity needs to have target & actual outcomes. Lets
measure Team Performance based on Outcomes, not outputs (features done,
releases, etc.)

14. Use Case | Solution Definition

15. Use Case | Solution Definition
● Brainstorming
○ Define a working group
○ Allocate 1-2 hours for research and idea generation
○ Present ideas
○ Vote
○ Select & agree on the best
● Decide on Implementation
○ Tools
○ Process
○ What will be needed
○ Assign ownership

16. Use Case | Prioritise

17. Use Case | Prioritise
● Value (Impact of achieving the Strategic Goal) vs Effort (how complex will
be the implementation)
● Look for MVP/POC
● Break things down

18. Use Case | Prioritise

19. Use Case | Rollout

20. Use Case | Rollout
● Get buy-in & support from stakeholders as well as senior team members
(team leads, etc.)
● Create onboarding materials (confluence pages, videos, etc.)
● Promote - use All Hands meetings, team meetings:
○ Explain the benefits
○ “How this change/new tool/new process will make “your” lifes better!”
● Meet with your end users to get feedback, gain feedback and make them a
part of the solution.

21. Use Case | End Result

22. Use Case | End Result

23. Use Case | End Result
● 5 day workshop for PMs, Tech Leads & UX on Product Discovery & Delivery
(by Jeff Patton author of User Story Mapping)
● New planning and resource allocation strategy (Quarterly + 6 weeks check
in)
● Establishing Product Council
○ Reviewing data after discovery
○ Making Go/No Go decision based on data, OKRs, expected outcomes

24. Use Case | End Result

25. Use Case | End Result

26. Use Case | End Result

27. Use Case | End Result

28. Use Case | End Result

29. 85%
Of Roadmap Items in Q3 2022 achieved expected outcomes.

30. 100%
of features released in Q3 2022 were released according with GTM plan
developed beforehand

31. Thank You!
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