How do we prioritize features and capabilities in Agile?
For most Agile teams, the prioritization of features and capabilities is first encountered in the sprint planning event. A practical approach to prioritization is to perform prioritization at primarily three different levels of planning:
Product Strategy Prioritization is for strategic planning and creating a product roadmap, story map, or both. At the Product Strategy level, the Product Owner and Business Analyst assign high-level GOALS to a release. Each release has a goal of high-level capabilities and features.
At this level, detailed capabilities and features are not assigned to a specific sprint. It also does not set dates for releases or sprints. Ideally, capabilities are assigned to releases without dates assigned. If pushed, Product Owners and Business Analysts can assign releases to Quarters for a specific year (examples: Q1 2022, Q2 2022, Q3 2022).
Utilizing the Agile Vision Board helps create a Product Roadmap and Agile Story Map for prioritization at this level.
Product Backlog Prioritization occurs are part of backlog refinement. At the Product Backlog level, the Product Owner and/or Business Analyst assign acceptance criteria (the "What") for a card or user story. They are also splitting and combining cards as needed to organize stories and prepare them for sprints.
The entire team participates in Product Backlog refinement after some initial analysis and organization of user stories by the Product Owner and Business Analyst.
This level does NOT assign capabilities or features to a specific sprint. Sprint Planning will assign capabilities and features to a sprint. Here the product backlog is prioritized based on the product roadmap, stakeholder's needs, and stakeholder expectations with additional input from the team.
Utilizing the Product Roadmap and Agile Story Map helps easily create a product backlog. Traceability back to the Agile Vision Board, Product Roadmap, and Agile Story Map is recommended to avoid losing capabilities or features and maintaining alignment.
Sprint Backlog Prioritization is part of sprint planning where user stories or cards for the NEXT sprint are agreed upon by the team, thus prioritizing the cards that will be delivered next. Prioritization at this level is more detailed with more team input into the prioritization.
Once the sprint is planned, the Product Owner and/or BusinessHow do we prioritize features and capabilities in Agile? Analyst reviews the product roadmap to see how close the team is to completing the capabilities and features scheduled for the release. Suppose a timeframe for the release was established, and you will not deploy all the capabilities expected in that release. In that case, it is essential to reset stakeholders' expectations when those missing capabilities and features are being delivered.
Utilizing the Product Backlog helps create the sprint backlog. Traceability back to the Agile Vision Board, Product Roadmap, Agile Story Map, and Product Backlog is recommended to avoid losing or "gold-plating" capabilities.
