Product SIG - Feature Prioritization: Deal Breakers & Fast Tracks

Topic: DBFRs and FTs - Why you need them and how you can implement them

How do you remain close to the customer when your backlog is over 250 features and you are able to deliver about 10 features per quarter? At Tasktop, we have implemented two extremely helpful concepts that allow us to stay true both to our core strategy but responsive to immediate customer needs. The first concept, "Deal Breaking Feature Requests" (DBFRs), allows a presales engineer or a salesperson to up the priority of a feature -- by convincing product that the deal will fall through or the relationship irrevocably damaged without this feature being added. We have found this concept to be extremely effective -- especially as we have grown into a much larger organization. The second concept, "Fast Tracks" (FTs), allows our support team or engineering to identify small but impactful features that need to be added mid-release cycle. Fast Tracks ensure our responsiveness is deemed quick and nimble. Combined, DBFRs and FTs have proven to be liked by both the product team and the field to help prioritize and drive our release plans with customer centricity at the forefront.

Speaker: Nicole Bryan

Nicole is VP of Product at Tasktop Technologies and has extensive experience in software and product development, focused primarily on bringing data visualization and human considerations to the forefront of DevOps and Agile. Before Tasktop, she served as Director of Product Management at Borland Software/Micro Focus, where she was responsible for creating a new Agile development management tool. Prior to Borland, she was a director at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Regulatory Division, where she managed some of the first Agile project teams at the NYSE, and VP of engineering at OneHarbor (purchased by National City Investments). Nicole holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from DePaul University. She is passionate about improving how software is created and delivered – making the experience enjoyable, fun and yes, even delightful.

Product SIG Info:
More information and communication may be found at the SIG's Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/agile-austin-product-sig .

Food and Drink will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure that you are able to attend this session. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign up if you are committed to attending.

For more information/questions, please send email to: productsig@agileaustin.org .