Where to start · Functional aspect · Objectives and priorities
Are we building the right thing?
Before investing in development, we line up the problem, the value and the priorities. You come out with a defensible direction and an ordered backlog.
10 daysdelivery from kickoff
When you need it
- You are about to launch a new product and there are many opinions on what to do first.
- An existing product is changing direction and not everyone agrees on which.
- The backlog has grown beyond anyone's ability to prioritise it.
- There is strong pressure to develop features requested by individual customers.
- The product is out but it is not generating the value you expected.
- You have to decide on a major investment and you need something to bring to the board.
What we answer
- What problem you are actually solving, and for whom.
- What solving it is worth, in terms your management accounting recognises.
- Which features bring most of that value, and which bring almost none.
- What the stakeholders agree on, and what they believe they agree on without actually doing so.
- Which assumptions you are taking for granted without having checked them.
What we do
- We map the stakeholders and collect, separately, their version of the problem.
- We reconstruct the real context of use: who uses what, when, and with what alternative today.
- We write a single problem statement and test it with the people we talked to.
- We estimate value, cost and return of the candidate features, with stated orders of magnitude.
- We build a reasoned priority list, and keep track of disagreements instead of smoothing them over.
What you receive
A document of about twenty pages. This is the actual table of contents, not an example.
- Problem statement and stakeholder map
- User needs and context of use
- Value map and expected business impact
- Features assessed by value and cost
- Proposed priorities, with the reasons
- Open conflicts and assumptions to check
- Recommendations and next step
The decision you will be able to make
Proceed · Change direction · Stop
Before spending more money on development.
And then?
If the direction is confirmed, the natural next step is the analysis of the solution, or directly a fixed-budget project to build the first version.
Format
- Investment
- A fixed, modest cost, agreed before starting.
- Delivery
- Ten days from kickoff. Kickoff within five working days of confirmation.
- Your time
- About 6 hours of your time in total, spread over three meetings.
- Scope included
- One product or product line, with up to eight stakeholders interviewed. Beyond this scope we agree an extension together before starting.
- For the ten days to be kept
- The agreed meetings take place within the window and access arrives by the second day. If something slips, we tell you straight away, not at the end.
It is an entry format at dedicated conditions, designed to get to know each other by working together. It is not our standard project rate.
What it is not
- It is not market research or a quantitative user survey.
- It does not produce specifications ready for development: those come later, if you decide to proceed.
- It does not decide for you. It lines up the elements so that you can decide.