This is how the general thought or flow works out in real life, The CEO has a dream, an Idea, a Vision -
Vision > Goals > Intiatives > Releases > Epics > Features & Functionalities > User Story
Initiatives are collections of epics that drive toward a common goal.
Content
Epics
All company endeavors stem from the CEO's vision. To realize this vision, the company sets specific goals defined by metrics.
Epics are clusters of features or functionalities aimed at fulfilling these objectives.
Teams devise initiatives to attain these goals. Subsequently, the team rolls out the latest updates.
Examples of epics:
"Enhance Security Measures"
"Implement photo sharing in direct messages"
Within the product team, not every task undertaken yields a new feature for external users. This distinction prompts us to label such endeavors as epics rather than features.
Epics are characterized by their duration, spanning longer than a single sprint.
Conversely, tasks that can be accomplished within one sprint are user stories.
Epic Spec Sheets
Epic specification sheets are comprehensive documents outlining the requirements for product development.
Their primary objective is to ensure clarity and understanding across all departments within the company regarding the tasks at hand and what needs to be built.
Epic spec sheets have four main areas:
1. Introduction
Overview of features and functionalities
Summary of what the features we are building and why
What metrics we are trying to improve
Links to specific documentation
Marketing plans, legal requirements
Early wireframes
2. Product requirements
Feature and Functionalities in Details i.e. What is required for the specific features?
3. Design requirements
The product manager and the designer fill this section together - sketches, prototypes, etc.
4. Engineer requirements
For the engineers to fill this section post-discussion and it contains what must be done on the technology side.
Product managers are in charge of creating and maintaining the entire spec sheet, but mainly the first two areas.
Each company has a different way of doing spec sheets.
User stories
User stories are a way to describe a thing we're going to build that delivers some type of functionality to the end user
User stories follow this format:
"As an X, I want to do Y, so that I can Z"
This is a way to explain to the engineers what the feature needs to do without saying how to do it
Example:
"As a customer, I want to be able to filter products by price range so that I can find items within my budget"
User stories belong inside the project management tool, written as tickets that can be moved into the following categories
"To do"
"In progress"
"Done"
Acceptance criteria
Acceptance criteria are a set of conditions that the application must satisfy to be considered complete.
The purpose of acceptance criteria is to be very specific on how a feature should function.
Example:
User Story:
As a customer, I want to be able to filter products by price range so that I can find items within my budget.
Acceptance criteria:
On the product listing page, there should be a filter option for the price range.
Users should be able to set minimum and maximum price limits.
When the filter is applied, only products within the specified price range should be displayed.
User Story:
As a traveler, I want to receive notifications for flight delays so that I can adjust my plans accordingly.
Acceptance criteria:
User should have the option to enable flight delay notifications in their account settings.
When a flight associated with the user is delayed, a push notification should be sent to their mobile device.
The notification should include details about the flight and the estimated delay duration.
User Story:
As a student, I want to be able to bookmark important sections of a textbook so that I can quickly revisit them later.
Acceptance criteria:
While reading a textbook in the app, the user should have the option to bookmark specific pages or sections.
Bookmarks should be accessible from a dedicated menu.
Users should be able to remove bookmarks if they are no longer needed.
A product manager is responsible for testing the completed tickets and stories before approving them to be released to the public.
Velocity & Estimations
Across various companies, engineers adopt diverse approaches, languages, and methodologies in their development processes, leading to constant evolution. This diversity complicates software estimation significantly. So following an iterative approach makes sense.
Achieving accurate estimates hinges on understanding a crucial metric known as velocity.
Relative measurement is used as "Story Points" per task and based on how much is achieved, we get velocity.
Story points serve as a means to gauge the complexity of tasks through a universally comprehensible rating system within the company.
In general, Velocity, on the other hand, represents the number of story points completed within a two-week sprint.
Example:
We have 5 items in total. 3 were done but were very hard. We rate them 5 on a scale of 1-5. The velocity is 5 + 5 + 5 = 15
Doing these calculations increases the accuracy of the estimations in the long term.
Roadmapping
Each company approaches road mapping uniquely. Although roadmaps typically lack precision, they serve as useful general guides.
Why do companies create roadmaps?
Executives and investors prefer quarterly-based roadmaps.
Roadmaps can help align efforts with actual deadlines.
The alternative is to sort things depending on priorities
Near-term
Mid-term
Long term
This method keeps everyone in line but doesn't impose strict deadlines
Prioritization
In the realm of product management, prioritization constitutes a significant aspect of his / her responsibilities. In the current agile world, prioritization is done on the go.
Prioritization Methods
1. Assumption Testing
Prioritize by using risky assumptions first.
- Assumptions rating (1 - 10): 10 being riskiest
- Importance rating (1-10): 10 being Very Important
- Add the value and prioritize accordingly.
2. BUC Method
Business Benefits (1 to 10)
User Benefits (1 to 10)
Cost (1 to 10)
Score = B + U - C
3. MOSCOW Method
Must - things you have to build
Could
Should
Would
4. Value vs Complexity Quadrant
5. Weighted Scoring
Product managers can foster more productive discussions about what to include on the product roadmap by employing a scoring method to rank strategic initiatives and major features.
6. Kano Model
Customer delight versus product function.
7. Story Mapping
Ends.
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