How to get your agile project approved

September 17, 2008 by Peter Stevens

There are three prerequisites for starting a project under Scrum: a product owner, a product backlog and a team to implement the features. Is that enough to get a project approved for development? Probably even an agile company will want some basic questions answered: What are we building, and why? How much will it cost? How long will it take? Here's a way to move forward.

If your manager understands what the product is and why the company should build it, you are on your way to getting the project approved. Contrary to popular belief, agile offers a rich set of tools for conceiving, planning and estimating a software project. The basis is a clear vision, which is established with through the Elevator Pitch and what I call the Product Mission.

Elevator Pitch

The basic tool for communicating what a new product should do is the elevator pitch. Why “elevator pitch?” Imagine you have an idea for a product. By chance you and the big boss get in the elevator together. You have 2 minutes to get his interest while you ride up to the 42nd floor. An elevator pitch is one or two sentences which answer basic questions about the product, its function and its market.

The basic template of an elevator pitch is

• For <class of user>
• <Product> is a <class of solution>
• which provides <definition of value>
• and unlike <primary competitor>
• does <something special>.

I recently used this approach to define a talk about Scrum:

For Java developers and project managers
“Agile Project Management with Scrum” is a 90 minute talk about Scrum
which explains the basics of Scrum and positions Scrum against other frameworks.

Unlike other talks, my talk will motivate early adopters without alienating skeptics.

First defined in Crossing the Chasm, the elevator pitch is a simple and clear definition of what the product should do. Chances are good that you will refine this definition with management, but once agreement has been reached, the elevator pitch serves as a reference point to keep everyone on track through realization of the product.

Important as the elevator pitch is, I have found it useful to connect the product to the goals of the company or division. I call this the Product Mission.

Product Mission

So if the big boss finds your elevator pitch interesting, the next question is, “why should the company build it?” The product mission explains what the product will do for the company as opposed to what it will do for its users. There is no template, but the goals should be concrete and measurable and relate to the overall goals of the company or division.

For my Scrum talk, my goals were to

• help create a demand for Scrum training, consulting and coaching
• establish my credentials as a Scrum expert among potential customers of scrum training and consulting
• win customers for my courses in the next quarter

Of these goals, only the last one is really quantifiable, and even here, I have not yet associated a number with it. Can I generate 5, 10 or 100 customers through this talk?
This forms the basis of a “back of the napkin” discussion with management about what the project can do for the company.

Take a more complex example, the “Turbo Congo” project, which should improve productivity and stem the loss of customers. What would a 10%, 15% or 20% productivity improvement mean to the company? What would it mean to cut customer defections in half?

The goal is not to present the answer (which management will find fault with), but to engage management in a discussion which will convince them of the value of the project. It may even lead a valuation scheme that everyone can support.

Your Elevator Ride

You mission is simple.

• Step 1 - Communicate what the product will do. Who is it for? Why do they want it? If management understands what the product, you’re halfway to building it.
• Step 2 - Explain the goals of the product. Why does the company want to build it? Answer this well, and the discussion will continue beyond the elevator.
• Step 3 - Start a discussion on how to quantify the value of the project. Have an example to confirm that the idea is worth pursuing.
• Step 4 - Agree on the next steps which will lead to formal approval to start the project.

Mission accomplished.

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