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.
2. 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.
26. 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
28. 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?
30. Example: Online Postage
We go to the post office a lot
and waste time in line.
Customer support
Maintenance
Prove value
Search online,
Compare,
Read reviews
Installation
Printer setup
Billing options
Set up account
Sign up for trial
Buy decision
32. Online Postage Touch Points?
We go to the post office a lot
and waste time in line.
Customer support
Maintenance
Prove value
Search online,
Compare,
Read reviews
Installation
Printer setup
Billing options
Set up account
Sign up for trial
Buy decision
41. 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?”
73. 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!
