Stories

The JTBD Framework: Jobs To Be Done

The JTBD (Jobs To Be Done) Framework provides support for defining, categorizing, capturing and organizing all customers' needs. The ideal state is that the user needs are in the focus of the product development and not the product or product feature. In my work as a Product Owner I am supporting this kind of thinking. Two things are essential: First, a repeating quantitative survey has to be executed to define and prioritize the JTBDs according to the highest importance and the lowest degree of fulfillment which results in the highest opportunity. Second, the JTBDs with the highest opportunity are the ones where product development should focus on and moreover have to be measured regularly e.g. with 1-5 ratings by the user. If a new feature for a JTBD is released, the user ratings should show a positive impact.

How to steer a product (development) as a product owner

As a product owner you work very closely with the development team to create a product that fits perfectly to your customers’ expectations. At the beginning it is hard to know where to start and where to go to which is crucial to know, because the product owner has to lead the development team in this matter. In the following story I want to explain some helpful concepts that could make life easier for the product owner, especially in the beginning.

Top Ten Meanest Scrum Anti-Patterns

There is a lot of discussion around what is part of Scrum, what is not part of Scrum, etc. that goes mostly very much into details. Whereas most of the time the obvious things are not done correctly when doing or using Scrum. The 10 meanest anti-patterns by Scrum trainer Stefan Wolpers are a good way to look at the big picture of Scrum.

Global State of Agile Report

We all work in professional bubbles, in this case in agile bubbles, where we know the company's agile setup, some colleagues that practice agile in other organizations and of course books and papers related to agile knowledge. But I was always curious how is that practice really used, how many companies struggle with the adoption of agile frameworks in the world and which framework is really trending. I found all answers to my curiosity at the annually published "State of Agile" reports. Really beneficial is the indication of the development compared to last year, so that you can interpret tendencies where the agile world is moving towards in the future. I am looking forward to the 15th edition of this report coming out in the next weeks. Stay tuned.

Agile Explained for Management

Agile product (or project) development has proven beneficial compared to classic waterfall approaches, at least when technology and/or requirements are not known in advance in every detail (complicated or complex environments).

Poka Yoke

As I love to design efficient, user-friendly systems the goal is to make these systems bullet proof. I was not aware that there is a professionel term for this. Poka Yoke or Baka Yoke is Japanese and means to error-proof a system. Especially if someone is using a system for the first time and it has to function, error-proofing is critical. This way of designing systems is part of the continouos improvement mindset and so forth part of the lean management spirit. Poka Yoke examples are as folllows:

How to do Change Management Right?

I've seen many IT projects where new systems were introduced in an organization. Unfortunately, mostly there was no budget and/or no willingness for change management initiatives accompanying an IT project. But if you do consider it, think about options how to enable people to adapt to the change. There are many things to consider, and so many things could go wrong. The matrix above is a good overview which areas have to be considered to not only have a working IT system, but also people who uses it, people know why to use it, and at best, people like to use it.

Any successful change management intiative needs to provide the people with a vision, they have to develop the according skills, should know why the change is good and/or is beneficial for them, people should have the time to adapt to the change and of course there has to be an action plan to accompany that change.

How to Practice Agile Methods with Shu-Ha-Ri

A question that arises very quickly when an organization is confronted the first time with agile frameworks like Scrum is: Why can't we adapt the framework for our needs? Basically this desire is understandable, but also wrong with sometimes fatal consequences. Agility is nothing that can be learned by just reading a book, or doing it for only one day. It is something that has to be experienced and practiced by repition over a longer time period. The best timing for adaptions or variantions is never at the beginning. The basic principle behind this is "Shu-Ha-Ri".

How to Prioritize Product Features

Prioritization can be a mess in complex business and/or technology ecosystems within organizations. Due to a lack of resources new features for systems demanded by various stakeholders in organiatzion are sometimes overwhelming to manage. The question why the desired feature is still not implemented arises very quickly and has to be answered in one or another way. A transparent and effective prioritization system is at some point inevitable in the context of expectation management.

Agile Grundlagen

Ich habe seit über 10 Jahren mit dem Thema Agilität in Theorie und Praxis zu tun. In dieser Zeit habe ich so viele Mythen, Vorurteile und Klischees über agiles Arbeiten gehört, dass es für mich an der Zeit ist ein paar Zeilen über dieses Thema zu schreiben. Ich werde nicht besonders ins Detail gehen, sondern mich an den grundlegenden Prinzipien und Grundhaltungen von Agilität orientieren, um eine Übersicht über das Thema zu erlangen.

XXXL Digital at XXXLutz - A Short Retrospect

Unfortunately, in my time at in the digital departmment - xxxldigital - of one of the largest furniture companies in the world the negative experiences overshadowed the positive ones. In general, there was a lack of employee orientation in the sense of focusing on their strengths instead of their weaknesses, a lack of process, structure and strategy in the department as well as in the entire organization, a lack of IT competences in general and sadly also a lack of leadership skills at all.

PIG - The Process Innoation Group at XXXL Digital

At my department "XXXL Digital we are working on the eCommerce system for the three brands "Mömax", "Möbelix" and "XXXLutz" in Austria and several more European countries. The eCommerce ecosystem has grown for over fire years with hundreds of eCommerce members involved. Although the software development is agile, the phases before - requirements definition, prioritization and concept - are done in a waterfall manner. This has many reasons, but the major effect is that the output in the software is very often not the initial requirement of the stakeholder or the customer. This is the reason why some of my colleagues and myself are working on a solution that I want to share with you.