It seems to me that the physical world has one benefit over the digital: it is visible, less abstract. And hence, needs are easier to align, goals easier to agree on. What are we missing and need to do next requires less clarification. The digital world, on the other hand, requires moving between concrete and abstract, synthesizing information properly and communicating deliberately to generate what the text calls “shared understanding”. A prerequisite for successful execution, for obvious reasons.
But how? Using stories. The goal of using stories is not to write better stories. Stories are not a written form of requirements; telling stories through collaboration with words and pictures is a mechanism that builds shared understanding.
Building shared understanding is critical always, but even more so in a time and cash constrained environment. And this is not done by product requirement documents. Having suffered from both receiving and generating R documents, I am aware not than I should stop trying to write them perfectly, and draw more instead. Also, talk and document – there is nothing more exhausting than missing something you already discussed last week. Talk, sketch, write, use sticky notes and cards, even photographs.
Being aware of how Agile development methodology works, what shocked me is that Story Mapping is not just a revisited Agile method for product development, it goes much further. It is the link between the Backlog and what the text called, the Big Picture. Concepts that often are too far from each other.
We need to start the conversation from the outcome, from the purpose, to what value you are going to add for whom (you can’t please everyone all the time). Users and activities. The whole Story Flow. This makes sense since the goal of the product manager is not to make products. It is to maximize the outcome and impact from what you choose to build.
Once when we agree on The Big Picture, we focus on the output, that is, what we build (refers to everything between the idea and the delivery). We add steps and details. But remember, it should be just the minimum to allow the outcome (build less). There is always more to build than we have time or resources to build.
All in all, need-finding to problem solving, visualized, aligned and prioritized , with a clear goal on top.
For me, The Story Mapping is a reminder of the following: minimize output and maximize outcome and impact. A perfect tool to fill the gap between the strategy and the execution of a company. A tool to 1. Generate shared understanding 2. Prioritize accordingly 3. Align execution.
