We talk a lot about "maximizing business value". We ask business people and product managers to prioritise by estimating the business value of user stories. But what exactly do we mean by business value?

1. Agreeing on Business Value
Portia Tung
Pascal Van Cauwenberghe

2. Introductions
Consultant
His Blog: blog.nayima.be
www.nayima.be
NAYIMAWe make play work
Agile Coach.
Storyteller.
Games Maker. Consultant.
Project Manager.
Games Maker.
Consultant-Coach
Her Blog: www.selfishprogramming.org
www.portiatung.com

3. Without a goal
It’s hard to score

4. The Goal
Work together to build a business value model

5. Session Acceptance Tests
 I can build a simple Business Value Model
 I can explain the value of building a Business
Value Model
 I want to learn more about this topic

6. What is Business Value?

7. How do you measure
Business Value?

8. What Business Value means to us

9. The Challenge
#!?!!#
Sponsor Team
Arrggghhh!!!Arrggghhh!!!Arrggghhh!!!

10. The Future
Sponsor Team
Arrggghhh!!!Arrggghhh!!!Arrggghhh!!!
#!?!!#

11. The Future
Sponsor Team
The project
goals are…
We’ve a
few ideas
to increase
the value
Working together to create a common definition of Value.

12. A Useful Tool
Business Value Modelling

13. What is Business Value
• Business Value is not a number
• Business Value is a model
• Business Value models what you value

14. Ring-ring-ring…
(The Simulation)

15. The New Kids on the Telco Block
We’ll make you talk

16. Company Vision
The world’s favourite
mobile company by
2012
Things just
work
… …Help customers
get value for
money

17. Your Mission
Do Business Value Modelling

18. Building a Business Value Model
• Work in groups per table
• Use Post-Its to make model easy to change
• When you have a question or an issue
– Write it on a pink Post-It
– Continue working
– Resolve issues and questions when we come
round to your table

19. Building a Business Value Model
(1)
1. Read your persona goals
2. Choose a small (4 - 5) number of goals
3. Balanced: financial, people, organisation
4. Represent all personas
5. One goal per Post-It

20. Exercise 1
Create your own
Business Value Model

21. Building a Business Value Model
(1)
1. Read your persona goals
2. Brainstorm a small (4 - 5) number of goals
3. Balanced: financial, people, organisation
4. Represent all personas
5. One goal per Post-It
Time’s up!
10 min

22. Exercise 2
Identify measures

23. Building a Business Value Model
(2)
1. Identify one measure per goal
2. Write the measure on the corresponding
goal Post-It

24. Building a Business Value Model
(2)
1. Identify one measure per goal
2. Write the measure on the corresponding
goal Post-It
Time’s up!
5 min

25. Exercise 3
Find leading indicators

26. Leading and Lagging indicators
• Most measures can only be measured late,
after customer use
• These are called “Lagging indicators”
• We want feedback sooner
• We find measures that we can have sooner
and that (we think) predict success with the
real goals: “Leading indicators”
• We can use leading indicators during the
project

27. Building a Business Value Model
(3)
1. Identify goals that can only be measured late
2. Identify goals that can be measured early and
are good predictors
3. Add them as Post-Its

28. For example

29. Building a Business Value Model
(3)
1. Identify goals that can only be measured late
2. Identify goals that can be measured early and
are good predictors
3. Add them as Post-Its
Time’s up!
5 min

30. Exercise 4
Find relationships between goals

31. Diagram of Effects
• We’re looking at complex systems
• Changing one variable will affect another
• A “Diagram of effects” shows how we think
these measures affect one another

32. Why should we do
Business Value Modelling?
Value Delivered
Focus Alignment
Clear Definition
of Value
Common
Understanding
Business Value
Modelling
Motivation

33. Building a Business Value Model
(4)
1. Identify and explain relationships between
lagging indicators
2. Identify and explain relationships between
leading indicators
3. Identify and explain relationships between
leading and lagging indicators
4. Add any missing measures that are needed
to explain the system

34. For example

35. Building a Business Value Model
(4)
1. Identify and explain relationships between
lagging indicators
2. Identify and explain relationships between
leading indicators
3. Identify and explain relationships between
leading and lagging indicators
4. Add any missing measures that are needed
to explain the system
Time’s up!
5 min

36. The Theory
Behind Business Value Modelling

37. Improvement Cycle

38. Product Development Cycle

39. A Business Value Model
is a Hypothesis
• The Business Value Model is one of many models
the team builds
• No model is perfect, some are useful
• Our model is a hypothesis, what we think will
happen
• We re-evaluate and improve the model regularly
based on feedback
• It’s not a “zombie” business case (one that comes
back to haunt you)
• We won’t be punished if we get it wrong

40. Prioritisation based on Value
TODO BUSY RFT DONEIterationReleaseValue

41. Where else can you use this
tool?

42. Business Value Modelling
Stories of how we’ve used the tool

43. The Mobile Phone Company
Situation
• Already spent 2 months on
analysis
• Identified 60 features
• “We need web-based self-
service”
• Reluctantly agreed to do a
few days of analysis
Outcome
• Only 10 out of those 60
features delivered value
• Identified 4 new features
crucial to the success of the
project
• 25% of the value could be
delivered within one
month; no need for a web
application

44. A Commercial Bank
Situation
• Mythical belief in the value
of the project
• Project attempted 3 times
previously
• Estimated development
cost continued to go up
during analysis
• Unclear project goals
• Competing stakeholders
Outcome
• Determined the validity of
the existing business case of
the project
• Reduced the scope by 40%
making it eligible for the
existing program

45. The Transport Company
Before
• A new team on their first Agile
project
• Two days of business analysis
with the whole team
• “Aren’t we wasting too much
time analysing?”
• “Why are the developers
here?”
• “When can we start coding?”
After
• In production 3 months
earlier than predicted
• “I can’t believe we already
released. Normally we’d still
be doing analysis.”
• Developers came up with a
new use for existing data,
with large financial and
ecological benefits

46. Exercise 5
Create a poster to explain the
Business Value Modelling tool

47. Session Acceptance Tests
 I can build a simple Business Value Model
 I can explain the value of building a Business
Value Model
 I want to learn more about this topic

48. If you want to know more
http://www.theiiba.org

50. Give the gift of feedback
Perfection Game on back of the Session cards

51. Introductions
Consultant
His Blog: blog.nayima.be
www.nayima.be
NAYIMAWe make play work
Agile Coach.
Storyteller.
Games Maker. Consultant.
Project Manager.
Games Maker.
Consultant-Coach
Her Blog: www.selfishprogramming.org
www.portiatung.com
Thank you