Skip to main content

How to plan a feature release as a Product Owner in an Agile team?

[PLACEHOLDER]

One of the questions that are often presented to a Product Owner is “When will a feature XYZ be ready for the customer?”. In this article I will walk through the process of planning and estimating a feature release in an Agile software development process. 

Let’s assume the Agile team is working on a customer lifecycle management product. The next increment for the product is to support a new communication channel like SMS. The business stakeholders identified this feature as a key differentiator from the competitors. According to the business stakeholders the release of this feature is time sensitive and consequently they would like to know when the feature will be available for the customers. This time-to-market information will be used to plan marketing campaigns to create awareness of the feature. Therefore as a Product Owner it's very important to plan and estimate a new feature. The following three steps outlines how a product feature release can be planned and estimated: 


Step 1: Identify the user stories to complete the feature
The Product Owner and the scrum team must brainstorm the user stories to complete the feature. At the end of this process the Product Owner must have a set of clearly defined user stories in the product backlog. Given that the feature is of high priority these user stories must be stacked at the top of the prioritized product backlog. This will ensure that the Scrum team creates the Sprint backlog with the user stories related with the new feature. 

The Product Owner must also collaborate with the Scrum team to estimate the level of effort required to complete each user story. The level of effort can be captured as story points.

The screen shot below describes how the user stories related to the feature is prioritized in the product backlog.

story-backlog-flow
by Beolle.com


Step 2: Use feature release map to plan and estimate
Let’s assume the Scrum team works in a 2 week sprint and can deliver on average 15 story points per sprint (this is also known as sprint velocity).  The Product Owner can map the user stories from the prioritized product backlog as shown below to estimate the number of sprints it may take to complete the feature. The screen shot below describes how the prioritized user stories can be mapped onto future sprints to estimate the feature release. In the example below the Product Owner can estimate 3 sprints (i.e. 6 weeks) to deliver the new communication channel feature.  

sprint-points
by Beolle.com

Step 3: Maintain the feature release map
The Product Owner must update the feature release map at the end of each sprint to reflect any changes to the prioritized product backlog. This may be necessary if the scrum team discovers new information that may result in additional user stories. The Product Owner can then use the feature release map to check the status of the feature development. The feature release map can also be used to collaborate with the scrum team to identify creative approaches to meet the estimated feature release timeline.

In conclusion a feature release map is a very helpful tool for a Product Owner to plan, estimate and manage a new feature release. The map can be created using easily available tools like Microsoft Word, Visio, Lucidchart, etc. However there are dedicated tools like FeatureMap that can also be used to map user stories.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Image credit:
The thumbnail image of this article is by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash
Anonymous

Trending posts

Democratizing AI

Democratizing AI is all about empowering others to use it, by making it available to them. Audiences, such as marketers in a company, will be able to access AI capabilities as part of their MarTech solutions, without the need of being technical. It could also be schools, where the younger generations are learning how to use it in responsible, secure, innovative, and creative ways. This is the year where companies, after discovery phases and teams experimenting, are looking to activate and take advantage of the AI advances. Generated with Microsoft Designer   And so, questions emerge, such as “What to democratize when leveraging AI?” There are common scenarios, as well as specific ones, that will depend on the company, and the industry they belong to. A common scenario, seen in many industries, when democratizing data is the data visualization and reporting . In digital marketing, as an example, data scientists and data analysts can automate reporting, making them available to the c...
Read more

Productivity framework for 2024

Recently I was at a Christmas party and I found myself giving advice to a friend on being more productive. I shared the approaches that I take which helped me become more productive at work and in my personal life. The conversation with my friend inspired me to share my approaches in this blog .  Photo by Moose Photos from Pexels   My productivity framework has five key pillars and to remember them I use the mnemonic, POFOR = P lan your tasks, O rganize yourself, F ocus on your tasks, O ptimize yourself with habits and R eflect to ensure you are being productive on the right tasks. Plan Planning is very crucial as it sets the tone for the rest of the pillars. I always found I was more productive when I planned my tasks compared to when I didn’t, and hence planning has become my rule of thumb. I recommend taking 30 minutes at the end of each day to plan your next day. This means prioritizing your tasks and blocking your calendar accordingly. By not doing so, you are at risk o...
Read more

Effective framework to resolve conflict in the Workplace

 Conflicts are a part of our daily lives and are often unavoidable at work. Therefore, it's essential to have the tools to effectively manage conflicts and leverage them to our advantage - to spur new ideas, challenge and strengthen our beliefs, and evolve our perspectives when necessary. However, conflicts often trigger our fight-or-flight response and can cause chronic stress and mental fatigue and diminish our productivity. Having the right tools can help us face conflicts confidently.  AI Generated with Microsoft Copilot + Designer by Beolle   Recently, I took a course from Harvard ManageMentor® * to enhance my conflict resolution skills. I summarized the key takeaways from the course in the framework below to help you better prepare for resolving conflicts. The framework consists of six (6) parts Identify the type of conflict   Identify your own and your counterpart's conflict styles   Determine how you want to address the conflict   Prepare to resolve...
Read more

AI Agents is the new thing to talk about

Tech is evolving faster than ever in this AI era, that it feels every week there is something new to talk about, and what you learn weeks back is no longer relevant, or “that AI tools” already has gone through changes that you need to catch up with in order to stay relevant.  Fear not, embrace the challenges and learnings, and find applications for it that are good and ethical for this present, and the hereafter.  The new “craze” is AI agents, and for good reason!  Image generated with NightCafe In contrast with AI chatbots, an AI agent can execute tasks on your behalf. If you are thinking “ that this could be agents that we leave running independently for many days for a group of deliveries ”… Well then you are correct! Are there risks? Should we talk about trust and accountability? The answer for both is yes. I already hinted at it a couple of paragraphs above, when I wrote “ good and ethical ”. AI (Artificial Intelligence) agents are software that work autonomously,...
Read more

This blog uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. Simple analytics might be in place for pageviews purposes. They are harmless and never personally identify you.

Agreed