Embracing the Art of Prioritization

Prioritizing a backlog is a technically simple task - you just have to list what to work on next. So why is it so hard? The reality is that prioritization is an art. There is no formula that can tell you with certainty what the priority should be, and many of the tricks we try to put in place to make prioritization "easier" actually cause the team to work on unimportant things. Emily's talk aims to open a discussion that will help you embrace the messiness of prioritization, and appreciate the art of the craft.

Transcript

1. Emily Tate @thedailyem Embracing the Art of Prioritization
7. I had my priorities wrong @thedailyem
8. I had my priorities wrong PRIORITY @thedailyem
9. Source: Giovanni Herom Santos via LinkedIn Priority Priorities
10. FOCUS @thedailyem
11. Your roadmap is where you are headed @thedailyem
12. Your backlog is how you get there @thedailyem
13. Feature Work Bugs Maintenance Tech Debt Spikes/Research @thedailyem
14. How do you prioritize? @thedailyem
16. Emily’s Grand Unified Theory of Prioritization @thedailyem
17. Capture Everything @thedailyem
19. Features •Story 1 Things in the Backlog •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7
20. Features Bugs •Story 1 •Bug 1 Things in the Backlog •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7 •Bug 2 •Bug 3 •Bug 4 •Bug 5
21. •Story 1 •Bug 1 •Tech initiative 1 Things in the Backlog •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7 •Bug 2 •Bug 3 •Bug 4 •Bug 5 •Tech initiative 2 •Tech initiative 3 •Tech initiative 4 Features Bugs Maintenance/Tech
22. •Story 1 •Bug 1 •Tech initiative 1 Things in the Backlog •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7 •Bug 2 •Bug 3 •Bug 4 •Bug 5 •Tech initiative 2 •Tech initiative 3 •Tech initiative 4 •Research 1 •Research 2 •Research 3 Features Bugs Maintenance/Tech Research
23. Features Bugs Maintenance/Tech •Story 1 •Bug 1 •Tech initiative 1 Things in the Backlog •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7 •Bug 2 •Bug 3 •Bug 4 •Bug 5 •Tech initiative 2 •Tech initiative 3 •Tech initiative 4 Research •Research 1 •Research 2 •Research 3 Other Stuff •Other 1 •Other 2 •Other 3 •Other 4 •Other 5 •Other 6 •Other 7 •Other 8
24. Combine them @thedailyem
25. Things in the Backlog Features Bugs Maintenance/Tech •Story 1 •Bug 1 •Tech initiative 1 •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7 •Bug 2 •Bug 3 •Bug 4 •Bug 5 •Tech initiative 2 •Tech initiative 3 •Tech initiative 4 Research •Research 1 •Research 2 •Research 3 Other Stuff •Other 1 •Other 2 •Other 3 •Other 4 •Other 5 •Other 6 •Other 7 •Other 8
26. •Story 1 •Bug 1 •Tech 1 Things in the Backlog •Story 2 •Story 3 •Story 4 •Story 5 •Story 6 •Story 7 •Bug 2 •Bug 3 •Bug 4 •Bug 5 •Tech initiative 2 •Tech initiative 3 •Tech initiative 4 •Research 1 •Research 2 •Research 3 •Other 1 •Other 2 •Other 3 •Other 4 •Other 5 •Other 6 •Other 7 •Other 8 Features Bugs Maintenance/Tech Research Other Stuff
28. Simple does not equal Easy @thedailyem
29. Prioritization is an Art @thedailyem
30. The Do’s and Don’ts of Prioritisation @thedailyem
31. DON’T Try to “Math” your way into Art @thedailyem
32. Feature User Value Effort Confidence % Total Share with friends 3 3 60% 0.6 Publish to Twitter 5 1 75% 3.75 Bookmark for later 3 2 40% 0.6 Personalized recommendation 4 3 90% 1.2 User value 1-5 Effort 5-1
34. DO Use research and be able to explain your reasoning @thedailyem
35. DON’T Prioritize alone @thedailyem
36. DO Prioritize together if possible @thedailyem
37. DON’T Let your tools do the talking @thedailyem
40. Communication is your job @thedailyem
41. DO Talk to your stakeholders regularly @thedailyem
42. DON’T Just assign a portion of each sprint to different categories @thedailyem
43. DON’T Give others a percentage of your capacity to prioritize independently @thedailyem
44. Opportunity Cost
45. Feature Work Bugs Maintenance Other Feature Work Bugs Maintenance Feature Work Bugs Maintenance Other Bugs Maintenance
46. DO Always prioritize the “Next Most Important Thing” @thedailyem
47. Always prioritize like your budget could go away tomorrow @thedailyem
48. DON’T “Squeeze in little things” that aren’t prioritized @thedailyem
49. There is no Magic Queue @thedailyem
50. DO Add them to the backlog, and decide where it fits @thedailyem
51. DON’T Avoid hard conversations with stakeholders @thedailyem
52. @thedailye
53. DO Work toward alignment early and often @thedailyem
54. DON’T Let maintenance and tech initiatives languish @thedailyem
55. Maintenance Feature Work Business Sees: Waste of Time and Money Stuff I Can Actually Sell Technology Sees: @thedailyem
56. DO Be your team’s advocate @thedailyem
59. Embrace the Messiness
60. Enjoy the Process
61. Prioritize Your Way to Greatness
62. Emily Tate Mind the Product Twitter: @thedailyem LinkedIn: /thedailyem