DISCOVERY AND INCEPTION AT AGILE PRACTICESFATMA ÜREK ULUDAĞ

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INNOVATION METHODS

DISCOVER Research, explore

and understand

DEFINE Synthesise insights define the opportunity

DESIGN Divergent ideation,

prototype, validate ideas

DELIVER Iteratively build, test with customers, refine

Curiosity and empathy for your customers are often the inspiration for Innovation. The discovery phase does not have to be lengthy, just enough learning to define the problem you are trying to solve.

The define stage is one of focus and convergence around the opportunity. Define your customer, your business model and your product hypothesis. This is where you set a vision and align your stakeholders.

Guided by our vision, the design phase is divergent in nature, encouraging multiple ways of solving the problem. We rapidly prototype, test and refine the design and prepare for the delivery phase.

In delivery, the focus shifts to robust execution as we plan the releases, build, iteratively test and refine the product. Through validation with customers we optimise the effectiveness of the product.

INNOVATION PIPELINE

Enhance existing product offerings with customer

research and idea generation, followed by rapid design and

delivery.

KINDS OF PROJECT

PROJECT PLAN 1 PROJECT PLAN 2 PROJECT PLAN 3

NEW PRODUCT

Get your idea to market fast, starting with light-weight

customer research, followed by a 1 week inception, then build, measure and learn.

2 WEEK INCEPTION

You have a mature product with well understood

customers and a product vision – you are ready to

deliver.

WHEN IS DISCOVERY NEEDED?

DISCOVERY”The discovery stage should deliver just enough qualitative and quantitative data to have confidence that we understand the

customer opportunity.”

From Innovation Methods, ThoughtWorks

DISCOVERY OBJECTIVES

CLARIFY THE BIG IDEAS THAT WE WILL BE

DEVELOPING IN THE INCEPTION

DEFINITION OF HIGH LEVEL SCOPE

IDENTIFICATION OF COMPETITORS

IDENTIFICATION OF PROJECT / PRODUCT SUCCESS CRITIERA

EXPERT REVIEW

7

COMPETITIVE REVIEW

8

FOCUS GROUP

9

OUTCOMES

Clearly defined objectives for the product and supporting sites

High level scope

High level architectural and technical knowledge

Agreed inception schedule

INCEPTION”An inception is a collaboration of key stakeholders (including but

not only most of the delivery team) to gain a shared understanding of vision, value and approach.”

From Innovation Methods, ThoughtWorks

Highly collaborative and inclusive

Time-boxed and rapid, focused on doing ‘just enough’

Feedback-driven and highly adaptive

Is not upfront analysis

Highly visual and workshop oriented to help evolve a vision for

the project.

HOW INCEPTIONS FEEL

INCEPTION OBJECTIVES

BUILD A SHARED UNDERSTANDING OF PROJECT VISION AND

GOALS

EVALUATE HIGH-LEVEL SCOPE AND CORE

PROCESSES

EVALUATE KEY RISKS, ISSUES AND

CONSTRAINTS IN DELIVERING TO THE

END GOAL

ESTABLISH TECHNICAL AND TESTING

APPROACH

OUTCOMES

All artifacts necessary to get started

A prioritised list of features that deliver the most business value

Consensus about the future state

A shared vision of the solution

Jointly produced system requirements

A realistic, achievable plan for an early release of business value.

VISION

CREATE A SHARED VISION

UNDERSTAND BUSINESS VISION

FUTURESPECTIVE

TRADE-OFF SLIDERS

PERSONAS

PERSONAS

Representations for your users/audience

Further specification of roles - how people of the same role might use the system differently

They represent the goals, motivations, characteristics and behaviour of a real group of users

They are fictional, but based on fact

EXAMPLE PERSONA

••Hyper HarryThe road warrior

•About Harry: • Work is his life • Top salesman 4 years in a row • On the road 90% of the year • Mobile device junkie • Severely impatient

“Stillness is death”

Key Goals & Needs: • Anywhere, anytime access

to data • Process my sale quickly

USER JOURNEYS

USER JOURNEY

End-to-end journey

Formula: user journey = persona + task + environment

Looking to cover all the goals of the roles/personas

Use user journeys to drive out requirements and to validate that solutions can solve the tasks identified in all possible environments.

USER JOURNEY

UNDERSTAND AND PROPOSE TECHNICAL SOLUTION

TECHNICAL APPROACH

Technical visioning

Architecture

Proposed testing approach

Addressing Non Functional Requirements (NFRs)

DESIGN: WIREFRAMES, PROTOTYPES, AND MOCK-UPS

WIREFRAMES, PROTOTYPES AND MOCK-UPS

Models

Represent screens and flow

Lo-fi, Mid-fi

Low cost, easy to change

Helps test usability

Components become stories

IDENTIFY & DISCUSS FEATURES AND STORIES

LEVELS OF REQUIREMENT

Feature

Epics

Stories

Tasks

•Customer

•

Security

•

Letters

• CustomerMaintenance

•Login

• Deactivate Customer

•Debtor

• Debtor Maintenance

•Forgot Password

•Paid in full letters

• Connect to LDAP

•Collect all PIF letters

•

•Enter New

• Missing Required

• Find status of

•Generate

STORY WRITING

As a <type of user>, I want <some goal> so that <some reason>.

STORY WRITING

I INDEPENDENT Self-contained, in a way that there is no inherent dependency on another user story.

N NEGOTIABLE Can always be changed and rewritten, up until they are part of an iteration.

V VALUABLE Must be able to deliver value to the end user or the business.

E ESTIMABLE Be able estimate the size of a functionality, relative to the other stories.

S SCALABLE(SMALL SIZED) Not be so big as to become impossible to plan/task/prioritize with a certain level of certainty.

T TESTABLE Provide the necessary information to make test development possible. How can you tell it is done?

Must Should Could Wouldn’t

PRIORITISE

ESTIMATION

We should capture...

PREPARE RELEASE PLAN

ITERATION N ITERATION N ITERATION N ITERATION NITERATION NITERATION 0

Inception

START END

Envolve/Handover

Analyse Design Build Test Deploy

INCEPTION DELIVERABLES

Business Vision and Project Objectives

Prioritised High Level Requirements (Stories & NFRs)

Technical Approach

Visual Design Mock-ups

Release Plan

RAIDs & Communication Plan

Next Steps

Questions?

THANK YOU