Just in time resources for internal products
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a couple of interesting posts from some of my connections on LinkedIn. A large grocery store chain had suddenly laid off over 100 people in their communications and IT staff. While those types of layoffs are not unusual, some details in this story made me take a second …
I’ve talked before about how helpful creating examples can be to build a shared understanding of how your product should behave – example mapping. This week I had another reminder about how helpful examples can be. This time it was getting things back on track when I didn’t put examples together earlier. The team I’m …
Have you ever been in a meeting where the thought crossed your mind that “this meeting should have been an email.” There are plenty of meetings that fit that description. So many in fact that a cottage industry has grown up offering swag to celebrate the fact. (This is an affiliate link. Since I didn’t …
Customers are the people who give your organization money in exchange for some product (or service). In order for that product to appeal to those people, it should satisfy a need they have. If the product you work on for your organization is the thing you’re selling to your customers, the importance of understanding those …
Last week, I explained that you can use North Star Metrics to measure business value. During that discussion, I pointed out the North Star Metric is a leading indicator of revenue. As I was writing that letter, I heard this nagging voice in the back of my head. All this talk of revenue is great, …
For "business value" to be valuable, you need to use it to make decisions.
Last week I shared a way you can head off bad ideas at the pass. Yes, I know most of you are rarely involved in discussions that early. I can hear you know reading that last post and saying “that’s great Kent, but I’m never in that situation! What do I do when I get …
I know…. I talk a lot about the importance of maximum outcomes with minimum output. And I realize it’s one thing to talk about focusing on outcomes. It’s another thing entirely to actually put that idea into practice. So the next couple of weeks I’m going to take a look at how you can put …
I frequently discuss how to make sure that you’re building the right thing. It’s equally important to make sure that you build the right thing right. How you incorporate testing into the product development process has a big part to play in that. Here’s a description of how my current team approaches testing and dealing …
One thing that people who do product development constantly try to figure out is how to organize to deliver product. There is no one right way to organize the people who are doing product development, but it doesn’t stop teams from looking for that silver bullet product team structure. I’ve written about how product people …
I recently declared that agile transformations aren’t the answer for product development, so why am I exploring who in the organization should instigate an agile adoption? Because there are people in internal product situations who are still in the midst of an agile transformation or are staring down the barrel of another agile transformation (the …
I’m back from Nashville having made it through four days of sun, rain, and country music pretty much no worse for wear (apart from a fouled up sleep pattern that’s slowly getting back to normal). I got the opportunity to get a behind the scenes view of recorded music when I toured Zac Brown’s Southern …
Now that summer is upon us in the northern hemisphere and we’re halfway through the year, it’s a good time to stop for a moment and think about what you can do to advance your career in the rest of 2018. I’ve always found attending conferences to be particularly helpful. They expose you to new …
Up until recently, the focus of the agile community has been (rightfully so) on development and delivery activities. After all, the Agile Manifesto was written by 17 people who were trying to address issues that software development teams face. However, several of those problems arise because the teams don’t have a clear idea of what …
I know I have. My email inbox has been visited on a daily basis with emails talking about updated privacy policies and consent to continue receiving emails. I’ve also contributed to that flood of emails as I work on GDPR compliance for a non-profit organization. On the whole, I think it’s a good thing. It’s …
It seems as though in every discussion about product people I‘m involved with, the discussion inevitably turns to the topic of roles and responsibilities. People get hung up on what role does X and why role Y does not appear on the org chart. Organizations have a tendency to define specific roles differently, sometimes following …
There are a lot of paths people take to get into product manager, product owner or business analyst roles. There are as many product people with a marketing, accounting, or finance background as there are people with a software development background. People who didn’t develop software somewhere in their career inevitably ask some variation of …
It’s not quite spooky action at a distance, but if you’re a remote product owner you may find a bit of entanglement helpful to maintain that shared understanding you worked so hard to build with your team. On May 9th, Luke Hohmann and I will share some ways you can be a more effective product …
Ahh certifications… One of my least favorite aspects of the business analyst and agile communities. My view on certifications has evolved over the years from an absolute loathing to what you could call a pragmatic acceptance. The key thing is when you’re getting a certification, understand what they really certify, and understand why you’re getting …
As organizations attempt to operate in an agile manner, many business analysts wonder where they fit. Here are the most common roles I see business analysts playing in agile organizations. The main factors in determining where you end up include: Your background, experience, and interests The nature of the product you are working on (is …
If you are a business analyst, you have probably wondered at some point how to convince people at your organization about the value you provide and grow your business analyst career. I’ve been there, and have found that the best way to do that is to show, not tell. Don’t spend your time and energy …
Last week I shared what you ought to know about user stories. In that post, I shared an example of stories for creating a membership site. George Dinwiddie called me out on my choice of using create, read, update, and delete stories as an example. He’s right. Ideally we want user stories to reflect what …
Stories get their name from how they should be used, not what should be written. – Jeff Patton If we get together and talk about the problem we’re solving with software, who’ll use it, and why, then together we can arrive at a solution, and build shared understanding along the way. – Kent Beck It’s …
Last week I shared the approach I took to do a personal retrospective to identify new habits I was going to start in the new year and other habits (addictions?) that I was going to stop. So far so good. Of course it’s only the second week of the year. How do I know so …
