Presented at Phoenix Product Camp

1. Bets, Boards and Missions

2. @johncutlefish
cutle.fish

3. Last 12 months
100s of teams
Small changes, big impact (or fail gracefully)
Shared understanding & communication

4. The Team

5. 1. The messy middle
2. Framing bets
3. Explore “ownership” boundaries
4. Hack the language…
5. Designing the work taxonomy…
6A. Flattening the model…
6B. Layering in interventions and OKRs…
6C. A big, visual, hybrid board…

6. The messy middle…
1

7. 1-3h 1-3d 1-3w 1-3m 1-3q 1-3y 1-3decades
Sense
Respond

8. 1-3h 1-3d 1-3w 1-3m 1-3q 1-3y 1-3decades
Sense
Respond Messy Middle

9. Play the random Jira ticket game.
From a 1-3h “tasks” to a 1-3y
company bet in >3 steps

10. We’re working on that ticket to [the
mission of that ticket] to help us
[some higher level mission], which
will help us [some even higher level
mission], which will help us [some
even higher level mission]….
(repeating)

11. We’re working on Jira ticket ACT-1252 to
predictively auto-fill transaction details,
which will help us improve the efficiency
of the bank reconciliation workflow,
which will help us retain larger accounts
with in-house bookkeepers, which will
help us increase recurring revenue AND
will help us market to larger prospects
who we “lost” when they trialed the
reconciliation workflow

12. Which we believe will help us improve
the efficiency of the bank reconciliation
workflow by saving between 15 and 20
minutes to finish the process…
because we know 80% of customers
spend ~15 minutes per reconciliation
filling out data we have a 90%
probability of guessing accurately.

13. Framing things as bets…
2

14. Bets can be…
Big
Small
Risky
Safe
Prescriptive
Descriptive
Big batch
Increment friendly
Upfront gamble
Change bet over time
Networked/connected
Isolated

16. 1-3h
1-3d
1-3w
1-3m
1-3q
1-3y
1-3d

17. Write some BetLibs
Map some bets

18. http://tiny.cc/you-betcha

19. Explore “ownership” boundaries
3

20. A. Build exactly this [to a predetermined specification]
B. Build something that does [specific behavior, input-output,
interaction]
C. Build something that lets a segment of customers complete [some
task, activity, goal]
D. Solve this [more open-ended customer problem]
E. Explore the challenges of, and improve the experience for,
[segment of users/customers]
F. Increase/decrease [metric] known to influence a specific business
outcome
G. Explore various potential leverage points and run experiments to
influence [specific business outcome]
H. Directly generate [short-term business outcome]
I. Generate [long-term business outcome]

22. A B C D E F G H I
Dev
UX
PM
A. Build exactly this [to a predetermined
specification]
B. Build something that does [specific
behavior, input-output, interaction]
C. Build something that lets a segment of
customers complete [some task,
activity, goal]
D. Solve this [more open-ended customer
problem]
E. Explore the challenges of, and improve
the experience for, [segment of users/
customers]
F. Increase/decrease [metric] known to
influence a specific business outcome
G. Explore various potential leverage
points and run experiments to influence
[specific business outcome]
H. Directly generate [short-term business
outcome]
I. Generate [long-term business outcome]

23. A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
Team
PM
GM
Team
PM
VPoP
GM
Org 1 Org 2

24. Categorize a sample of work.
Make it visual.

25. A. Build exactly this [to a predetermined specification]
B. Build something that does [specific behavior, input-output,
interaction]
C. Build something that lets a segment of customers complete [some
task, activity, goal]
D. Solve this [more open-ended customer problem]
E. Explore the challenges of, and improve the experience for,
[segment of users/customers]
F. Increase/decrease [metric] known to influence a specific business
outcome
G. Explore various potential leverage points and run experiments to
influence [specific business outcome]
H. Directly generate [short-term business outcome]
I. Generate [long-term business outcome]

