Johanna Rothman

MAY 3, 2019

I started this series discussing the issue of the various product-based roles in an agile organization. And, batching the product planning in one-quarter chunks doesn't encourage us to reduce the feedback loop duration. Can Your Customer Be Your Product Owner? The customer has ample opportunity to say, “yay!”

Product Research 70

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 70

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 18, 2021

They think that the agile tools they use, such as boards, offer a strategic advantage. So they build or customize their tools. However, they adopt or “install” an agile framework or process without customization. Instead, agile organizations need flexibility, not rigidity. What is our purpose?

Feedback Software 116

Feedback Software Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 116

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 31, 2024

In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1 , I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency, where we focus on watching the work, not the people. If you and your team have been practicing real agility, you might say these ideas barely show any agility at all. That's fine.

Agile 69

Agile Product Research Demo User Testing 69

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Note: in high innovation work, the team might need feedback hourly—at minimum, daily—not just from a product owner, but from the product value team and maybe customers. The team might work together, keeping their WIP limit to one or two items, to make sure they finish their work to obtain the feedback. Not for me.

Product Research 58

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 58

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

I'm surprising myself with this experiment and the fact that I am continuing it. No one cares about a team's agility—with the possible exception of the team itself. But managers and customers do care about better products. And the customers care about the value those products offer.

Product Research 60

Product Research Feedback Loop Customer Experience Agile 60

Johanna Rothman

JULY 27, 2022

So they ask the product or project leaders to write a business case for each effort. That's because the writer is supposed to include the estimates of time, cost, and ROI (return on investment). Then I stopped because it was a waste of time. (I Who Decides on the Experiments. Issues to Discuss for the Experiments.

Customer Experience 91

Customer Experience Product Research Feedback Loop Data Visualization 91

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 27, 2020

Do you need feedback loops so you can: Cancel the project at any time (to manage schedule and cost risks. Manage what you release to customers so you can manage defect, feature set, schedule, and cost risks. You'd like to experiment. Verify the customer understands the solution.

User Testing 100

User Testing Product Research Agile Feedback Loop 100

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 12, 2020

So far, we've discussed the lever of canceling a project at any time with the serial lifecycles in Part 1. We added another lever of looking for more feedback with iterating over the requirements in the iterative lifecycles in Part 2. That's because these lifecycles normally complete one feature set at a time.

User Testing 111

User Testing Product Research Agile Feedback Loop 111

Product Innovation Educators

JANUARY 3, 2022

How product managers can use the Modified Agile for Hardware Development Framework. They think they have the answer for applying Agile principles to hardware projects, and they call it the Modified Agile for Hardware Development (MAHD) Framework. It starts with describing the customer experience through user stories.

Agile 112

Agile Development Feedback Software User Testing 112

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops About 20 years ago, I taught a project management workshop to IT people. See Customers, Internal Delivery, And Trust for a recent post about demos and trust.) See TBM 8/52: The Problem With “Internal Customers ”. That's why the duration of the internal feedback loops is so important.

Product Research 123

Product Research Feedback Loop Workshop User Testing 123

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Many of my clients are trying to use short feedback loops in agile approaches. The more need for product innovation and change, the shorter the feedback loops need to be. ” for at least these reasons: The act of estimation takes time away from doing the work and getting the feedback.

Product Research 60

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 60

Johanna Rothman

MAY 11, 2022

However, the more often we deliver in short feedback loops, the more often we can make strategic decisions. The more often we iterate strategically, the more we exhibit business agility. Is it worth the team's time to finish the other 2 stories in this iteration? Short Feedback Loops Can Create More Decision Points.

Product Research 95

Product Research Feedback Loop Strategy User Testing 95

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

I never had to experience CASE tools in the 90s. “Agile” as a way to do much more work in much less time. (NO! But, as an industry, we continue to look for the recipe, the shortcut, the silver bullet, all to decrease the time and cost of product development. (I It doesn't work that way!!)

Product Research 82

Product Research Software Review Feedback Software Feedback Loop 82

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

What if you don't need to experiment to reduce risks? Your planning feedback loops can be longer. We need short feedback loops in the project/program to see where we are and make small adjustments. Given that you've already experimented, you've learned enough to finish proceeding with the work.

Product Research 60

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software User Testing 60

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

More of my clients say they want business agility. Yet, we don't share a common definition of business agility. Those actions show that managers change their actions in the face of new information or feedback. Those actions show that managers change their actions in the face of new information or feedback.

Agile 88

Agile Feedback Software Product Research Feedback Loop 88

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 2, 2023

” It depends on how your lifecycle manages feedback loops and learning, how collaborative the team is, and how much WIP the team has. Each Lifecycle Manages Feedback Loops Differently Brooks wrote the original version of The Mythical Man-Month in 1975, based on the 1960s IBM 360 project. .”

Product Research 93

Product Research Customer Feedback Feedback Loop Feedback Software 93

Johanna Rothman

JULY 25, 2018

I’m working on my roadmapping talk for Agile 2018. I finally had the transforming idea about how to position the talk: Roadmapping and product planning are about feedback loops. The shorter the feedback loop, the faster and more often we can learn. See the post about Double-Loop Learning.)

Product Research 41

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 41

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 18, 2024

You have several options: Separate the customer-facing problems from all the other ideas. Implement or Fix Customer-Facing Problems When customers report problems, how does your organization react? Implement or Fix Customer-Facing Problems When customers report problems, how does your organization react?

Product Research 71

Product Research Feedback Loop Data Visualization Reporting Tools 71

Agile Velocity

MAY 14, 2020

Did you know you can maximize your chances of achieving desired business outcomes by combining DevOps with an Agile transformation? When you hear “Business Outcomes,” “DevOps,” and/or Agile transformation” – what comes to mind? Agile Transformation. Agile transformations and DevOps initiatives are complementary.

