Technical, User eXperience and Business Review
22 February 2022
This page is part of The Lean Inception article series
Discover the Features lists many features, but we need to spend more time to understand the features in more detail. To develop this understanding we assess the features in terms of effort, value, and uncertainty.
In this exercise we annotate the feature canvas that we developed during Discover the Features
Explaining the exercise for a client
How we do it
For effort, user and business value, we annotate the features using marks on a scale of one two or three.
Ranking uncertainty is a little more tricky. We rate a feature for its technical certainty (how well the development team understands HOW to build the feature) and its business and usage certainty (how well the User eXperience and the business people agree on WHAT goes into the feature). Then we use the two ratings and combine them using the table to come up with an overall level of uncertainty: red (high), yellow (medium), and low (green). If a feature falls into the lower left part of the table (marked with an “X”) then the feature is not suitable for the MVP.
All the features are annotated with the result of this analysis. So for this example the feature “estimate price” has a medium effort, high business value, low user experience value, and medium uncertainty.
At the end of the exercise, we should have a feature canvas with fully annotated features
The process of taking each feature through these two graphs generates much more than the colors and the markings on each card. Important technical conversations about the feature take place, such as: architecture, cross-functional requirements, and complexity. Assumptions are defined. Uncertainties are described. As usual with this kind of activity, the conversation and the understanding it generates for those taking part matters more than the final output.
Many of these notes contain extra information about the feature that may be needed later. These might be important and we don´t want to lose them, therefore we write down everything about the feature on post-its, and then stick them behind the index card.
| morning | afternoon | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Introduce the inception, kick off, and Write the Product Vision | The product Is – Is not – Does – Does not |
| Tuesday | Describe the Personas | Discover the Features |
| Wednesday | Technical, User eXperience and Business Review | Show the User Journeys |
| Thursday | Display Features in Journeys | Sequence the Features |
| Friday | Build the MVP Canvas | Showcase the results of the inception to those interested in the project |
This page is an activity of The Lean Inception, for an overview go to the main page.
For more details on how to run a workshop, consult the book.