26. Hack the language…
4

27. Problems/Solutions
Projects
Experiments
“Done”
“Done”
Dependency Wrangling
Debt
Opportunities/Interventions
Missions
Bets
Decision Point
Review & Measurement
Playing Tetris
Drag

28. Catalog language in use.
Try subtle changes.

29. Designing the work taxonomy…
5

30. What must you
eventually know about
this work to make
good decisions at the
right cadence?

33. How does work appear in these queues?
How often? With advance notice? Who puts work in these queues?
Dependencies on other groups
Deadline? (real or not)
Cost of being late (or not delivering feature)
Size of effort
Expect impact of item
Ability to measure impact (and time)
Data on existing usage
Who is advocate? Who are stakeholders?
What is solution certainty? (range)
What is problem uncertainty?
Impacting current customers?
Type of design work
Core improvements
New feature development
Bandaids/fixes
Skills/functions required
Customer visibility
Collaboration model (e.g. contractor teams)
Urgency (P0, P1, P2)
Assumptions / beliefs
Learning goal? Permanence?
Risks willing to incur
Needed / caused by / blocked by tech debt
Background / prior story / veracity of data
Headwinds / blockers
Connected to core strategy?
Reactive vs proactive
Tech used
Org visibility
PIA factor / fun factor
Do not disturb - focus required
Solve tech debt / add new tech debt
When do you need to know the info?
Who needs to be around?
Tags V1 Vs.

34. “Got it! So we will have a PRD
template that EVERYONE needs to
fill in, and review it at each and
every handoff?”
Instead consider…

35. Shapes of work

36. Try a “design a one-pager”
exercise (or one-pager checklist)

37. Letter-to-the-future
One-Pagers and Kickoff “Decks”

38. Flattening the model…
6A

39. 3-9mo1-3y
Mid/Long
Term Value
North Star
Input
Input
Input
Health
Indicators
Level 1 BetsLevel 0 Bets
Value Creation Model
Beliefs, Assumptions, Strategy

40. Weekly Learning Users (WLUs)
# of Weekly Users who are active
and share a learning that is
consumed by at least 2 other people
in the previous 7 days.
Activated Accounts
Organizations that have reached at least 5
WLUs.
Broadcasted Learning (BL)
A chart, dashboard, or Notebook consumed by
2 or more people within a 7 day period.
Consumption of Learnings (CoL)
Total reach of BL in an organization within a 7
day period.

41. North Star workshop

42. Layering in interventions and OKRs…
6B

43. 3-9mo1-3y
Mid/Long
Term Value
North Star
Input
Input
Input
Health
Indicators
Level 1 BetsLevel 0 Bets
Value Creation Model
Beliefs, Assumptions, Strategy
Target Input(s)
Level 2 Bets
1-3mo

44. 3-9mo1-3y
Mid/Long
Term Value
North Star
Input
Input
Input
Health
Indicators
Level 1 BetsLevel 0 Bets
Value Creation Model
Beliefs, Assumptions, Strategy
Target Input(s)
Level 2 Bets
1-3mo
OKRs
Forecasted impact on input

45. Map work to Inputs.

46. A big, visual, hybrid board…
6C

47. Level 2 Bet
Target Input(s)
Level 3 Bet
Focus On
Next
To Try Trying Review
ReviewFocusing
To Try Trying Review
To Try Trying Review
Team A
Team B
Team C
1-3mo 1-3w
OKRs
Impact
on
Input
3-9mo1-3y
Mid/Long Term
Value North Star
Input
Input
Input
Health
Indicators
Level 1 BetsLevel 0 Bets
Value Creation Model
Beliefs, Assumptions, Strategy
3mo
Observe continuously, revisit periodically

49. North Star
1-3 year bets
Inputs
Focusing
Trying Review
Inputs
Inputs
Inputs

51. Get out that tape.
Get those magnets.

52. http://tiny.cc/hybrid-board

53. Questions