Software Product Management Consultancy Report Feedback

Lecture 15 Garm Lucassen Sjaak Brinkkemper 3 October 2014

Agenda

•  General remarks

•  Structure •  Maturity level

•  Conclusion

•  Maturity matrix visualization

General feedback (1)

•  Some big opportunities for improvement!

•  Carefully read the assignment

•  Target audience: case company •  Methods/tools/practices to reach the capabilities

•  Compare your results to the benchmark?

General feedback (2)

•  Copying pictures is OK (BCG Matrix)

•  High quality

•  Reference

•  Includes name / copyright of rightful owner

General feedback (3): Feasibility

•  Some reports suggest that product managers should implement all capabilities… –  Is this really feasible? –  Better to focus on a few capabilties

•  Elaborate on your recommendation

•  IMPORTANT: executives are lazy –  Provide actionable advice –  “Implement some sort of requirements prioritization

method” is NOT OK –  What method/tool/practice do YOU recommend?

Structure (1)

•  Some of you have very good structures! •  Others need improvement…

Structure (2)

•  Include an introductory paragraph that actually mentions what is the desired maturity level for the company, taking into account the current status and situational factors.

•  Think about where you think the company should be in 1-3 years from now.

•  Use this to select the capabilities that need to be implemented.

•  Give a roadmap on how to implement the capabilities: where should the company start? Which capabilities come later? Define this order by looking at how alignment can be reached in the maturity matrix, or by using the situational factors.

Structure (3)

•  Make your report easy to read •  Don’ts: long pieces of text, with hardly any paragraphs and

headings •  Do’s: Bullets, paragraphs, text boxes that summarize the

main issues, etc.

Structure (4)

•  Many reports suddenly end

•  Include a conclusion at the end

•  Comparable to executive summary, but retrospective

•  Present –  Most important analyses –  Your advice –  Expected impact –  What is next?

Maturity Level (1)

•  “The overall SPM maturity of company X is 1. For a further specification, see table 1.”

MATURITY  LEVEL:    Requirements  mangement   1  Release  management   2  Roadmap  management   2  Por=olio  management   3  Overall   1  

Table 1. Maturity level per business function

Maturity Level (2)

•  It is not necessary to give the overall maturity level to the company, especially when it is really low

•  It is useful to point out which business functions score high and which ones score low –  In that order

•  Rather than pointing out the low score: focus on the improvement opportunities

•  Also mention the strenghts of the company (regarding SPM)

Maturity Matrix Visualization

•  There are different ways to include the maturity matrix •  Some people just take a screenshot from the Excel file and

copy paste this à this is not the right way

Visualization 1 No info on the positions of the

capabilities

Visualization 2 A bit better, but no clear “maturity

profile”

Visualization 3 Better, but why use the grey

shading?

Visualization 4 Maturity Process 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Requirements management Requirements gathering A B C D E F Requirements identification A B C D Requirements organizing A B C Release planning Requirements prioritization A B C D E Release definition A B C D E Release definition validation A B C Scope change management A B C D Build validation A B C Launch preparation A B C D E F Product planning Roadmap intelligence A B C D E Core asset roadmapping A B C D Product roadmapping A B C D E Portfolio management Market analysis A B C D E Partnering & contracting A B C D E Product lifecycle management A B C D E

Clear maturity profile, easy

identification of weak spots

Visualization 5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

RM1. Requirements gathering A B C D RM2. Requirements identification A B C RM3. Requirements organizing A B C RP1. Requirements prioritization A B C D RP2. Requirements selection A B C D RP3. Release definition A B C RP4. Release validation A B C D RP5. Launch preparation A B C RP6. Scope change management A B C PR1. Theme identification A B C PR2. Core asset identification A B C PR3. Roadmap construction A B C PM1. Market trend identification A B C PM2. Partnering & contracting A B C PM3. Product lifecycle management A B C PM4. Product line identification A B C

Or use your own colors / layout so

it fits in your report

Visualization 6 Maturity Process 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Requirements management Requirements gathering A B C D E F Requirements identification A B C D Requirements organizing A B C Release planning Requirements prioritization A B C D E Release definition A B C D E Release definition validation A B C Scope change management A B C D Build validation A B C Launch preparation A B C D E F Product planning Roadmap intelligence A B C D E Core asset roadmapping A B C D Product roadmapping A B C D E Portfolio management Market analysis A B C D E Partnering & contracting A B C D E Product lifecycle management A B C D E

Use the grey color to ‘disable’ capabilities. Example: RG-F

can be disabled if the company has no partners.

Your turn

•  Write your name on the printed out feedback

•  Exchange your feedback with the other teams

•  Next 10-15 minutes –  Read the feedback –  Prepare questions for reviewer

Questions?