Babushka of value

…product development, in the broadest sense.

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You want a sustainable, ever evolving flow of value creating activities. Flowing Products from Concept to Cash, a Value Stream Map Backbone.

Goals:

• maximize flow
• minimize transitions and boundaries—only introduce them when absolutely necessary
• maximum cohesion, minimal coupling (and dependencies)

Design Principles:

• done for upstream equals ready for downstream
• downstream defines interface for upstream in collaboration with upstream

Therefore:

Create and groom an ever evolving minimal set of quality filters in a value stream.

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In short:

Fix the process, not the people.

Each maturity level includes and transcends all previous levels, just like a babushka doll.

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PDF with example on the right.

Forces:

• flow to ready
• sprint to done
• ready for downstream equals done for upstream

Metaphore unto ready to build is the school system: Nursery School → Elementary School → High School → University.

In the right conditions and within constraints, items develop, unfold, mature in every phase until they are ready for the next. Items ready for the next phase are done in the current.

	Nursery School	Elementary School	Junior High School	University	Ready to Poker	Read to Build	Ready to Ship
Policy	Any input: wild ideas, brainwaves, anything.	Item matches product goals, as determined by product owner.	Item matches release goals.	Item is aligned with key stakeholders on features, functions and visuals.	definition of ready, except for planning poker.	See definition of ready.	ready to ship, a.k.a. definition of done.
Activities	Collect and maybe categorize input.	Analysts decompose. User Experience Expert researches context, characteristics and criteria. Business Analyst identifies business alignment needs.	Elaborate item details. Refine acceptance criteria to almost done. Start UE pre-work (wireframes, visual mocks, story boards). Review legal and compliance issues.	Identify candidates for Release Planning and Sprint Planning.	Estimate implementation effort. Converse and converge on significant estimation gaps.	Test design. Technical design, development and implementation. Integration. Architectural spikes. Technological spikes.	Hardening. Packaging. Publishing.

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