Vision, Roadmap, and Release Planning

Vision, Roadmap, and Release Planning Supplemental Materials for a Product Owner Jessica Komarek and Sara Alterisio

5 Levels of Agile Release Planning Vision Roadmap Release Iteration Daily What, Who, Why, When, Constraints, Assumptions Releases Iterations/Sprints User Stories Tasks This material focuses on the top 3 levels Often planned at the "Product" and "Team" level PO should be clear on the "Product" level plans to best drive "Team" level planning These levels of planning are often shared by a Product Management team, especially in larger organizations 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 2

Why do we need a Vision? Understand the Big Picture Everyone Working Toward a Common Goal Shared Understanding of the Problem We re Trying To Solve Develop Roadmap High level Product Backlog Business Value Assessment 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 3

Release Roadmaps Release Roadmaps help set scope over a series of releases Some reasons for Release Roadmaps: Becomes a filter for user story creation and backlog prioritization Gains consensus around the direction Avoids the last/loudest priority problem Prevents too large releases early in program (everything plus the kitchen sink ) Tip: Start with a minimum viable product to get functionality into customer hands as as quickly as possible to establish a feedback loop to help drive future work Caution: A roadmap is not a contract it will likely change over time 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 4

Roadmap: Example Template Release date, driven by: An event or specific dates/schedule Level of functionality needed Name of Release / Version Make name meaningful Indicate where release will happen: Internal delivery to a platform, other team, or release train Distribution to Production Theme Compelling reason to use by whom? Significant business value to the organization Planned feature set High-level descriptions of system services that delivers value to the user/customer Release date Name of Release / Version Theme: Prove? For <stakeholder X>, this release provides <what value> Key Features: 1. Feature A 2. Feature B 3. Feature C Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 5

Features Who/What Example Release Roadmap April June Aug Oct Pilot Call Center (CC) R1 (to PROD) First CC expansion R2 (to PROD) Second CC expansion R3 (to PROD) Full CC exp n/mobile POC R4 (to PROD) For client subgroup #1, submit claim request for autos via call center For client subgroups 2-4, submit claim request for autos via call center For client subgroups 5-10, submit claim request for autos via call center Create mobile Proof of Concept (POC) For remaining client subgroups, submit claim request for autos via call center Pilot POC for mobile with subgroup #1 1. Simple 2 forms (data entry, data validation) 2. Send data to sub system to initiate processing 3. Validate manually in sub system 4. Manually send email confirmation 1. Update/expand 2 forms with feedback 2. Auto validate processing confirmation 3. Auto send email confirmation 4. Validate/revise training materials 1. Revise forms with critical/moderate improvements and bug fixes 2. Validate performance 3. Establish POC for mobile (customer driven) claim submission 1. Monitor performance 2. Run mobile POC with client subset (TBD) 3. Revise forms with critical/moderate improvements as needed 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 6

Why Plan Releases? 1. Decide on reasonable value and how long it will take to deliver. 2. Communicate expectations with stakeholders. Often fed into other strategic planning activities across the organization 3. Guidepost toward which the team can progress and context for a set of sprints to culminate into a satisfying whole. 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 7

Inputs to Release Planning 1. Prioritized and estimated backlog 2. The (estimated) velocity of the Scrum team 3. Conditions of satisfactions (schedule, scope, resources) 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 8

Velocity in Planning 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 9

Determining Release Plans Feature-Driven: Ready for release when specified features are complete Sum of all features Expected velocity Date-Driven: Scope is determined by how many features can be completed in the specified time Expected velocity * number of sprints 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 10

Release Planning Steps Notes: Many organizations pre-determine release strategy and need to coordinate amongst many teams Pega plans releases at the Epic level Feature-driven or date-driven? Do in any sequence Select an iteration length Determine conditions of satisfaction Estimate the user stories Estimate velocity Select stories and a release date Prioritize user stories Taken from: Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn 00 Month 0000 Footer (Edit footer for all slides with View > Header & Footer) 11