using business objectives to design better products
DESCRIPTION
When software products are late to launch, a practical solution is to drop features from a release while still delivering a product your customers will love. If part of your process is to tie business objectives to product features, you'll have at hand the information needed to decide how to proceed-as well as a guide to prioritize development efforts throughout the project. Joy Beatty explains how to elicit measurable business objectives from stakeholders. She demonstrates how to write statements that describe how a feature contributes to business objectives and ways to assign a business value to each feature. Armed with this data, stakeholders can compare features quantitatively, taking emotion out of scoping decisions. As a reminder of the techniques discussed, Joy shares a Business Objectives Model quick reference for you to take home and use in your requirements elicitation sessions.TRANSCRIPT
- 1. BW2 ConcurrentSession 11/7/201210:15AM "Using Business Objectives to Design Better Products" Presented by: Joy Beatty Blue Ocean Services at Seilevel, Inc. Broughttoyouby: 340CorporateWay,Suite300,OrangePark,FL32073 [email protected]
2. Joy Beatty Seilevel Joy Beatty is vice president R&D at Seilevel, a professional services company helping customers redefine how they create requirements to ensure only the most valuable features get built. Joy drives new methodologies that improve elicitation, requirements modeling, and business analysis COEs. She developed Seilevels BA training curriculum and provided training to more than 600 BAs through seminars, industry conferences, and Seilevel classes. She has authored several papers in refereed journals, is currently working on the IIBA BABOK v3, and writes about Seilevel methodologies on seilevel.com, on the blog, and in a new book Visual Software Requirements. 3. Using Business Objectives to Launch Better Products Seilevel Training SeriesJoy Beatty Seilevel, Inc. All rights [email protected] Why we need to cut scopeBusiness objectives definedUsing business objectives to select features Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved1 4. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Blue, the BA, focused his battle strategies onON-TIME DELIVERY Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedBut today, its not enough, budgets are beingCUT DRASTICALLY65% of features can be cutX Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedfeature feature feature feature feature feature feature feature feature featureXXXXX2 5. We have difficult decisions to make about cutting scope Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedHow do we decide what features to cut? Does the squeakiest wheel get to build their features? Does the most senior member of the team pick? Why dont we roll the dice? Can you justify the value of your most needed features? Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedSelect features that add the most value by using. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES!3 6. Agenda Why we need to cut scopeBusiness objectives definedUsing business objectives to select features Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedWhats your definition of a business objective? Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedMeasureable target that specifies when the business problem is solved4 7. How can we identify business objectives? Confidently ask why stakeholders are doing the project Understand the problem they are trying to solve BUSINESS PROBLEMBUSINESS OBJECTIVE Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedIts okay to not know! Copyright SeilevelFocus on moneyBusiness objectives relate to money Reduce costs Increase revenue Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved5 8. PDM Secrets Revealed Inside!Popular Business Analyst AttireMonkey Wins Elicitation Contest See inside for Our Top BA ModelOctober. Issue 007The Best & Worst of 2012Work with a partner to identify your best and your worst business objectives Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedCover story: Look at what companies set as the best business objectives of the year and where they simply fell flatAgenda Why we need to cut scopeBusiness objectives definedUsing business objectives to select features Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved6 9. Typical business analysis approachSUCCESS METRICSPRODUCT CONCEPTPRODUCT FEATURES Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedA business objectives approach Product Concept may have changed PRODUCT CONCEPTBUSINESS PROBLEMBUSINESS OBJECTIVEFEATURESPRODUCT CONCEPT FEATURESFeatures may have changed Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved1 10. The Business Objectives Model BUSINESS PROBLEM 3 BUSINESS OBJECTIVE 1 BUSINESS PROBLEM 1BUSINESS OBJECTIVE 4 BUSINESS PROBLEM 4BUSINESS OBJECTIVE 2PRODUCT CONCEPT FEATURE 1BUSINESS OBJECTIVE 5FEATURE 2BUSINESS PROBLEM 5BUSINESS PROBLEM 2FEATURE 3 BUSINESS OBJECTIVE 3BUSINESS OBJECTIVE 6 BUSINESS PROBLEM 6 Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedExample of a Business Objective ModelPRODUCT CONCEPTONLINE TRAINING BUSINESS PROBLEM 1SALES PEOPLE NOT SELLING ENOUGH PRODUCTSBUSINESS OBJECTIVE 1BUSINESS PROBLEM 2INCREASE SALES TO $1 MILLIONSALES PEOPLE DONT UNDERSTAND PRODUCTSBUSINESS OBJECTIVE 2PROVIDE TRAINING TO SALES PEOPLETRAINING SURVEYS DOWNLOADABLE TRAINING Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved2 11. We can use Objective Chains to select features Evaluate the value of features or sets of featuresINCREASE REVENUE/ DECREASE COSTSObjective Factor Objective FactorObjective FactorObjective Factor Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedFEATURES Objective EquationsData NeedsFEATURESExample of an Objective Chain Current state & Assumptions: 1000 sales reps 600 take training today 90% pass tests if trained 25% pass tests if not trained 640 pass tests todayINCREASE REVENUEIncreasing # sales reps who passed tests increases sales$39K increase in sales ($200 x 195 new passed tests)Taking training before tests increases # passed testsProviding training options outside classroom increases participation835 pass tests now (90% of 900 + 25% of 100)Participation increases by 30% Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedProviding online training increases # of reps taking training300 more reps take training (30% of 1000)ONLINE TRAININGProviding offline training increases # of reps taking trainingDOWNLOADABLE TRAINING$39,000$3,600 Participation increases by 2% Feature value = $3.6K3 12. Agenda Why we need to cut scopeBusiness objectives definedUsing business objectives to select features Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedWhy dont you have business objectives? Confusion about what business objectives are Management wont tell us Stakeholders dont want to be measured Stakeholders dont actually agree on the objectives Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved4 13. There are challenges in measuring the value of features Complaints about time to write and evaluate Data isnt collected today Organizations dont want to take time to measure Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedBusiness objectives arent defined to use in prioritizationWhat if I cant do this? Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved5 14. Take-away: You get a business objectives cheat sheet! Seilevel, Inc. All rights reservedWhat questions do you [email protected]/blog www.seilevel.com/resources Seilevel, Inc. All rights reserved6