As part of my Prioritisation series, today: Backlog Allocation Quadrant.
Quadrants can be used to proactively allocate capacity across different types of activities; especially useful in planning.
Tailor the quadrant categories to suit your Agile teams context. E.g. divide your Backlog into ‘New Features’, ‘Platform Innovation’, ‘BAU’, ‘Tech Maintenance’, or ‘Team Skill Development’. Now decide how much time to spend on each, and ensure your Sprint Plan reflects this mix.
To further assist in balancing between categories you could add additional lenses, such as Business vs Technical, Past vs Future orientation.
Don’t just focus on sexy ‘New Features’ (Business focus, Future orientation); ‘Platform Innovation’ (Tech focus, Future) can provide as much value to the business and customer.
‘BAU’ (Business focus, Past) such as bug fixes and minor enhancements may not be exciting, but keep existing users happy.
‘Tech Maintenance’ (Tech focus, Past), e.g. fixing past shortcuts, or upgrading code to new standards may prevent the team from working on ‘New Features’ but help improve overall experience and free up time in the Future.
Remember, the methodologies covered are conversation starters, not exact science!
I first posted this article here.
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