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A new project - where do the requirments come from?

Last post 06:30 pm July 22, 2019 by Saleh Othman
6 replies
08:55 am July 18, 2019

I'm a PO in a media company were our products are websites.

We have a new domain name. At the moment there is nothing written down about what this site will do / how it will functions / how it will look etc.  It’s just a name.

Who gives the requirements on what the end product should look like/do etc?

I thought it should be the business / stakeholders – after all they own this domain. Am I wrong here?

Also it there are business plans and marketing plans to be written up, should it be the PO they looks after these or the business / stakeholders? again I’m thinking the business.

 

I've been a PO for years and working on websites.. but normally the websites are my ideas - So I know the plan and how it should look and function - However i'm taking on new products which are other peoples ideas and this is a new area for me.

 

thanks.


09:32 am July 18, 2019

How important do you think it might be to start with a product vision?


11:32 am July 18, 2019

Very important Ian,

Max - Do you have a BA (Business Analyst) on the project?

The PO ensures the value of the requirements is understood and priorities accordingly inline with stakeholder expectations.

I would suggest having a look at https://www.romanpichler.com/resources/presentations/


12:49 pm July 18, 2019

Thanks for the replies

We don't have a BA - but we are in the process of interviewing for one.

Who sets the product vision ?

 


01:11 pm July 18, 2019

Who sets the product vision ?

I suggest you work on that with the business stakeholders who had reason to secure the new domain. Once you have a clear vision, you should run the smallest possible experiment to test the hypothesis that there is a viable product for you to own.


04:16 pm July 18, 2019

@Ian and @Nick provided a large part of my answer but I do have one thing to add that is inline with theirs.

We have a new domain name. At the moment there is nothing written down about what this site will do / how it will functions / how it will look etc.  It’s just a name.

If someone came up the idea that a new website was needed and could arrive at the name that should be used, then someone has an goal.  I'd start with that individual and work out a business goal.  Then using that as a start, the Product Owner should work with that individual, any other known stakeholders, and anyone else that can be suggested as being potentially invested in the result.  The Product Owner should refine the goal into smaller units (maybe Epics) that the audience can understand and agree to.  The Product Owner then flips their direction to the Scrum Team and start to refine further to ideas on how to address the Epic. Run those by the stakeholder audience to see if the interpretations are in line with their vision.  Then start Sprinting, Reviewing, Planning, Refining until there is something ready to unveil to the public. As @Ian said, this should be small and possibly simple.  How many sites have you seen that went up with not much more than the "About us" and "Overview" pages to gauge whether the theory is even viable? Ensure that the initial web page has mechanisms in place to measure the traffic and possibly a way to find how many people would be interested. 

Iterate.  Gather data, inspect and adapt.  Or in other words, become agile on the prospect.


06:30 pm July 22, 2019

How important do you think it might be to start with a product vision?

I totally agree with @Ian, and probably you can also think about its characteristics,Goal & objectives..


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