Manage the Product Development Process

Create Project Blueprint

Criteria Meet Specification

The student will be able to define the tasks along with owners and corresponding milestone for the various stakeholders involved in the product launch
** Context Slide: 6** in the template

  • The link to the filled out Coordination Activities Map is added in the space provided on the template (ref. slide 7). If possible, a screenshot can also be pasted in the space provided on the template
  • Within the activities map in the Google sheets, each of the highlighted cells in table need to have an answer selected using the drop-down

Plan for sprint meeting

Criteria Meet Specification

The student will be able to prepare for a sprint planning meeting

  • Sprint Goal
  • Prioritized Backlog containing user stories with detailed acceptance criteria
    ** Context Slide: 9** in the template
  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in slide 10.
  • Clearly articulated the sprint’s goal for the scrum team to understand what is targeted to be accomplished in the upcoming sprint (limit to 2 sentences)
  • Listed 5 user stories related to the sprint goal described above in the prioritized order that the scrum team needs to develop in the upcoming sprint. Follow the format that was covered in Course 2 and showcased in the Context Slide 9 with an example.
  • Shared prioritization rationale to explain why you chose to build these five stories in the order you mention from your MVP scope (limit to 2 bullets)

The student will be able to write user stories that includes a detailed acceptance criteria (also called “definition of done”) which will be used to develop and test by the scrum team.
** Context Slide: 11** in the template

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in the User Story #1 (Slide 12) and User Story #2 (Slide 13)
  • Articulated acceptance criteria clearly such that it is easy to read, understand and yet comprehensive enough to ensure that the user story can be used to build and test.
    • Usability Requirements with link to design prototype or screenshots
    • Non-functional requirements should include at least the following minimum.
    • Boundary constraints that user story will support (e.g can user link multiple tracking devices to sync the same data simultaneously?)
    • Negative scenarios that the user story should fail (cannot provide fitness steps or calories in negative values, upper limit , lower limit etc)
    • Growth capacity (i.e load)
    • Platform such as browser, device, app store etc
    • Other non-functional requirements such as page performance, ADA compliance, policy and regulatory constraints, auditability, etc can be included if the student sees it fit
  • Shared assumptions made to include or not include some of the non-functional requirements as part of the acceptance criteria

Decoding API Documentation

Criteria Meet Specification

Student will be able to find the information they need to be aware of or learn more about in the technical documentation (e.g API documentation) and gain insights to refine solution and design (if needed) and identify a clear list of questions that aid feasibility discussion/decisions
Kaiser Permanente Project (slide 16)
DoorDash Project (slide 17)
LinkedIn Project (slide 18)
Amazon Project (slide 19)

  • Picked the scenario based on the project selected from Course 1 and followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information ( in slide 20)
  • Listed upto 2 design changes that they decided to explore based on the new information from API documentation
    • If there are no changes to be made, share rationale ( limit to 2 bullets)
  • Listed 2 questions to clarify with the engineering team to aid feasibility discussions and ensure design explorations are effective

Re-prioritize sprint backlog

Criteria Meet Specification

Student will be able to prioritize the issue using tactics learnt in the course and also close the communication loop with relevant team members and stakeholders
Context Slide - Landing Page too slow (slide 22)

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in the Landing Page too slow (slide 23)
  • Is data-oriented in analyzing a reported issue to understand the impact and determine the criticality (limit to 3 bullets)
  • Defined the issue priority and share rationale ( in 1 sentence)
  • Listed out the activities (upto 3) that will be carried out to reflect the priority wherever needed and closes the communication loop (e.g ticketing tool such as JIRA, communication channel such as Slack)
  • Listed additional steps to carry out if student determined that the issue cannot occur in the future again.

Student will be able to determine impact, criticality and prioritize the issue using tactics learned in the course and communication the priority to relevant stakeholders
Context Slide - Misaligned fields (slide 24)

  • Follow the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in the Misaligned Fields (slide 25)
  • Is data-oriented in analyzing a reported issue to understand the impact and determine the criticality (limit to 3 bullets)
  • Defined the issue priority and share rationale (in 1 sentence)
  • Listed out the activities (upto 3) that will be carried out to reflect the priority wherever needed and closes the communication loop(e.g ticketing tool such as JIRA, communication channel such as Slack)

Student will be able to determine impact, criticality and prioritize the issue using tactics learnt in the course and also follow-up on additional steps using a combination of email, ticket tracking and communication tools to ensure scrum team and relevant stakeholders are communicated clearly on what to expect next
Context Slide - Email from Customer Service (slide 26)

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information inResponse to Email (slide 27)
  • Is data-oriented in analyzing a reported issue to understand the impact and determine the criticality (limit to 3 bullets)
  • Defined the issue priority and share rationale (in 1 sentence)
  • Listed out the activities (upto 3) that will be carried out to reflect the priority wherever needed and closes the communication loop (e.g ticketing tool such as JIRA, communication channel such as Slack)

Handle potentially difficult situations

Criteria Meet Specification

Student will be able to determine how to understand and address unexpected requests and be creative if needed to setup the requestor for success
Context Slide (slide 29)

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in Respond to GM/CEO Email (slide 30)
  • Shared their approach to determine how to handle the request without disrupting the development (limit to 3 bullets)
  • Included their email response that focuses on addressing the requestor’s need along with clear instructions to have a successful demo(upto 6 lines)

Student will be able to identify situations where course-correction is needed and guide the necessary team members effectively by being objective and collaborative

Context Slide (slide 31)

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in Step-in and guide (slide 32)
  • Were you able to objectively convey the course-correction needed at this juncture clearly along with the reasons so that team member is focused on being solution-oriented and focuses on ‘what needs to be done next and by whom’? (video response is <2 minutes)
    • Unblocking situations often require multiple people to work together assistance and sometimes go above and beyond to get everyone over the finish line
    • Did your response cover all the topics that required course-correction (i.e back-end tickets and analytics tickets)
  • Do you sound collaborative (and not authoritative)?

Student will be able to identify a potential risk in the project progress and determine the various tasks that need to be coordinated to avoid the risk as much as possible. When the situation demands, PMs need to play multiple roles
Context Slide (slide 33)

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in Step-in and guide (slide 34)
  • Listed upto 3 activities that student will carry out /coordinate to unblock the scrum team immediately ?
  • Identified the different coordination and negotiation activities (upto 2 bullets) that students will need to carry out to de-risk the project due to sharing a team member
  • Listed the stakeholders that need to be informed of the potential risk
    • Highlighted the difference in the communication informing the potential risk and plan to address depending upto negotiation outcome (limit to 2 bullets to point out the differences)

Student will be able to handle unexpected feedback by being objective in feedback assessment and focusing on the problem that product is trying to solve to push back or drive consensus
Context Slide (slide 35)

  • Followed the guidelines suggested to provide the requested information in Handling stakeholder feedback (slide 36)
  • Listed questions (upto 3) that will be asked to understand the feedback and determine the next steps
  • Were you able to push-back by sharing your reasons clearly (video response is <2 minutes)
    • Do you sound collaborative (and not authoritative)?

Tips to make your project standout:

  1. In the Coordination Activities Map, additional tasks were identified and corresponding columns were also updated. Share rationale for the newly added tasks that explains its need in 2 sentences
  2. In the decoding API documentation exercise, list out the user stories with detailed usability acceptance criteria for the proposed design update
  3. In the Email Request from CEO exercise, these are sometimes the best opportunities for PMs to be creative and set someone to evangelize the product. Create a quick video that walks through the prototype you created to simulate the user-experience and enrich it further with your voice-over or an uplifting music!