Digital Transformation

Wireframing, sometimes referred to as UI design or user experience design, is a critical part of the overall design process. App and website wireframes can range from being as simple as a hand-drawn sketch with pen and paper, to being a complex as a detailed blueprint. Wireframes are usually the first tangible thing our clients (and developers) see which visually represent the product or idea. Most people I’ve worked with on projects historically tend to view wireframes as a design document, but I’ve always thought of them as a technical document. Why is this? Because even though the wireframes are a visual expression of the site, they tend to become the foundation for everything that follows.

There are sometimes challenges around explaining what “Agile Development” means. The word “Agile” can lead people to think that it means sloppy or without planning. The biggest piece of practicing agile software development that belies that notion is sprint planning. Regular sprint planning meetings lend structure to an agile process. Sprint planning meetings give the product owner and the team a chance to break up work in a reliable way.

A Product Owner is not necessarily an expert in technical matters. They should be able to accept advice and solicit input from the technical lead on a project, but they should not be expected to have the technical expertise to do research or evaluate technologies on their own. A Product Owner is best able to contribute to a project when they can rely on a technical lead to speak to technical challenges and give them informed options and honest feedback.

The key value that a product owner offers in an agile project is clarity of vision. The product owner knows exactly what the product needs to be in order to succeed in the market, and what the priorities are for that to happen. There are a few things that an effective product owner will do on a recurring basis to keep the team moving toward that vision. Those things are to organize the backlog by priority, communicate both high-level and detailed objectives, and be responsive to changes or technical challenges.

Every project fights along at least two axes, budget and timeline. Another axis that can lead to trouble in a project is resourcing. Risk in each of these factors can be mitigated by thoughtful backlog grooming and task management. A good start to backlog grooming is to develop a product roadmap. Start from the high-level business goals, and break those down into consumable tasks that can provide a granular view of the big picture. The initial backlog should consist of an outline of the ‘big ticket items’. A big ticket item can be either a technically challenging piece of the work, or even just a known unknown. Doing that work, and doing it well, takes time and the ability to look at both the forest and the trees, but it can play a vital role in the success of a project.