Breaking down goals into smaller pieces to measure value and velocity starting from your vision.
Solution Vision
Function: To understand what long-term success looks like.
Core Components:
- Value – who is intended to value this solution and how.
- Assumptions, Risks, Known Issues – every project has its unknowns, so assumptions must be made upfront to help with preparations, as well as identifying any known or potential risks and issues.
- Stakeholders and Roles – who will be accountable and responsible for decision-making on the stakeholder side of things?
- Agile Team Members – we function as a well-oiled team because we work together but also know what each other is accountable for and whom to turn to for what.
Factors to Consider:
- What is the Value in what we can create for the organization and its customers, employees, and or partners?
- What are the resources the organization has put forth for this goal?
Phase:
- A Solution Goal is created before a project kicks off. It creates the initial alignment between the Agile Team(s) and Core Stakeholders to align on the value-creation process.
Measurement:
- Usage Analytics
- Defining metrics associated with the value of the solution. For example, if this solution is meant to cut down on customer service call around xyz functionality, you will need to measure and compare post-release(s).
Goals
Function:
Goals are made up of Objectives and Results. This concept comes from OKRs. The OKR framework was created to help organizations set clear, measurable goals and track their progress toward achieving them. Together they create Qualitative and Quantitative goals.
Think of Objectives as the tool that breaks down your Vision into agile measurable steps. They identify the key themes and focus areas of your Vision. They are infinitely flexible and can be anything from customer satisfaction, innovation, efficiency, or a proof of concept. Objectives help by providing focus on the goal; with a clear goal in place.
Key Results provides a set of quantifiable outcomes that give your team clear goals and structure. Key Results serve as the performance indicators that help an individual or organization track their progress and evaluate whether they are on track to achieve their Objectives.
Factors to Consider:
- Are you Objectives aligned with the organizational ∓ strategic goals?
- Do the Objectives properly convey the expectations of leadership?
- Are the Key Results measurable?/li>
- Collectively do all of your Key Results provide a definition of done for the objective?
Phase:
- Pre-Kickoff
- After OKR completion
- After Roadmap adjustments
- A significant business event
Measurement:
- Quarterly
Roadmap
Function:
Roadmaps serve as a strategic planning tool that provides a clear, high-level visual representation of the direction and timeline for a solution which outlines the key goals and outcomes that stakeholders expect, along with their estimated completion dates, providing a clear and actionable plan for achieving them.
Factors to Consider:
- What are the most important things to accomplish first and so on from a business, customer, etc. perspective?
Phase:
- Pre-Kickoff
- After completion of a goal
- A significant business event
Measurement:
- Monthly
Release
Function:
Moving functionality into the production environment.
Factors to Consider:
- How will this affect production?
- Has the work in question been tested from a scenario, exploratory, function and unit test perspective (solution restraints and requirements will dictate testing requirements and methodologies.)
Phase:
- Scenario, Functional, Unit Testing is planned during Epic and Job Story creation
Measurement:
- Bugs
- Usage
- Business Impact
Epics (Features)
Function:
Solution features are a Solution’s traits or attributes that deliver value to people. It’s functionality that fulfills a customer’s need. The Solution Architect or Solution Owner uses Epics in to define features. They are comprised of many steps that make up the value being delivered.
Factors to Consider:
- Remaining Story Points
- Story Points to hours
- How this will help achieve the desired goal
- Who earns the most value from this functionality
- How unknowns and outstanding issues affect this outcome
- Third-Parties
- Story Points to hours
- Priority
Phase:
- Backlog Management
- Evaluate before the start of any sprint (if items from epic are included)
Measurement:
- Days remaining
- Bugs
- Usage
- Business Impact
Job Stories ∓ Enabler Tasks
Function:
Break down features into smaller bitesize chunks to be delivered in 1 to 5 days. Anything longer should be broken down into smaller pieces. To determine days the team uses Story Points (SP) to estimate (1 = up to 1/2 day, 3 = up to 1 day, 5 = up to 3 days, 8 = up to 5 days)
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Job Stories (Stories) –– These are the stories of the Epic. The job story format is a way of describing the user’s needs and motivations. They focus on the context in which a user is trying to solve a problem or achieve a goal.
