Prioritizing the development flow
Organizations can increase flow by prioritizing Features over “Who and How” discussions with Activities and Enablers.
The video addresses the problem many organizations face when filling their product backlogs with everything they plan to do instead of looking at what the Customer is willing to pull. When the backlog only contains what is needed from a business perspective, it is much easier to make just priority and get a shared view of what is needed. The Business perspective will make it easier to split Backlog items into smaller deliverables and limit the number of items that are being worked on simultaneously.
When the priorities are agreed the working procedure can follow as needed.
The customer is the one who pulls the Features
In previous videos about the Kanban board and Business Features, we explained various types of backlog items. Now, we’ll focus on prioritizing a Product Development Flow – an issue many organizations face, often due to the overwhelming number of items to handle. In a Product Development Flow, the customer pulls the features. However, organizations that develop features tend to focus on more than what the customers are pulling.
Lean thinking is a fundamental way to look at any organization regardless of how its processes are organized. Lean thinking uses five fundamental principles:
- Value
- Value streams
- Flow
- Pull
- Perfection
Activities and Enablers
To develop a Feature, many activities and enablers come into play. Unfortunately, working procedures often overshadow customer needs, and prioritization becomes more about squeezing in available expertise than considering business priorities. If your Product Backlog contains Activities and Enablers, you should consider replacing them with the needed Features. Many organizations are working in an Incremental Waterfall fashion. If you are, it should not stop you from prioritizing actual Features.
Prioritization with interconnected dependencies
When using Activities and Enablers to prioritize, the complexity is evident, and the actual needs can get lost among many interconnected dependencies.
Backlog Quality
This is where Backlog quality is essential. It means focusing on items that Customers are willing to pull. When a business sets clear priorities, it helps to establish shared objectives. It’s important to note that Risk and Compliance are also customer needs, and they should be prioritized alongside other features such as LCM delivery, regulatory requirements, or future business experiments.
Flow-based Backlog prioritization benefits all organizations, whether adhering to a Waterfall or Lean-Agile mindset. It focuses on the ‘Why and Value’ rather than ‘Who and How.’ Seeing your actual business needs and prioritizing them is more effective in delivering business value to customers.
Increase Flow by prioritizing Features
To summarize, when prioritizing backlog items, focus only on Business Features. While activities and enablers may be necessary, they belong to the solution space. Prioritizing backlog items based on customer needs helps establish shared objectives, which, in turn, promotes better business outcomes.
About the content
The intention of the Articles published on this website is to provide exciting knowledge about organizational development in any business. BDD hopes this knowledge will help take your organization to the next level. The information is based on our experience supporting many transformations and cutting-edge sources published in books, articles, and frameworks.
