software that matters - agile product management with impact mapping
DESCRIPTION
Circumstances for software development projects have changed tremendously during the past years. On the one hand, software is expected to solve increasingly complex problems within an ever growing number of domains. On the other hand, the advent of practices like continuous deployment allow for incredibly short release and feedback cycles. How do we deal with these challenges from a software customer's or product owner's point of view when traditional methods of requirements analysis - possibly even the traditional definition of the term "requirement" itself - fall short? In this session, I want to show how Impact Mapping, a technique developed by Gojko Adzic, can help us establish a view on requirements that is better suited to today's problems. By means of a concrete example I'll explain how to use this method and give some helpful advice for future practitioners.TRANSCRIPT
SOFTWARE THAT MATTERSAgile Product Management with Impact Mapping
Nils Wloka
Consultant and Coach
codecentric AG
@nilswloka
Software development is at
the height of efficiency!
There is nothing so useless
as doing efficiently that
which should not be done at
all.
Peter F. Drucker
What‘s your greatest
challenge when developing
a software product?
Software products are
quickly conquering new
domains, solving complex
problems.
In complex systems,
causality can only be
determined retrospectively.
Our concept of software
requirements has originated
in another age.
The better requirements
engineering
and requirements management
are conducted within the project,
the
less expensive errors occur during
development, ...
www.ireb.org
Completeness
Unambiguity
Consistency
Correctness
What meaning do
these terms have in
a complex system?
The goal is to continuously
learn more about the
problem
and possible solutions.
There is a domain
that deals with
continuous learning...
Science
A method or procedure [...],
consisting in systematic
observation, measurement, and
experiment, and the formulation,
testing, and modification of
hypotheses.
Oxford English Dictionary
Wanted:
Fast
Cheap
Fault tolerant
Scientific
Raise the curtain for
Impact Mapping
Example:
I‘m responsible for the
customer support division
of a telecommunication
company
and need to cut costs.
1. Why do we want to
invest
in our product?
Reduce call center costs for 1st level
support by €250K per year
2. Who can help us
and who can keep us from
reaching our goal?
Consumers who want to or already have reported a service
disruption
... rufen nicht mehr im Callcenter an, um den
Bearbeitungsstatus Ihrer Tickets zu
erfragen
3. How do we want their
behavior to change?
Endkunden
Betroffene Kunden werden über das Auftreten und die
Behebung von Flächenstörungen
informiert.
... no longer call to inquire about their
support ticket‘s status
Kunden werden bei Änderungen am
Bearbeitungsstatus Ihrer Tickets
benachrichtigt.
4. What can we do to
facilitate this change?
... rufen nicht mehr im Callcenter an, um den
Bearbeitungsstatus Ihrer Tickets zu
erfragen
Consumers are notified when the status of their support ticket
changes.
Kunden können den Status ihrer Tickets
einsehen.
... erstellen ausreichend
qualifizierte Tickets ohne Hilfe des Callcenters
The Impact Map visualizes
hypotheses and shows
possible experiments.
Reduce call center costs for 1st level
support by €250K per year
Consumers who want to or already have reported a service
disruption
... don‘t call in case of
area outages.
Affected customers are actively notified
about the occurrence and rectification of
area outages
... no longer call to inquire about their
support ticket‘s status.
Consumers are notified when the
status of their support ticket changes.
Customers can see the status of their support tickets.
... create sufficiently detailed support
inquiries without help from
the call-center.
Customers are informed about the option of creating support tickets by
themselves.
Customers receive guidance while
creating support tickets.
Resellers with technical personnel
... can initiate interference
elimination by themselves.
Resellers can initiate interference tests by
themselves.
Resellers can initiate port resets by themselves.
We start small.
Identify and quantify goals
Create an Impact Map based on
your „wish list“
Diversify
It‘s the purpose of maps to
help us find the shortest
path to our destination.
Reduce call center costs for 1st level
support by €250K per year
Consumers who want to or already have reported a service
disruption
... don‘t call in case of
area outages.
Affected customers are actively notified
about the occurrence and rectification of
area outages
... no longer call to inquire about their
support ticket‘s status.
Consumers are notified when the
status of their support ticket changes.
Customers can see the status of their support tickets.
... create sufficiently detailed support
inquiries without help from
the call-center.
Customers are informed about the option of creating support tickets by
themselves.
Customers receive guidance while
creating support tickets.
Resellers with technical personnel
... can initiate interference
elimination by themselves.
Resellers can initiate interference tests by
themselves.
Resellers can initiate port resets by themselves.
Software that matters:
systematic observation,
measurement and
experiment.
Prioritize
Deploy minimal solution
Measure
Adjust Impact Map
Earn or learn!
Sometimes it‘s not that
easy...
There are too many goals.
Quantification is difficult.
There is no real goal.
http://
www.impactmapping.org
I‘d be glad to share
experiences with you.
Thank you!