It consists of a simple template that helps to capture the user’s motivations, desired outcome, and the context in which they are trying to achieve it. The format follows this structure:
When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [desired outcome].
- Jobs are based around:
- Steps in a workflow
- Epic objectives
- Overcoming user problems
- Anticipated user behavior
- Operations and interactions
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Enabler Tasks (Enablers) –An Enabler Task supports the activities needed to create, deploy, and optimize Epics and/or Stories. They are the pre-work needed before the value can be leveraged.
- Enablers can be for:
- Architecture
- Exploration
- Infrastructure
- Research
- Compliance
- Design
- Quality Assurance
- Technical Tasks needed for infrastructure
- Remaining Story Points
- Story Points to hours
- How this will help achieve the desired goal
- Have designs been created
- Have core users been identified
- Who earns the most value from this functionality
- How unknowns and outstanding issues affect this outcome
- Third-Parties
- Priority
- Sprint Planning
- Engineering Planning
- Completed Story Points – allows you to see a high-level velocity for what’s accomplishable over a longer time period.
- Story Points to Hours – a lower-level metric used to see if your team is in a flow or if it’s struggling to find its groove.
- Tests – define how features work under different situations from start to finish.
- Remaining Story Points
- Story Points to hours
- How this will help achieve the desired goal
- Design Artifacts
- How unknowns and outstanding issues affect this outcome
- Third-Parties
- Architecture Artifacts
- Priority
- Evaluate before the start of any sprint (if items from epic are included)
- After a Release
- Days remaining
- Bugs
- Usage
- Business Impact
- Release Date
- MoSCoW Method
- Resourcing
- Story Points to hours
- Sprint Goal
- Design Artifacts
- How unknowns and outstanding issues affect this outcome
- Third-Parties
- Architecture Artifacts
- Priority
- Have we achieved our Release Goal?
- Did we complete the Epic Goal?
- Do we need to update the Goal of our Release, Epic, and Solution Vision?
- Sprint Planning Session – during this meeting, the Solution Team and Core Stakeholders discuss and agree on top-priority Job Stories and Tasks to be worked on.
- Sprint Goal – this can be thought of as the theme of the Sprint. The team agrees on that theme to help everyone focus on the core goals of this particular effort.
- Daily Standups – quick, daily meetings to discuss the overall progress of Sprint and identify any potential blockers.
- Sprint Review – At the end of the Sprint, the team demo’s all the items that were completed for validation from Stakeholders. Once validated, the items are released into a test environment for further validation and Quality Assurance.
- Days remaining
- Business Impact
- Release Date
- MoSCoW Method
- Story Points
- Story Points to Hours
- Team Momentum
- Team Collaboration
- Goals
- Post Sprint Review
- Team Members Point of View
Factors to Consider:
Phase:
Measurement:
Backlog Management
Function:
During the solution development process, you are always exposed to new information. This new information can either validate or change the original value of your solution.
With all the feedback you are receiving, it’s important to groom your backlog. The grooming process involves removing items that are no longer relevant and adding new Epics, Enablers, and Stories.
Once you have groomed the backlog it’s equally important to prioritize the items based on the value they will deliver. The MoSCoW Method ( M = Must Have, S = Should Have, C = Could Have, W = Will Not Have) is a popular method for prioritizing this.
The Job and Enablers that live at the top of your backlog and are ready to plan in the upcoming Sprint.
Factors to Consider:
Phase:
Measurement:
Sprints
Function:
Sprints are time-boxed phases, often four weeks long, in which prioritized Stories and Tasks are worked on and completed. Running in Sprints ensures that everyone involved in the project knows what is being worked on, why it is being worked on, and when it is expected to be completed.
Your sprints in most cases, should have a theme that lays out the expectations of what is to be completed and demoed during the Sprint Review.
Factors to Consider:
Phase:
Measurement:
Retrospectives
Function:
Retrospect meetings are focused on the process and project progression.
During this meeting, all team members are encouraged and welcome to speak freely and share their thoughts on how the project is running from their perspective. It’s important to get an understanding from everyone where they feel the state of the project is, what’s been working well, what’s not gone as planned, and what potential corrections can be made for moving forward.
Factors to Consider:
Phase:
Measurement:
Driving Success Through:
