bradley scott - vision to ready
DESCRIPTION
A ‘warts and all’ illustration of how Xero is increasingly moving to incremental/progressive refinement from product vision through to ready work for the pods (i.e. user stories small enough to fit comfortably in a single sprint, well-understood by pod members and with clear acceptance criteria). Using simple tools along the way, Xero ensures that assumptions are verified and that work is prioritised in alignment with organisational strategy and market needs. The presentation will share both triumphs and catastrophes.TRANSCRIPT
Vision to Ready
Bradley ScottXero
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The reality is somewhat messy
● Plenty of ‘ready’ doesn’t come from Vision● Tactical objectives often become priorities● Sometimes the Vision has gaps● Or, isn’t helpful in guiding priorities
So, instead, I’d like to talk about what Xero’s reality is and then talk about how Vision fits into that
Reality at Xero
● Scaling ‘Product ownership’● Making priority decisions and how Vision helps● Aligning roadmap ambition and reality● Investing in line with our Vision● Our design led approach
Then, try to explain all of that in terms of Vision to Ready
Scaling product ownership
● It’s easy when it’s 1 or 2 Pods● A couple of our product lines have 5-10 Pods
● Our current approach:○ Delegated authority between PM and PO○ Optimised for delivery and priority flexibility ○ Makes technical debt and on-going iteration hard
● Persistent ownership considered:○ Better ownership for technical and business outcomes○ Supports a purpose & experience driven organisation
Xero’s approach to scaling
● Our current approach is product decomposition around user experiences
● Challenges:○ Awkward size of product lines○ Almost irresistible pressure to move on top priorities ○ Architectural realities○ Geographical considerations
Select the right granularity of control for your organisation
Making priority decisions
● Now in 4 key markets (NZ, AU, US, UK)● User needs are becoming less homogenous● Broader and more difficult to manage stakeholders● Product Management evolving from delivery management
to value management● Need tools to make this easier
Establishing a common prioritization framework
An approach from Fiserv (formerly M-Com)
Product Strategy
User valueCustomer
valueCompetito
r valueInternal value
Roadmap value
Challenges observed
● Do not use $ as a measure of value○ It’s a lot of work○ It’s easy to game / is falsely accurate○ Excludes parts of your organisation
● Keep it simple● It’s only 1 technique. It’s not a silver bullet● Things do get forced in
People seem to exhibit a bias towards short term value
The 3 Horizons technique
And now Xero’s approach….
ALWAYS
ADHOC
RARELY
NEVER
(N)ONE SOME MOST ALL
% OF THE CUSTOMERS
TO
UC
HE
D
Customer Value Scorecard
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2 3 4 5
3 4 5 6
LARGE
REASONABLE
SOME
NO
PLATFORM KEEP HEARTS WIN HEARTS GAME CHANGER
INVESTMENT THEME
IMP
AC
T
Xero Vision Scorecard
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
4 4 4 4
6 6 6 6
XL (11-12)
L (9-10)
M (7-8)
S (<6)
XL L M S
PERCEIVED EFFORT
PE
RC
EIV
ED
VA
LUE
Cost / Value Scorecard
0
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2 3 4 5
3 4 5 6
PLATFORMKEEP HEARTSGAME CHANGER WIN HEARTS
Candidates ranked and categorized
INVENTORY (5)QUOTES (3)FIXED ASSETS (2)
GLOBAL SEARCH (5)BULK RECODING (5)REPORTING V2 (4)
DASHBOARDS (5) PLATFORM V5 (5)
Aligning roadmap ambition and reality
● “Why is it taking so long?”● “We’ve started that”● Interrupting priorities. Lots of WIP put on the shelf● Invisibility of investment decisions● “We get told scope AND timeframes”
Strategies:● Create a throttle for WIP● Make transparent investment decisions● Get buy in on priorities. Communicate them● Move from ‘slow yes’ to- lots of ‘No’ and confident ‘Yes’
Quarterly prioritization and alignmentPrioritization
forum discussion
Various comms
Candidate priorities
Planning with Pods
Published roadmap (+ videos)
Delivery
throughout the quarter
~1 month before quarter start
< 1 month from quarter start
Just before / at the start of the quarter
Near the start of the quarter
Throughout the quarter
The intention is to have rolling wave planning within each product line looking ~90 days out. But a more formal / explicit quarterly synchronization process to align dependencies across product lines, and communicate to broader sets of stakeholders
informsvalidated by
is fed into
results inis realised by
changes the
Risks to this approach
● Temptation resist change to the quarterly plan● Thinking and discussions only happen just before end of
quarter
Hopefully the organisation learns to plan in rolling waves
Investing in line with Vision1. Product Portfolio Investment allocation
Decide the right proportion / amount to be investing in different Xero products (Payroll vs Mobile vs Practice Manager, etc) What proportion best advances our business objectives?
2. Business-as-usual investment allocationMake transparent our investment levels to upkeep current client satisfaction and on-going development efficiency.
E.g. fixing production issues, Servicing technical debt, Improving the existing product functions
Payroll - B%Xero (inc banking, FA, Shared components) - A%
Mobile C%
Practice Mgr - F%
API E%
CRM H%
SX / MX D%
Self Serve G%
Enhance existing product features - C%
Production break / fix - A%
Service tech debt B%
New development - D%
2. New Development investment allocationIdentify key investment themes that support product strategy and determine the proportionate investment to support each.
Particular product roadmaps are informed by this investment guidance and created by Product Managers
Complete core Accounting engine - A% Change the Game - B%
Our design-led approach
From the vision:● Start with researching and validating the user need● Come up with the ideal solution● Design screen flows up front● Engineering considerations come second. The user comes
first● Has historically been an ‘agency’ design approach rather
than ‘embedded’ approach● Product Owners make the final call. But, the design team is
a key participant
Challenges with our current approach
● Designs are expensive to change once engineering realities come to light
● Increasing agility in development is creating tensions● It’s not always clear what is the future beacon and what is
the design to be developed
There is thinking underway to reform the design-development process:● Retain the design led values and focus on users● Increase ability to respond to change and new information
A Vision to Ready● We try to invest in the right products and places to give
effect to our Vision● We use an investment scoring model to help make
prioritization decisions informed by our Vision● We try to structure our organisation around experiences,
and cascade control via Product Managers and Product owners
● When we start work, we always will take a Design led approach
Hopefully everyone is aware of the vision so at every level they can make decisions in alignment with it
Thanks for listening…Bradley Scott XeroFollow me @bradley_scott
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