Feedback Software 98

Feedback Software Agile Analytic Tools Data Visualization 98

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 2, 2024

Clarify Strategy A good strategy explains the kinds of problems you solve for specific customers. Small- to medium-sized organizations often have a coherent set of customers with specific problems. They can say: We want to attract and retain these kinds of customers and solve those kinds of problems for those people.

Product Research 85

Product Research Strategy Feedback Loop Agile 85

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 6, 2022

Show customers where the company thinks the product is headed. The overview of which problems the company plans to solve for which customers.). That's an awful lot of work for one visualization, especially since each of these sets of people (users) needs something different from that map. Every single time.

Roadmap 114

Roadmap Data Visualization Customer Experience Product Research 114

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

The problem is that the feedback loops are too long because the WIP (Work in Progress) is too high. Managers pressure both the teams for faster blue feedback loops, and pressure the product people for faster red feedback loops. All to create faster green feedback loops.

Product Research 112

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software Technical Review 112

Johanna Rothman

JULY 22, 2021

Worse, many of these managers also want business agility. Business agility requires change. I see strategy necessary at these management levels: Organizational strategy, to define the value the organization offers to the employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Who are our customers/users? Your ideal users.).

Differentiation 133

Differentiation Product Research Roadmap Strategy 133

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 20, 2020

The original signatories of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development wanted to solve these specific problems: How can we: Bring more adaptability to software development? Especially since teams now had these levers, from the iterative and incremental approaches: Prototype something for fast feedback.

User Testing 66

User Testing Software Review Agile Product Research 66

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 15, 2020

You might not have the time. Maybe you need feedback from customers. Isn't every iterative and incremental approach an agile approach? We often hear agile approaches are a mindset. An agile approach requires a change in culture at the team level, at the portfolio level, and in management.

User Testing 70

User Testing Agile Product Research Weak Development Team 70

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Your customers can't take your product more often than once or twice a year. The teams miss the feedback loops so critical for an agile approach. Their agile transformation falls apart. Rethink Your Definition of Customer. What if we expanded our thinking of “customer”?

User Testing 58

User Testing Product Research Customer Feedback Customer Experience 58

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Back in Part 1 , I wrote about how stage-gate approaches were as agile as we could use at the time. We had one delivery, so our agility was about canceling the project if we couldn't finish it. We could get feedback on prototypes—from the customer. That feedback would allow us to replan.

User Testing 116

User Testing Agile Customer Feedback Product Research 116

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Some of my clients have struggled with their project governance as they move to agile approaches. The people in projects and programs spend a lot of time to create those estimates. The time people spent generating that information was a waste. See my series on Balance Innovation, Commitment, & Feedback Loops: Summary.

Agile 68

Agile Government Customer Experience Product Research 68

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 21, 2019

It's time to wrap this series. I started asking if you actually need an agile approach in Part 1 and noted the 4 big problems I see. Part 2 was why we need managers in an agile transformation. Part 4 was about how “Agile” is meaningless and “agile” is an adjective that needs to be applied to something.

Agile 65

Agile Product Research User Testing Customer Experience 65

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 10, 2020

The first couple of times, they might have to wait for the expert, but they learn enough to integrate that person's expertise for the future. The team's cycle time improves. In my experience, the project also ends faster. This is any lifecycle, not just an agile approach.). Shorten Feedback Loops.

Product Research 84

Product Research Technical Review Systems Review Feedback Loop 84

Johanna Rothman

MAY 16, 2019

I suggested ways to think about more agile budgeting in part 1. How do you budget your own money and time? My feedback loop is one month at the outside. ” Annual budgeting constrains the project portfolio ideas and work to a one-year feedback loop. .” You don’t make bets for a year at a time.

Data Visualization 60

Data Visualization Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 60

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 17, 2022

If I stretch that analogy a little, managers need to see where we are predictable for the next bit of time, and the options we see for the future. Most teams use agile approaches because they want some feedback, internal and external, to guide the future product development. We need to update those options as we learn more.

Roadmap 94

Roadmap Product Research Feedback Software Customer Experience 94

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 8, 2022

In Agile and Lean Program Management , I suggested two other views of large products. I suggest you first measure cycle time. Measure Delivery Cycle Time. Your customers care about when they will get features. That means the cycle time for any given team doesn't matter. Ask the teams to generate experiments.

Data Visualization 114

Data Visualization Feedback Software Product Research Customer Experience 114

The Product Coalition

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

A few guiding principles include: Get to your users as soon as possible. The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) idea is central to the lean / agile methodology Get feedback as soon as possible. What is natural to users? 2) What if gaining access to users requires signing a pilot customer … and that takes twelve months?

Agile 61

Agile Product Research Data Visualization User Testing 61

Johanna Rothman

MAY 10, 2019

They're not living the principles of the agile manifesto. If you work in either a small startup or an agency where you deliver work for hire, you might have a PO who interacts with the customer. You might be lucky to have a real customer to work with. Most organizations have larger efforts. Not team cycle time.

Product Research 60

Product Research Feedback Loop Customer Experience Agile 60

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 14, 2019

In Part 1 , I wrote about how “Agile” is not a silver bullet and is not right for every team and every product. This post is about how management fits into agile approaches. Too often, managers think “agile” is for others, specifically teams of people. Team-based “agile” is not enough.

User Testing 69

User Testing Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 69

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 20, 2020

I discussed the origins of the agile approaches in Part 5. In this post, I'll discuss how you can create an agile approach that fits your context. Why should you create your own agile approach? You deserve an agile approach that helps you achieve the business outcomes you need. What do you need? Start with the Team.

User Testing 60

User Testing Agile Technical Review Feedback Software 60