Connecting with Customers

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Even today, to the detriment of agile success, most organizational cultures remain delivery date-driven—resulting in delivery teams that are not focused on creating value for the customer. So how can we redirect stakeholders, the business, and the project team to concentrate on delivering the greatest value rather than simply meeting dates? Pollyanna Pixton describes the tools she has used in collaboration sessions to help all stakeholders and team members begin the process of adopting customer-centric agile methods. These tools include laying out an end-to-end customer journey, forming reusable decision filters to help prioritize backlogs, converting features into actionable user stories, and developing a solid process for making group decisions and communicating those decisions. Pollyanna shares questions that product owners and managers can use to define the problem while making sure they don't solve the problem prematurely. After all, that is the responsibility of the delivery team.

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WK1 Keynote 11/13/2013 8:30 AM 

    

"Connecting with Customers"     

Presented by:

Pollyanna Pixton Accelinnova

           

Brought to you by:  

  

340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073 888‐268‐8770 ∙ 904‐278‐0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

Pollyanna Pixton Accelinnova

International leadership expert, Pollyanna Pixton developed the models for collaboration and collaborative leadership through her thirty-eight years of working inside and consulting with many organizations. She helps companies create workplaces where talent and innovation are unleashed—making them more productive, efficient, and profitable. Pollyanna is a founding partner of Accelinnova, president of Evolutionary Systems, and director of the Institute for Collaborative Leadership. She writes and speaks on topics of creating cultures of trust, leading collaboration, and business ethics. Her models are found in her book, Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility. Pollyanna co-founded the Agile Leadership Network and has chaired Leadership Summits in the US and England. Contact her at ppixton@accelinnova.com.

Connecting with Customers

       

                         

 Co-­‐Founder,  Accelinnova

President,  Evolu3onary  Systems  Director,  Ins3tute  of  Collabora3ve  Leadership  

 Text:  801.  209.  1095  

Blog:  Pollyannapixton.com    

Pollyanna  PIXTON    

 date  driven    

                       vs  

           value  driven  

can we predict…

     customer  needs    and  when  

we  can      ship?  

…future

revenue generated reliably?

…real cost

saved? …market

pricing?

Competition Pivots

         Faster  to  market  Differen3a3ng  features              (we  become  parity)  

Unfortunately…

we don’t know

what we don’t know

 5%  -­‐  NASA  

chance of getting it right

Leadership Role

You can’t defy gravity! - Paul Gibson

Product Not Ready

§ High technical debt

§ Poor quality § Loss of credibility

and reliability § Not enough

features § Unhappy

customers

why do we keep doing it?

leaders want to create urgency

“I need it now!”

“It ALL must be done in 3 months!”

“The customers must have all of this!”

leaders want control

“What is it going to cost?”

“How long will it take?”

“Can you do it in less?”

move to value driven

understand  the  value  to  

your  

customers  

   understand  the  value  to  the  

   business      

learn  at  the  pace  of  the    market  

delight  customers  as  you  build  

§  Product Inception Planning

§  Customer Journey § Decision Filters §  Proactive Risk

Management § Minimal Viable

Product § Metrics

Tools You Need

(from many meaningful thoughts, one valuable vision)

product inception planning

Objectives

§ Clear and compelling vision § Shared understanding across

team § Prepare to actively design and

build § Who owns what, who is

responsible for what § Form a product/project team

           

 (alignment  and  understanding)  

customer journey and

touch point mapping

Four Important Questions

The business should provide the problem – not the solution. 1. Who do we serve? 2. What do they want and need most? 3. What do we provide to help them? 4. What is the best way to provide

this?

Customer Journey

Example: Online Postage

Search online, Compare,

Read reviews

We go to the post office a lot and waste time in line.

Sign up for trial

Buy decision Set up account

Installation Printer setup Billing options

Customer support Maintenance Prove value  

what parts of your product touch the

customer?

Online Postage Touch Points?

Search online, Compare,

Read reviews

We go to the post office a lot and waste time in line.

Sign up for trial

Buy decision Set up account

Installation Printer setup Billing options

Customer support Maintenance Prove value  

articulate the

vision

the  “billboard”  test…  

“To  be    the    low  cost  airline.”                                                            -­‐  Southwest  Airlines  

Online Postage Billboard?

decision filters (focus  on  vision)  

“Will  this  help  us  be    

                     the  low  cost  airline?”                                                            -­‐  Southwest  Airlines  

decision filters: make daily decisions

prioritize backlogs set realistic goals

Tips and Examples

§  Integrity matters § Don’t ‘sort of’ pass the filters! To increase performance: §  “Will this increase performance

by20%?” To release in 6 months: §  “Can this get done in 4 months?”

cascade  decision  filters              throughout  the      

   organiza3on    

decision filters for

online postage?

brainstorm  product  ideas  

create epics

Transaction Costs

do they all pass the decision filters?

       priori3ze  based  on  value  to  the  

 customer  and  to  your  

 business  

now….

dealing with uncertainly and

ambiguity

ambiguity…

an estimate is an estimate,

a range,

not an exact number

   group  es3mates  

 are    beZer  

leaders want certainty…

reality is … there isn’t any

we need some help!

accept reality

prepare for change

don’t over commit to the market

use 60/40 rule!

team only commits to 60% of time

available

Leading Agile

§  Collaboration Model §  Collaboration Process

don’t make compromises

without business

buy-in

stand by your estimates don’t cave or pad them!

               

when change happens …

… ask why?

customer relevance? importance to other

commitments?

what can be done later?

show progress

minimal viable product (MVP)

Go To Market Quickly

to maximize return on

investment and

learning

     “Do  we  need  this    for  the  MVP?”  

Decision Filter

mitigate risks entire team

identifies risks together

uncertainty market uncertainty

technical uncertainty

project duration number of customers

dependencies scope

complexity   team size culture

mission criticality team location

time zones

team maturity domain

knowledge gaps dependencies lack of trust

0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  

10  Market  Uncertainty  

Technical  Uncertainty  

Project    Dura3on  

Number  of  Customers  

Dependencies  

Scope  Flexibility  

0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  

10  

Acceptable  Risk  

Itera3on  1  Itera3on  2  

Itera3on  3  

risk  mi3ga3on  progress  

when  all  risk  inside                  acceptable  risk  then  begin  to                narrow  date  

metrics

people do what they are

measured by

measure results let team evaluate

themselves

Watch out for Vanity Metrics

Good Metrics

§ Measure progress towards business goals

§ Motivate right behaviors §  Inspire improved performance § Simple to measure § Simple to understand Don’t have too many metrics!

For Customer Satisfaction *How likely are you to recommend this product?

summary

               

 tools  that  help    product  incepDon  

planning  

decision  filters    minimal  viable  

product  

 incrementally  reduce          risk  

continuous customer feedback

measure to get the

behaviors you want

learn more Our new book due November 2013

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