Focus On Commitments
The basis of trust between the customer and team is the making and fulfilling of mutual commitments. The customer commits to open discussion of needs and to accept challenge from the team in order to reach a shared understanding of those needs. The team commits to the customers’ priorities and to their delivery.
In a Nutshell
The customers and the team commit to each other at many different levels. At the highest level we have commitments established by any commercial agreement between the customers and the teams’ organisation. These high-level agreements need to be formed in a way that does not inhibit the continuous collaboration between customer and team on a day-by-day basis. We regularly review the status of the work and the commercial agreements to ensure that our commitments and our collaboration are in good shape.
At the Product level our highest level commitments surround the shared vision and strategy that guides the creation of our product. These commitments ultimately express the value that we contribute to the product. By understanding value, we gain an understanding of the purposes that help us stay committed to the work. By adhering to the commitments defined by the vision and strategy we fulfil those purposes.
On a working basis, the customers and the team continuously make and fulfil mutual commitments. These commitments are made and satisfied as a consequence of the working process that the customer and teams share. For example, in Scrum the outcome of sprint planning is a mutual commitment between the team and the customer to deliver the planned backlog items. The mutual component of the commitment is that the customer will accept the items if they are correctly validated at the end of the sprint. The outcome of the commitment is reviewed in the Sprint Review.
Implementing Practices
We work with our customers to identify the level of service they need in order to make continued use of our products and services. We identify the marginal level of service that will create the demand we are seeking. This level of service represents the lowest cost service option that will enable us to realise a viable number of customers and level of use.
Teams plan work to fill their short-term planning horizon. With a clear understanding of current priorities and the capacity of the team, work items are chosen to satisfy the forthcoming delivery goals. The team elaborates the plan as necessary to ensure that there is a shared understanding of the work that is required.
Teams plan work to fill their short-term planning horizon. With a clear understanding of current priorities and the capacity of the team, work items are chosen to satisfy the forthcoming delivery goals. The team elaborates the plan as necessary to ensure that there is a shared understanding of the work that is required.
Product Backlog Refinement is a Scrum activity that is performed on the Product Backlog. The scrum guide defines Product Backlog Refinement as the act of breaking down and further defining Product Backlog items into smaller more precise items. This is an ongoing activity to add details, such as a description, order, and size. Attributes often vary with the domain of work.
Sprint Planning is a Scrum event that is held before the start of the sprint to establish the scope and priorities of the coming sprint. Its purpose is for the whole team to establish an agreed sprint goal based on the Product Owner’s view of the value that can be created for the customer. To establish a scope of backlog items that can be got to done. For each backlog item the team decides how done will be achieved.
We work with customers to create commercial agreements that actively support our collaborative and experimental style of work. As the agreements are executed, we continuously work to ensure that mutual commitments are made and fulfilled. Working with the customer we review the progress of the work under the agreement. When necessary we collaborate to refresh the agreement to cover the changing circumstances.
The Product Roadmap provides a simple view of how the product will grow towards its vision. As a forward looking view, the roadmap does not set fixed priorities or deadlines. Rather it is a fluid view that evolves as our understanding of customers’ needs evolves. Roadmaps are influenced by concerns in addition to the customers’ needs. These may include our capability and capacity to deliver change and the business, financial and legal context in which our product operates.
The Product Strategy provides the route map to achieve the current vision. It describes how different aspects of the product will evolve to realise the vision. Aspects described in the strategy include features, qualities and technologies. Specific products may need additional aspects to be described within the overall product strategy.
The product vision gives us the point on the horizon that everyone involved in the product is aiming for. The vision is a shared point of view created by the organisation through an understanding of what its customers are demanding. The vision focuses on the why of the product. This is the organisation’s unique view of the services that will be provided that makes it compelling for customers to use.