Even today, to the detriment of agile success, most organizational cultures remain delivery date-driven—resulting in delivery teams that are not focused on creating value for the customer. So how can we redirect stakeholders, the business, and the project team to concentrate on delivering the greatest value rather than simply meeting dates? Pollyanna Pixton describes the tools she has used in collaboration sessions to help all stakeholders and team members begin the process of adopting customer-centric agile methods. These tools include laying out an end-to-end customer journey, forming reusable decision filters to help prioritize backlogs, converting features into actionable user stories, and developing a solid process for making group decisions and communicating those decisions. Pollyanna shares questions that product owners and managers can use to define the problem while making sure they don't solve the problem prematurely. After all, that is the responsibility of the delivery team.

1.
WK1
Keynote
11/13/2013 8:30 AM
"Connecting with Customers"
Presented by:
Pollyanna Pixton
Accelinnova
Brought to you by:
340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073
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2. Pollyanna Pixton
Accelinnova
International leadership expert, Pollyanna Pixton developed the models
for collaboration and collaborative leadership through her thirty-eight years
of working inside and consulting with many organizations. She helps
companies create workplaces where talent and innovation are unleashed—
making them more productive, efficient, and profitable. Pollyanna is a
founding partner of Accelinnova, president of Evolutionary Systems, and
director of the Institute for Collaborative Leadership. She writes and speaks
on topics of creating cultures of trust, leading collaboration, and business
ethics. Her models are found in her book, Stand Back and Deliver:
Accelerating Business Agility. Pollyanna co-founded the Agile Leadership
Network and has chaired Leadership Summits in the US and England.
Contact her at ppixton@accelinnova.com.

3. Connecting with
Customers

4.
Pollyanna
PIXTON
Co-­‐Founder,
Accelinnova
President,
Evolu3onary
Systems
Director,
Ins3tute
of
Collabora3ve
Leadership
Text:
801.
209.
1095
Blog:
Pollyannapixton.com

5. date
driven
vs
value
driven

6. can we predict…

7.
customer
needs
and
when
we
can
ship?

8. …future
revenue
generated
reliably?
real cost
saved?
…
…market
pricing?

9. Competition Pivots
Faster
to
market
Differen3a3ng
features
(we
become
parity)

10. Unfortunately…

11. we don’t know
what we don’t know

12.
5%
chance of getting it right
-­‐
NASA

13. Leadership Role
You can’t defy gravity!
- Paul Gibson

15. Product Not Ready
§ High technical
debt
§ Poor quality
§ Loss of credibility
and reliability
§ Not enough
features
§ Unhappy
customers

16. why do we keep
doing it?

17. leaders want to create urgency
“I need it now!”
“It ALL must be done
in 3 months!”
“The customers must
have all of this!”

18. leaders want control
“What is it going to cost?”
“How long will it take?”
“Can you do it in less?”

19. move to
value driven

20. understand
the
value
to
your
customers

21.
understand
value
to
the
business
the

22. learn
at
the
pace
of
the
market

23. delight
customers
as
you
build

24. Tools You Need
§ Product Inception
Planning
§ Customer Journey
§ Decision Filters
§ Proactive Risk
Management
§ Minimal Viable
Product
§ Metrics

25. product inception
planning
(from many meaningful thoughts,
one valuable vision)

26. Objectives
§ Clear and compelling vision
§ Shared understanding across
team
§ Prepare to actively design and
build
§ Who owns what, who is
responsible for what
§ Form a product/project team

27. customer journey
and
touch point mapping
(alignment
and
understanding)

28. Four Important Questions
The business should provide the
problem – not the solution.
1. Who do we serve?
2. What do they want and need most?
3. What do we provide to help them?
4. What is the best way to provide
this?

29. Customer Journey

30. Example: Online Postage
We go to the post office a lot
and waste time in line.
Customer support
Maintenance
Prove value
Search online,
Compare,
Read reviews
Installation
Printer setup
Billing options
Set up account
Sign up for trial
Buy decision

31. what parts of
your product touch the
customer?

32. Online Postage Touch Points?
We go to the post office a lot
and waste time in line.
Customer support
Maintenance
Prove value
Search online,
Compare,
Read reviews
Installation
Printer setup
Billing options
Set up account
Sign up for trial
Buy decision

33. articulate
the
vision

34. “billboard” test…
the

35. the
low
cost
airline.”
“To
be
-­‐
Southwest
Airlines

37. Online Postage Billboard?

38. decision filters
(focus
on
vision)

39. help
“Will
this
us
be
the
low
cost
airline?”
-­‐
Southwest
Airlines

40. decision filters:
make daily
decisions
prioritize backlogs
set realistic goals

41. Tips and Examples
§ Integrity matters
§ Don’t ‘sort of’ pass the filters!
To increase performance:
§ “Will this increase performance
by20%?”
To release in 6 months:
§ “Can this get done in 4 months?”

42. cascade
decision
filters
throughout
the
organiza3on

43. decision
filters for
online
postage?

44. brainstorm
product
ideas

45. create epics

46. do they all pass the
decision filters?
Transaction
Costs

47.
priori3ze
based
on
value
to
the
customer
and
to
your
business

48. now….

49. dealing with
uncertainly and
ambiguity

50. ambiguity…
an estimate is an
estimate,
range,
not an exact
a
number

51.
group
es3mates
are
beZer

52. leaders want certainty…
reality is …
there
isn’t any

53. we need some help!

54. accept reality
prepare for change

55. don’t over commit to the market
use 60/40 rule!
team only
commits to
60% of time
available

56. don’t make Agile
Leading
compromises
§ Collaboration Model
without business
§ Collaboration Process
buy-in

57. stand by your estimates
don’t cave or pad them!

58.
when
change
happens …

59. … ask why?
customer relevance?
importance to other
commitments?
what can be done
later?

60. show
progress

61. minimal viable product (MVP)

62. Go To Market Quickly
to maximize
return on
investment
and
learning

63. Decision Filter
“Do
we
need
this
for
the
MVP?”

64. mitigate risks
entire team
identifies risks
together

65. uncertainty
market
uncertainty
technical
uncertainty
project duration
number of
customers
dependencies
scope

66. complexity
team size
culture
mission criticality
team location
time zones
team maturity
domain
knowledge gaps
dependencies
lack of trust

67. Market
Uncertainty
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
10
9
Scope
Flexibility
Technical
Uncertainty
Project
Dura3on
Dependencies
Number
of
Customers

68. risk
mi3ga3on
progress
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
10
9
Itera3on
3
Itera3on
2
Acceptable
Risk
Itera3on
1

69. when
all
risk
inside
acceptable
risk
then
begin
to
narrow
date

70. metrics

71. people do
what they are
measured
by
measure
let
results
team
evaluate
themselves

72. Watch out for Vanity Metrics

73. Good Metrics
§ Measure progress towards
business goals
§ Motivate right behaviors
§ Inspire improved performance
§ Simple to measure
§ Simple to understand
Don’t have too many metrics!

74. For Customer Satisfaction
*How likely are you to recommend this product?

75. summary

76. tools
that
help
product
incepDon
planning
decision
filters
minimal
viable
product
incrementally
reduce
risk

77. continuous
customer
feedback

78. measure
to get the
behaviors
you
want

79. learn more
Our new book
due November 2013