the product visioning workshop: a proven method for product planning and prioritization

THE PRODUCT VISIONING WORKSHOP

A Proven Method for Product Planning and Prioritization

CHRISTINE PERFETTI PERFETTI MEDIA @CPERFETTI

© Perfetti Media 2015 www.perfettimedia.com 1

The Product Visioning Workshop


WHAT IS SUCCESS?

Create a 3-5 year vision of the experience users will have with your product


THE IMPORTANCE OF A VISION

• Drives product decisions• Provides a destination for the team to stay

on-course• Gets the entire team on the same page• Inspires and motivates


HOW DO WE GET THERE?


THE PLANNING STAGE

Start with Research


INVOLVE THE STAKEHOLDERS

• Senior management• Product• UX• Engineering• Marketing• Sales • Support


WHAT DO THEY KNOW TODAY?

• Strategic objectives• Short and long-term business goals• User data• Competitive research• Market size• Vision


USER RESEARCH

•Observe users in the natural environment•Understand users’ pain points•Get the team immersed


CREATE PERSONAS


THE PRODUCT VISIONINGWORKSHOP


GOALS OF THE WORKSHOP

• Establish a product vision

• Align roadmap or sprint investment with user needs and business goals

• Enables the product team to say, “NO,” to features that don’t align with the vision

• Brainstorm and prioritize the requirements and strategies for delivering on the product vision

• Prevent silos across product lines


THE LOGISTICS

• Invite all product stakeholders

• Set aside a minimum of three days to conduct the workshop

• Set expectations for workshop attendees

• Assign homework• What are the business goals?• What do you currently know about the target audience?• What are the pain points with the product?


THE AGENDA


THE WORKSHOP AGENDA

Day 1: Set the context

Day 2: Establish the product vision

Day 3: Identify business and user opportunities to achieve the vision

Day 4: Prioritize the roadmap opportunities


DAY 1:Set the Context


SET THE CONTEXT

• Review 3-5 year strategic objectives• Present the competitive landscape• Summarize the user research


SET THE CONTEXT


THE PERSONAS

Attributes of the persona


THE JOURNEY MAPSTEPS IN THE USER JOURNEY


DAY 2:Establish the Product Vision


ESTABLISH THE PRODUCT VISION

• Converge on a 3-year product vision

• Prioritize opportunities to improve the user experience


IDEATING ON A PRODUCT VISION

• Brainstorming technique modeled after the design studio methodology

• Teams ideate in short time boxes to generate a product vision with rapid rounds of sketching and critique• Sketch • Present• Critique• Iterate


THE INSTRUCTIONS

• Break group into cross-functional teams of 5-6 people

• Distribute 8-up to each member of the team

• Instruct each attendee to sketch their vision of the product in 3 years

Source: Todd Zaki Warfel.. in only 10 minutes!


PRESENT & CRITIQUE

• Each member of the team has 3 minutes to present their vision with no interruptions

• Team critiques for 2 minutes• What do you like?• What would you like to see

improved?


ITERATE FOR 2-3 MORE ROUNDS


THE RESULT: CONVERGENCE OF TEAMS


DAY 3:Identify the Opportunities for Achieving the Vision


IDENTIFY THE BUSINESS AND USER OPPORTUNITIES

• Based on the best ideas from the visioning exercise, create and prioritize a list of opportunities and pain points to tackle

• Don’t jump to features too quickly!


THE FOCUS QUESTION

In order to reach our vision, what do we need to provide to our users to achieve a best-in-class experience?


THE KJ


STEP 1: LIST OPPORTUNITIES


STEP 2: GROUP THE STICKY NOTES

No talking


STEP 3: NAME THE GROUPS


STEP 4: RANK THE GROUPS


STEP 5: VOTE


STEP 6: ORDER AND DISCUSS GROUPS


ADVANTAGE OF METHOD

• All stakeholders contribute

• Prevents too much influence from select team members

• Identifies top product priorities that align with the vision


DAY 4:Prioritize the Product Opportunities to Tackle


PRIORITIZE THE ROADMAP OPPORTUNITIES

• MoSCoW voting

• Rate the opportunity or feature


MoSCoW Voting for High-Level Priorities


Voting on features and priorities

Business valueUser valueEffort


NEXT STEPS

• Product team reviews findings • Prioritize opportunities in a product roadmap, if they have one• Allocate resources to the opportunities in upcoming sprints

• Product team creates a deliverable to communicate the vision out to the team


THE PRODUCT VISIONING WORKSHOP

• Aligns the team around a shared vision

• Gains consensus on user needs and goals for the product

• Prioritizes the requirements for delivering on the product vision

• Aligns the product priorities with the vision for the ideal user experience


THANK YOU!

• Product and UX coaching• Product ideation and strategy

workshops• Consulting

Twitter: @cperfettiWeb: perfettimedia.com


the product visioning workshop: a proven method for product planning and prioritization

Technology

product perfetti media

product vision perfetti

context perfetti media

cperfetti perfetti media

personas perfetti media

agenda perfetti media

persona perfetti media

product lines perfetti