“We just need two more weeks ... again”

Background: The business folk in the company were complaining because every time they asked Product Delivery when something would be done, they were told ‘two more weeks’. They’d ask again, and were told ‘two more weeks’! There was a new product being developed with a strategic partner and there were grave concerns about being able to meet the joint launch dates.

Approach: We created a ‘team of teams’ with the three groups involved in the next new product release. We planned together, synchronised the work often and sought regular feedback from the Product Team and from target customers. But most importantly, we focused on the highest value items first and ruthlessly traded-off scope to ensure that at the end of each iteration, we could give the Product Team the option to release if they thought they had enough to go to market.

Outcome: We delivered the Minimum Viable Product in time for the beta release and had the second releasable set of features in time for the market launch.

“This is the best delivery I’ve seen in this place in 20 years!”— Product Manager