Product Management
Manage features, requirements, priorities, and relationships.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for Product Management at each level of maturity.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Define a prioritization process.
- Outcome
- A prioritization process may not be used consistently.
- Metric
- Existence of a prioritization process.
- Practice
- Create a high-level solution feature roadmap for high-profile solutions.
- Outcome
- A basic roadmap may be inconsistently applied or not kept up-to-date.
- Metric
- Existence of a high-level solutions roadmap.
- Practice
- Ensure interaction between those prioritizing work, the teams delivering the solution, and users and other stakeholders during prioritization.
- Outcome
- There may be difficulties aligning the vision and progress of teams.
- Metric
- % of stakeholders involved in, and contributing to, a prioritization process.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Put in place well-defined and clearly understood criteria for prioritization.
- Outcome
- There is a prioritization plan in place.
- Metric
- # of agreed prioritization criteria.
- Practice
- Ensure that product owners/managers maintain an up-to-date roadmap for solution features and emphasise the importance of a user-focused service approach in their communication.
- Outcome
- A detailed roadmap, oriented around the user, is maintained and always up-to-date.
- Metrics
- Existence of an up-to-date, flexible features-level solutions roadmap.
- % of communications emphasising user-focused approach of the roadmap.
- % of solutions delivered as planned.
- Practice
- Ensure that product owners/managers interact regularly with the teams delivering solutions and have ongoing communication with key stakeholders.
- Outcomes
- Teams are aware of the priorities and progress.
- Stakeholders are aware of decisions and plans, which are communicated regularly with users and with technical and business stakeholders.
- Metrics
- % of stakeholders involved in, and contributing to, a prioritization process.
- % of priorities changed/refined due to stakeholder involvement.
- 4Advanced
- Practices
- Base prioritization on business metrics with business value/cost of delay attached.
- Ensure that prioritization recognizes the value of both functional and non-functional features/capabilities.
- Outcome
- Stakeholders are agreed on a prioritization plan.
- Metric
- % of prioritized work with business value metrics attached.
- Practice
- Ensure that product owners/managers maintain and communicate high-level long-term and detailed short-term views of the solution feature roadmap.
- Outcome
- All stakeholders are aware of and have visibility on the roadmap, including a detailed view of planned short-term releases.
- Metrics
- Existence of an up-to-date, flexible features-level solutions roadmap.
- % of communications emphasising user-focused approach of the roadmap.
- % of solutions delivered as planned.
- Practice
- Ensure that communication and interactions with distributed delivery teams and stakeholders (technical and business) are effective and frequent.
- Outcome
- The vision and progress of teams with respect to prioritization is aligned and stakeholders are continually updated.
- Metrics
- % of stakeholders involved in, and contributing to, a prioritization process.
- % of priorities changed/refined due to stakeholder involvement.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Ensure that the prioritization process includes accommodation of experimental, innovative, and ongoing improvement.
- Outcome
- Prioritization is highly effective.
- Metric
- % of prioritized work with business value metrics attached.
- Practice
- Ensure that solution roadmaps facilitate dynamic interactions with internal and external stakeholders to garner innovation and improvement feedback.
- Outcome
- All stakeholders have visibility on, and the opportunity to contribute to, the solution feature roadmap.
- Metrics
- Existence of an up-to-date, flexible features-level solutions roadmap.
- % of communications emphasising user-focused approach of the roadmap.
- % of solutions delivered as planned.
- Practice
- Ensure that prioritization is an ongoing activity and a transparent, dynamic, and inclusive approach is used to prioritize needs.
- Outcomes
- There is an optimal prioritization process in place that is responsive to emerging and changing market needs and to changing technologies and value propositions.
- Stakeholders have access to evolving prioritization plans, decisions and impacts via multiple communication channels.
- Metrics
- % of stakeholders involved in, and contributing to, a prioritization process.
- % of priorities changed/refined due to stakeholder involvement.