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More Clarity, Less Noise
by Rick Pollick
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2024
3 minUnveiling the Mysteries of the Product Brief & Product Requirements Documents
Hey there! If you've ever found yourself in the throes of product development, you've likely heard about product briefs and Product Requirement Documents (PRDs). Both sound pretty official, but they're not just fancy jargon to throw around in meetings to sound smart. These tools are crucial in the journey from "Hey, I've got an idea!" to "Wow, we actually made this!" So, let's break down what a product brief is, how it's different from a PRD, and why it's an unmissable tool in your product devel
20 minMembersUsing Value Drivers to Prioritize Business Initiatives
Prioritizing initiatives based on value drivers is crucial for the business to align organizational efforts with strategic goals, ensure efficient allocation of resources, and foster objective decision-making. This approach, when coupled with a focus on value streams, enhances transparency and accountability within the organization, facilitates better risk management, and encourages continuous improvement.By focusing on what drives value, the business can make more informed decisions, optimize i
3 minWhy Agile Terminology Might Just Be Overhyped Jargon
Hey there, fellow project enthusiasts and management aficionados! Today, let's dive into a hot topic that's been buzzing around the water cooler and cluttering up our LinkedIn feeds: the world of Agile terminology. Now, before you grab your pitchforks or start furiously typing a defense of your beloved Scrum Master certification, hear me out. This isn't a takedown of Agile methodologies per se—they've revolutionized the software development world and beyond for a reason. Instead, let's chat abou
5 minWhy Product Demos Can Make or Break Your Success
Hey there! So, you’ve got this killer product, right? You believe it’s the solution everyone’s been waiting for, the answer to unasked questions, the key to unlock untapped potential. But here’s the kicker: no matter how groundbreaking your product is, if people don’t understand or see its value, it might as well be a paperweight. This is where the humble product demo steps into the limelight, not just as a feature of your sales strategy but as the heart of it. Let’s dive into the magical world
2021
2 minMaintaining the Flow Gates
WIP limits and the idea swarming around completing original commitments ARE compatible with the desire to promote continuous “flow”. Limits help promote focus on planned work (aside from things like hotfixes or emergencies) by setting “gates” to when work can be pulled into a sprint. That focus alleviates bottlenecks, identifies true throughput, and gives a more complete picture to what a team can do.For example, Team X was pulling in an average of ~75% scope increase halfway through their sprin
3 minAutomate Jira — Change your life.
Automation can be a powerful tool to leverage within a scrum team. Atlassian’s Jira automation can be used in a myriad of ways to keep things organized and reduce the time-cost of manually making associations or status changes within the Jira.This is a link to Atlassian’s documentation on automation: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/expand-jira/automationLet’s take a look at three common automation types that can be incredibly useful to a team:1. Updating the Fix Version (Release V
6 minEverything Is Made Up… and The Points Don’t Matter
What are metrics?Metrics, as they pertain to businesses or projects, can be defined as: “STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT BY WHICH EFFICIENCY, PERFORMANCE, PROGRESS, OR QUALITY OF A PLAN, PROCESS, OR PRODUCT CAN BE ASSESSED.” — businessdictionary.comInterestingly, the use of the term “metrics” has increased rapidly, after the 1950’s. Does that mean that, as a whole, people have suddenly begun to standardize measurements of efficiency and success? — Yes and No.Yes, standardization has become more common
3 minFinding The Right Agile Framework
There are 50+ different agile frameworks of varying popularity and many questions about them.