Johanna Rothman Rank the Work Chapter 7 Copyright © 2017

When is the “best” time to release the feature When is the “best” time to release the feature? Prioritize: Features don’t all have the same value over time… Scrum: The Product Owner sets the priorities… how value will be released over time

Benefits of ranking (prioritizing) value over time: “I’ve seen very few situations where the maximum-value date was so close that the team had to have finished all of the work” Benefits of ranking (prioritizing) value over time: The Product Owner might not even start work on a feature (or feature set) if the team cannot finish it when the feature runs out of value The team can deliver the most valuable work and not have to start work that’s no longer valuable The Product Owner should be able to have a conversation about which story is first, second, and third… helps team break apart feature sets into smaller features

Rank (prioritize) by Valuing the Learning How to manage the roadmap or rank the entire feature set… three approaches: Instead of valuing an entire feature set, decide what you want to learn from a Minimum Value Product (MVP) or a Minimum Value Experiment (MVE) Consider what the minimum requirement would be for a MVP or an MVE You want to measure and learn from small experiments that will provide value Spike the work to understand the feature set Small experiments… that you could complete in no more than one day Try something quite risky to understand the risks more

Recognize Ranking Traps Challenges: Using estimation – and only estimation – to rank the work Having someone else pressure the product owner to change the ranking to accommodate another person’s desires The HIPPO interrupts and distraction (HIghest Paid Person in the Office) Ranking all the work for months or a release at the beginning of a project What are the options for “managing” these traps?

TRAP: We must rank “all of it” As the team finishes small stories, the Product Owner wants the ability to change which stories the team should do ad when! How to manage the “all of it” thinking: Consider ranking up to three iterations worth of work… Consider creating a “parking lot”… to prioritize and manage the “not-yet” items Refer to the product vision and the release criteria in managing the requests for “all of it” now