BC2-Smaller Backlog Items

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  3. Basecamp 2
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  5. BC2-Smaller Backlog Items

Why

Throughout Basecamp 1, the goal was to form teams and establish governance that enabled the Expedition to stabilize the system, gain clarity in the backlog and baseline metrics with an emphasis on becoming predictable. As an Expedition continues their trek into Basecamp 2, we are working to exploit the system to increase the flow of value and break dependencies which will further improve predictability.
To exploit the Expedition’s predictability and maximize the flow of value, we want to craft backlog items (Epics, Features and Stories) with specific emphasis on delivering the most value by doing the smallest amount of work. Two common ways we will do this will be Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and Minimal Marketable Feature (MMF).
Our goal with Smaller Backlog Items is to demonstrate how the Expedition must focus on finding small increments of value and iterating where possible. Eliminating requirements that are not intentionally closing product performance gaps or deliver on business outcomes quickly and effectively will also be crucial.

How

Understanding the needs of the customer/user of the Product is critical to identifying what is valuable and what is not. Impact Mapping and Empathy Mapping are techniques that improve the Expedition’s abilities to more intimately identify and enumerate the solution options that will solve the underlying business problem and determine what behaviors need to be changed to solve the customer or market needs.

As backlog items are trimmed to focus on value, an eye should also be given to minimizing the overhead of orchestrating dependencies where possible.

When evaluating the Expedition’s ability to define smaller backlog items, we should see increased density of value in those items that are prioritized. In tandem with other Basecamp 2 outcomes, our goal is to build on the density of value in our backlog to increase the flow of this value through the system to the customer.

Given historical/cultural aspects of the environment at a client, especially those working in a project-funded manner, pork-barreling and gold-plating may be rampant – the “if I don’t get it in this project, I will never get it” mentality. From a change management perspective, it may be necessary to address how the Agile Governance system is now working and demonstrate the differences in approach and results to key stakeholders to gain trust. Be certain to use metrics from Basecamp 1 when driving these conversations.

Success Criteria

  • Teams understand the importance of, and techniques for, slicing work items to be smaller and still deliver value
  • During Solution Definition, various options are considered to identify ways to minimize dependencies, remove pork-barreling/gold-plating (and other non-value-add work) to present options for iterative/incremental delivery
  • The average size of backlog items for each tier has reached a desired “right” size and variance of size for backlog items for each tier is within bounds set for the organization
  • Each work item delivers value
  • Teams regularly abide by, and improve, their Definition of Ready

Supporting Material 

Coaching Activities

 

Commit to Lean Flow Concepts 

Teams (including TLT and ESC) should understand the fundamentals of Kanban and how smaller backlog items improve flow 

Teams revisit their operations and structure to revisit and improve working agreements that enable improved flow 

 

Validate Understanding of the Customer 

Clarity of customers is identified at an appropriate level of granularity to enable MVP/MMF definition 

 

Validate Understanding of the Problem  

Teams have better understanding of the customer problem and defining finer-detail solutions 

 

Define “Right-Sized” Value 

Epics/Features are sliced by Personas and/or User Journeys 

MVP/MMF defined to increase the flow of value and reduce pork-barreling A target “Right-Size” is established for Epics, Features & Stories, along with an acceptable variance  

 

What metrics do we use and what does it mean to “right size” for this organization?

Basecamp 2 Outcomes

Smaller Backlog Items     |      Sequence Work      |      Schedule For Completion      |      Strategic Alignment      |      Identify & Plan to Eliminate Waste      |      Economic Prioritization of Improvements