When using Agile approaches, there is a desire to get our product ideas into the customer's hands as soon as possible. With this comes the risk that we rush in and build something which will not deliver genuine value to the business, or at least enough value to justify the investment. In this workshop you will take a real world idea from concept to cash. First, you and your team will use the simple and effective power of Lean Canvas to build a solid business case, and convince your executive (me) that your idea is a good use of company funds. Then your team will build a Story Map to quickly understand the capabilities you need to deliver first so your company can get beat its powerful competitors to market. Workshop Outcomes ✫ How to use Lean Canvas to quickly build a convincing business case to solve a valuable customer problem ✫ How to use Story Mapping to quickly and collaboratively prioritise key capabilities to deliver value to customers and the business in a short amount of time ✫ The power of collaboration and co-creation ✫ How much can be achieved in a very short time

2. Neil Killick, 2018 All Rights Reserved
From business case to
backlog using Lean Canvas
and Story Mapping
Neil Killick
neilkillick.com
@neil_killick

3. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
The world of work has changed, my
friends
Organisations are no longer willing
— and can’t afford to —
to wait months or years for ROI on their projects. There’s too much risk of
losing out to competitors and even risk of disruption.
We can’t spend weeks/months preparing business cases and going
through long approval cycles.
@neil_killick

4. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
We need a lightweight, fast way to understand
— and convince our sponsors that —
our idea has enough potential value
•Are we solving a real customer problem?
•Are we solving the most valuable customer problem?
•Can the cost to build and maintain a solution be absorbed and
make the endeavour profitable?
@neil_killick

5. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
@neil_killick

6. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Lean Canvas Exercise
Imagine a world without Spotify. Before (legally) streaming music was even a
thing.
You want to build a hot new music streaming platform, but need to
convince your executive team it’s worth spending precious development
capacity and $$ on this.
Create a cut-down Lean Canvas for this product. Concentrate on:
1. Problem + Customer Segments
2. Unique value proposition
3. Solution
4. Channels
5. Revenue streams
@neil_killick

7. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
@neil_killick
X
X
X

8. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
8 @neil_killick

9. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
We now need a lightweight, fast way
to validate our ideas and turn them
into the promised value
• We want to make sure we build the right thing - the thing we are
envisioning - the thing we pitched - the thing that is going to make the
business money and make customers happy
• To build the right thing, fast, we must consolidate the collective skills and
wisdom of all of our product developers, analysts, UX and UI designers,
coders, testers, etc.
@neil_killick

10. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Story Mapping
@neil_killick

11. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
11
Story Mapping
✓ Holistic picture of current
product thinking
✓ Collaborative (collective
wisdom of ideas/options)
✓ Visual and interactive
activity and artefact
✓ User-centric
✓ Supports slicing for value /
prioritisation / MVP /
MMF / etc.
@neil_killick

12. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Story Mapping Exercise
You have convinced your executive team to fund your project to build
your hot new music streaming platform, and you have a cross-functional
product development team lined up.
Part 1 - Identify stories of music lovers using your
product in order to achieve something (aka user
stories)
Hint - these start with actions (verbs)
@neil_killick

13. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Story Mapping Exercise
Part 2
Group stories into activity themes
Amend/add/prioritise activities as you see fit
@neil_killick

14. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Browse Search
Play a particular
song
Play a particular artist
Play a popular playlist
Save an album to my
collection
Play a particular
album
Create a playlistFind other artists
like my favourite
artists
Play music from a
genre
Browse all of my
collection
Play the Wiggles
Download an
album so I can play
it offline
Share a playlist
Play what I listened to
last
Play Discover Save Social
Browse local
collection Find new music
to listen to
Search for an artist
Search for a song
Search for a genre
See what my friends
are listening to
Scrobble to Last.FM
Enable family to use
my account
Save a song to my
collection
@neil_killickAdd songs to the
queue
Play one of my playlists

15. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Story Mapping Exercise
Part 3
We need to release to market as quickly as possible -
there are rumours Apple are building a similar
streaming music service and we want 1st mover
advantage
Identify a 1st website release which allows registered
users to play any song from our library
@neil_killick

16. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Browse Search
Play a particular
song
Play a particular
artist
Play a playlist Save an album
to my collection
Play a particular
album
Create a
playlist
Find other artists
like my favourite
artists
Play music from a
genre
Browse all of my
collection
Play the Wiggles
Download an album
so I can play it
offline Share a
playlist
Play what I
listened to last
Play Discover Save Social
Browse local
collection
Find new music
to listen to
Search for an artist
Search for a song
Search for an album
See what my friends
are listening to
Scrobble to
Last.FM
Profile
Register with email
address
Connect using
Facebook
Connect using
Google
Connect using
Twitter
Reduce bandwidth
for downloads
Browse new
releases
Browse
trending music
Browse chart
music
Browse
genres
Browse
moods
Search for a playlist
Search for a profile
Search for a video
Enable family to
use my account
Play music offline
Find
concerts
Save a song to
my collection
R1 - Play
any song
R2 - Build a
collection
@neil_killick

17. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
Neil’s story mapping tips
@neil_killick

18. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
✓Add wireframes and
notes to relevant parts as
you build up the map
✓Build it somewhere it
can stay and be changed
Ideally in your team
room so you can have
planning/prioritisation
meetings around it, big
picture is always in mind,
easy to transparently
evolve, etc.
@neil_killick

19. Neil Killick, 2018, All Rights Reserved
✓Use as an evolving high level release plan for
stakeholders
✓Flesh out task detail for highest value stories - don’t
go too deep too early
✓Move stories up and down based on feedback and
learning
✓Use high quality sticky notes - Post-It or 3M, super
sticky is best
@neil_killick