Presentation from New Trends In Project Management 2017 Conference, Gdańsk, Poland. Abstract: We will present a case study from one of our recent Agile transformations, where our customer faced the challenge of prioritizing significantly varied feature requests to be implemented by R&D department submitted by three different business departments. A facilitated process of addressing this issue led to the creation of a lightweight business value criteria framework used to prioritize requests. At the same time, due to the strict approach to performing business/acceptance tests within the scope of each Sprint, Scrum constraints helped to streamline the prioritization process as well. While there are no universal solutions, this case study is a good inspiration for maintaining focus on ROI and thinking about the “Return” first rather than primarily analysing the “Investment” side.

1. @ms_bnsit_pl@pawelwrzeszcz
Prioritization Challenge
Three Business Departments,
One Software Platform and
Agile Rollout - a Case Study
Paweł Wrzeszcz
Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz

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What’s your estimate?
When can we expect this?
Will it fit into the Sprint?
…

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ROI

6. @ms_bnsit_pl@pawelwrzeszczhttps://flic.kr/p/9UViMr

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3 business departments,
each of them having different needs
No coordination
Team Leader (from IT) sets priorities
Starting point

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IT makes business decisions
without knowledge about priorities
Team Leader overwhelmed with requests
Time to Market 2-3 months
“Why is it taking so long?”
Problem?

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5 teams
9 months
Scrum
Agile Rollout

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Product Owner = Team Leader
PO suggests priorities for requests
Business stakeholders may change priorities
Paper Backlog - collaborative sorting
Approach #1

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Are the requests we selected for the Sprint
the most crucial ones?
“How about my request?”
“Which business department’s requests are more important?”

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Approach #2 - Analytical

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Approach #3
Business Value Criteria

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1. Compliance
2. Process improvements
(less manual work)
3. Financial risk
Approach #3
Business Value Criteria

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Other criteria (examples):
NPS
New or existing Customer?
Upsell opportunity
Number of Customers affected
Age of the request
…
Approach #3
Business Value Criteria

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Business representatives come up with priorities
within their departments
and discuss Business Value Criteria
PO = facilitator
Approach #3
Business Value Criteria

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- What’s this meeting about, cause I’m lost?
Is it Sprint Planning? Or Refinement?
- Here each of us brings their requests
and convinces themselves and others
that those requests are actually
less important than the other ones.

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Approach #3
Business Value Criteria
https://flic.kr/p/ogP2Tx

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Approach #3b - Measures
1. Compliance
2. Process improvements
(less manual work)
3. Financial risk

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Approach #3b - Measures
1. Compliance
-> Polish law or internal regulations?
2. Process improvements
(less manual work)
-> Number of hours saved monthly?
3. Financial risk
-> One time payment? Or continuous?

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Approach #3b - Measures

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“We only accept a request for a Sprint
if a particular person from business department
agrees to perform acceptance tests for it
during that Sprint”
Approach #4

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Agile = engagement + prioritization
Team Leader 😎
Results - IT

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“If my request is not accepted [for a Sprint],
at least I know why is that”
“I can provide a professional response to a Customer
even if we cannot implement something for them”
“Collaboration within our department greatly improved”
Results - business departments

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Results - company wide
Time To Market for 95% accepted requests < 1 month

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Postscriptum - approach #10 ;-)
https://flic.kr/p/ogP2Tx

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ROI
Suggested priorities, use of paper
Analytical approach did not work
Business Value Criteria as a language
Measures
Want something implemented? Promise to test it

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Thank you!
p.wrzeszcz@bnsit.pl
m.sieraczkiewicz@bnsit.pl
Paweł Wrzeszcz
Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz