The adoption of agile methodologies doesn't come without its pitfalls. Two of them can be the uncontrolled growth of the backlog and the lack of capacity to determine how much effort is necessary for a certain feature to attain its business goals. To escape from these traps and change the focus from isolated work items to business goals to be attained, we propose the use of a technique called Goal-Based Prioritization.

1. Lourenço P. Soares | Alexandre Klaser
Goal-based Priorization

2. Backlog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toiletqueue/

3. Backlog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/herby_fr/

5. Ok, but...

6. Ok, but...
...if there’s no backlog,
what is there?

7. Effort aligned
to business
goals

8. Effort aligned
to business
goals
Independent
streams of
work

9. Just enough
to meet the
goal
Effort aligned
to business
goals
Independent
streams of
work

10. Recaptulando...

11. What’s the expected result when we
implement a given functionality?
How can we guarantee we are doing what
must be done?
Effort aligned to business goals
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morganhh/

13. Once upon a time...

20. What to do when a hypothesis is wrong or
cannot be validated?
How to prioritize streams of work and maintain
business alignment?
Independent streams of work
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elsie/

21. Multiple hypothesis

22. Prioritized by value
Business Value
Uservalue
Low
Low
High
High

23. Prioritized by value
Business Value
Uservalue
Low
Low
High
High

24. Prioritized by value
Business Value
Uservalue
Low
Low
High
High

25. Prioritized by value
Business Value
Uservalue
Low
Low
High
High

26. How to validate a hypothesis with the least
possible effort?
How to avoid that dependency between
stories prevent progress in small increments?
Just enough to meet the goal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/

27. I ndependent
N egotiable
V aluable
E estimable
S mall
T estable

28. I ndependent
N egotiable
E estimable
S mall
V aluable
T estable

29. N egotiable
E estimable
V aluable
T estable
I ndependent
S mall

30. Hypothesis are like onions

31. Kano Model
Implementation
Satisfaction
Basic
met ≠ not met = 
Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model

32. Kano Model
Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model
Performance
met = not met = 
Basic
met ≠ not met = 
Implementation
Satisfaction

33. Kano Model
Excitement
met = not met ≠ 
Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model
Performance
met = not met = 
Basic
met ≠ not met = 
Implementation
Satisfaction

36. Levels of attainment of goalsProvide
Basic mechanics
It is impossible to know if it is doable
before validating this much
You need to know it to use it

37. Levels of attainment of goalsProvide
Basic mechanics
It is impossible to know if it is doable
before validating this much
You need to know it to use it
“It’s a proof of concept... Without
this, the experience is broken... I
would never go live with only
this...”

39. Levels of attainment of goals
Basic functionality
Meets user needs
Anyone with minimum knowledge
should be able to use it
ProvideSatisfy
Basic mechanics
It is impossible to know if it is doable
before validating this much
You need to know it to use it
“It’s a proof of concept... Without
this, the experience is broken... I
would never go live with only
this...”

40. Levels of attainment of goals
Basic functionality
Meets user needs
Anyone with minimum knowledge
should be able to use it
ProvideSatisfy
Basic mechanics
It is impossible to know if it is doable
before validating this much
You need to know it to use it
“It’s a proof of concept... Without
this, the experience is broken... I
would never go live with only
this...”
“All of our competitors have it... I
would expect it to work... It’s
something even my mom would
understand...”

42. Levels of attainment of goals
Basic functionality
Meets user needs
Anyone with minimum knowledge
should be able to use it
Diferentiating proposition
Only the main features of the
product should be at this level
Draw users to the product
ProvideSatisfyExcel
Basic mechanics
It is impossible to know if it is doable
before validating this much
You need to know it to use it
“It’s a proof of concept... Without
this, the experience is broken... I
would never go live with only
this...”
“All of our competitors have it... I
would expect it to work... It’s
something even my mom would
understand...”

43. Levels of attainment of goals
Basic functionality
Meets user needs
Anyone with minimum knowledge
should be able to use it
Diferentiating proposition
Only the main features of the
product should be at this level
Draw users to the product
ProvideSatisfyExcel
Basic mechanics
It is impossible to know if it is doable
before validating this much
You need to know it to use it
“It’s a proof of concept... Without
this, the experience is broken... I
would never go live with only
this...”
“All of our competitors have it... I
would expect it to work... It’s
something even my mom would
understand...”
“Only your product does this...
Makes me come back time and
time again... Everyone is talking
about it...”

45. Deming Cycle
PLAN
DO
CHECK
ACT

46. Prioritized hypothesis
Business Value
Uservalue
Low
Low
High
High

47. Priority MatrixProvideSatisfyExcel

48. Now add storiesProvideSatisfyExcel

49. Priority MatrixProvideSatisfyExcel
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story

50. A real-world example

51. Consuming stories
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
ProvideSatisfyExcel

52. Consuming stories
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
ProvideSatisfyExcel

53. Consuming stories
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
ProvideSatisfyExcel

54. ProvideSatisfyExcel Consuming stories
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story

55. Identifying scope creep
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
ProvideSatisfyExcel

56. ProvideSatisfyExcel Identifying scope creep
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story

57. Small finite increments
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
ProvideSatisfyExcel

58. Small finite increments
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story 
ProvideSatisfyExcel

59. Small finite increments
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story 

ProvideSatisfyExcel

60. ProvideSatisfyExcel Small finite increments
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story 


61. ProvideSatisfyExcel Small finite increments
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story
Story
Story Story
Story
Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story Story
Story
Story Story Story Story 


62. It works in practice…

63. The whole team using the board
“It helps a great deal when finding
the most important stories”

64. Recaptulando...
Questions,
Comments,
Suggestions?
lous@thoughtworks.com
about.me/lous
aklaser@thoughtworks.com
@alklaser

65. Recaptulando...
Further reading
Beyond Good Enough – Darius Kumana (bit.ly/darius_bge)
Systemico Model – Barry O’Rilley & Lourenço P. Soares (bit.ly/systemico)
Kano Model – Jason Mesut (bit.ly/kano_model)
Replacing Requirements with Hypotheses– Josh Seiden (bit.ly/josh_hdd)
INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks – Bill Wake (bit.ly/invest_stories)
lous@thoughtworks.com
about.me/lous
aklaser@thoughtworks.com
@alklaser