Inside Product
Just in time product management resources
What Is Impact Mapping? Impact mapping combines mind mapping and strategic planning to help a team explore what behaviors they should try to influence in order to reach a particular objective. Teams use impact maps to discuss assumptions, align with organizational objectives, and develop greater focus in their projects by delivering only the things that …
What Is Story Splitting Story splitting is the act of examining a large backlog item and splitting it into smaller backlog items that provide value and can be delivered in a short time frame. You can consider story splitting to be a planning technique that helps you organize your backlog into manageable chunks. You can …
What Is Example Mapping Example Mapping is a backlog refinement technique that helps you structure your team’s conversation around a backlog item. The conversation focuses on drawing out all of the relevant acceptance criteria (or rules), related scenarios and pertinent questions associated with the backlog item you are discussing. An example mapping session identifies: An …
What Is Usability Testing Usability testing is a way to test how intuitive the design, user flows and content is in your product, app or website. This form of testing consists of asking real people who are similar to potential users to perform various tasks on your product. You can use the information gained from …
What Is A Sprint Review The Sprint Review is a discussion at the end of a sprint intended to review what the team accomplished in the sprint (including demonstrating done functionality), get feedback, and determine what, if any changes should happen in the team’s plan moving forward. These changes usually consist of revisions to the …
What is a product roadmap A product roadmap is a statement of intent for how you are going to implement your strategy. The product roadmap is a living thing that indicates your best understanding at the point that you last updated it and it also reflects whatever uncertainty you faced when you last put it …
What is a personal retrospective Personal retrospectives are technique that you can use to examine what happened in the past year to identify what habits you should do in the year coming up. The key is, instead of making resolutions that you’re going to break anyway, decide what habits you should adopt. When to do …
What is an outcome based metric Outcome based metrics are a way to quantitatively tell whether you’ve delivered a particular outcome. They should measure something that has meaning to your organization’s customers or something of relevance to your organization that gives an indication that you are meeting your customer’s needs. It’s important to identify outcome …
What is a context diagram A model that shows how your product interacts with outside people, organizations, and/or systems. The context diagram helps you to identify the interfaces you need to account for, helps you to identify scope, identify potential stakeholders, and build a better understanding of the context in which you are working. The …
What is a process model? A process model describes the flow of work or activities, usually in a graphic format, that contribute to accomplishing a specific goal. Process models are typically used to represent and analyze a series of activities that occur repeatedly and on a regular basis. Process models can be used to model …
What are action focused retrospectives Action focused retrospectives are a way for your team to reflect on your past cycle of work, discuss what you’ve learned, identify specific action items to pursue, and follow through on those action items. Action focused retrospectives typically follow the following structure (from Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby and Diana …
What Is a Parking Lot Diagram A parking lot diagram is a way to visually communicate status of work on a product in the context of major blocks of functionality intended to deliver a specific outcome. The parking lot diagram uses boxes to indicate the relationship between the different levels in a product functionality hierarchy, …
What is a Definition of Ready A definition of ready is an agreement on the set of conditions that need to be true in order to consider a backlog item ready to be included in an iteration for delivery. An Example The conditions that I see included most frequently in a definition of ready are …
What Is a Definition of Done The definition of done is an agreement on the set of conditions that need to be true in order to consider a backlog item done and at a point where it can deliver value to stakeholders. An Example Typical items in a definition of done include Acceptance criteria are …
What is a Delivery Board A delivery board is a way for a team to visualize their process for delivering functionality in a sprint. The best delivery boards consist of a whiteboard or wall divided into columns that reflect the various steps a team takes to develop and test backlog items in a sprint. The …
What Is System Documentation System documentation is information about an as-built solution and acts as a reference for future maintenance or update efforts. It is organized based on system functionality rather than when changes were made to the system, making it easier for people who maintain the solution to find the information they need quickly. …
What Is An Internal Product? An internal product is software that your organization does not offer for sale to others, but is used to support its various business activities. These products can be things your organization built in house or purchased to then customize and configure. Internal products generally satisfy the needs of users internal …
What Is a Discovery Board Discovery boards are ways for teams to visualize their backlog refinement process. The best discovery boards consist of a whiteboard or wall divided into columns that reflect the various steps a team takes to get product backlog items ready to be delivered (developed and tested) in an iteration. The backlog …
What Is Story Mapping A story map is a visual representation of a backlog that provides additional context regarding how backlog items are related to each other and when the team is planning to deliver them. This context is typically presented in terms of the personas that will use specific features, and the particular user …
Examples are concrete descriptions of the expected behavior of an aspect of a solution using real-life data.
What Is the Internal Product Opportunity Assessment Marty Cagan in his book Inspired suggests a product opportunity assessment. Cagan’s assessment consists of ten questions to ask when examining a product opportunity to elicit more information about it and determine whether it is worth pursuing. I’ve compiled a similar list of questions for people working on …
What Is The Context Leadership Model The Context Leadership Model, created by Todd Little, was introduced in Stand Back and Deliver as a tool for determining the appropriate leadership style given a product’s uncertainty and complexity. The Context Leadership Model can also be used to understand the risks inherent in a product and determine how …
What are the Six Questions? The six questions listed below help guide your discussion about your organization’s differentiating activities. These six questions represent two different perspectives. You can use the first four questions to identify differentiating activities in your organization: 1) Whom do we serve?2) What do they want and need most?3) What do we …
What is a Persona? A persona defines a typical user of a product. They help you understand the context in which people use the product to help guide your design decisions. Personas originated from Alan Cooper’s work on user-centered design. An Example Below is an example persona for the Agile Alliance Submission System. Reed the …
