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Make the Case for Product Delivery

Align your organization on the practices to deliver what matters most.

  • Organizations are traditionally organized to deliver initiatives in specific periods of time. This is in contention with product-centric delivery practices. This form of delivery acknowledges the reality that solutions of all shapes and sizes deliver continual and evolving business value over their lifetime.
  • Delivering multiple products together creates additional challenges because each product has its own pedigree, history, and goals.
  • Product owners struggle to prioritize changes to deliver product value. This creates a gap and conflict between product and enterprise goals.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Delivering products doesn’t mean you will stop delivering projects! Product-centric delivery is intended to address the misalignment between the long-term delivery of value that organizations demand and the nature of traditional project-focused environments.

Impact and Result

  • We will help you build a proposal deck to make the case to your stakeholders for product-centric delivery.
  • You will build this proposal deck by answering key questions about product-centric delivery so you can identify:
    • A common definition of product.
    • How this form of delivery differs from traditional project-centric approaches.
    • Key challenges and benefits.
    • The capabilities needed to effectively own products and deliver value.
    • What you are asking of stakeholders.
    • A roadmap of how to get started.

Make the Case for Product Delivery Research & Tools

1. Make the Case for Product Delivery Deck – A guide to help align your organization on the practices to deliver what matters most.

This project will help you define “product” for your organization, define your drivers and goals for moving to product delivery, understand the role of product ownership, lay out the case to your stakeholders, and communicate what comes next for your transition to product.

Make the Case for Product Delivery Storyboard

2. Make the Case for Product Delivery Presentation Template – A template to help you capture and detail your case for product delivery.

Build a proposal deck to help make the case to your stakeholders for product-centric delivery.

Make the Case for Product Delivery Presentation Template

3. Make the Case for Product Delivery Workbook – A tool to capture the results of exercises to build your case to change your product delivery method.

This workbook is designed to capture the results of the exercises in the Make the Case for Product Delivery Storyboard. Each worksheet corresponds to an exercise in the storyboard. The workbook is also a living artifact that should be updated periodically as the needs of your team and organization change.

Make the Case for Product Delivery Workbook

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

8.8/10

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Experience

Impact

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State of Vermont

Guided Implementation

10/10

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5

The guided implementation was thorough and covered all of the outstanding questions I had. It helped us organize our thoughts and keep us on track... Read More

Oregon Parks And Recreation Department

Guided Implementation

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Alex did a nice job of listening to the scenario. His experience and advice confirmed our current plan and methodology.

Lindt & Sprungli (north America) Inc.

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Lamb Weston

Workshop

9/10

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20

Doug was a great facilitator and with his help we were able to get alignment on our future plans to enable product centricity. Unfortunately, work... Read More

University of Texas - Arlington

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10/10

$2,599

10

Suneel was very knowledgeable. He was able to understand the issues that we are facing and help us develop a plan for incrementally moving the need... Read More

Advanced Technology Services

Guided Implementation

10/10

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The process improvements derived from this effort will avoid time spent developing lower-priority items.

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Make the Case for Product Delivery

Align your organization on the practices to deliver what matters most.

Table of Contents

Define product

Define your drivers and goals

Understand the role of product ownership

Communicate what comes next

Make the case to your stakeholders

Appendix: Additional research

Appendix: Product delivery strategy communication

Appendix: Manage stakeholder influence

Appendix: Product owner capability details

Executive Summary

Your Challenge
  • Products are the lifeblood of an organization. They deliver the capabilities needed to deliver value to customers, internal users, and stakeholders.
  • Organizations are under pressure to align the value they provide with the organization’s goals and overall company vision.
  • You need to clearly convey the direction and strategy of your product portfolio to gain alignment, support, and funding from your organization.
 Common Obstacles
  • IT organizations are traditionally organized to deliver initiatives in specific periods of time. This is in contention with product-centric delivery.
  • Product delivery acknowledges the reality that solutions of all shapes and sizes deliver continual and evolving business value over their lifetime.
  • Delivering multiple products together creates additional challenges because each product has its own pedigree, history, and goals.
  • Product owners struggle to prioritize changes to deliver product value. This creates a gap and conflict between product and enterprise goals.
 Info-Tech’s Approach
  • Info-Tech will enable you to build a proposal deck to make the case to your stakeholders for product-centric delivery.
  • You will build this proposal deck by answering key questions about product-centric delivery so you can identify:
    • A common definition of product.
    • How this form of delivery differs from traditional project-centric approaches.
    • Key challenges and benefits.
    • The capabilities needed to effectively own products and deliver value.
    • What you are asking of stakeholders.
    • A roadmap of how to get started.

Info-Tech Insight

Delivering products doesn’t mean you will stop delivering projects! Product-centric delivery is intended to address the misalignment between the long-term delivery of value that organizations demand and the nature of traditional project-focused environments.

Many executives perceive IT as being poorly aligned with business objectives

Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision Survey data highlights the importance of IT initiatives in supporting the business in achieving its strategic goals.

However, Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Survey (2021; N=58) data indicates that CEOs perceive IT to be poorly aligned to business’ strategic goals.

Info-Tech CEO-CIO Alignment Diagnostics, 2021 (N=58)

40% Of CEOs believe that business goals are going unsupported by IT.

34% Of business stakeholders are supporters of their IT departments (n=334).

40% Of CIOs/CEOs are misaligned on the target role for IT.

Info-Tech Insight

Great technical solutions are not the primary driver of IT success. Focusing on delivery of digital products that align with organizational goals will produce improved outcomes and will foster an improved relationship between business and IT.

Increase product success by involving IT, business, and customers in your product roadmaps, planning, and delivery

Product management and delivery seek to promote improved relationships among IT, business, and customers, a critical driver for business satisfaction.

IT

Stock image of an IT professional.

1

 Collaboration

IT, business, and customers work together through all stages of the product lifecycle, from market research through the roadmapping and delivery processes and into maintenance and retirement. The goal is to ensure the risks and dependencies are realized before work is committed.

Stakeholders, Customers, and Business

Stock image of a business professional.

2

 Communication

Prioritize high-value modes of communication to break down existing silos and create common understanding and alignment across functions. This approach increases transparency and visibility across the entire product lifecycle.

3

 Integration

Explore methods to integrate the workflows, decision making, and toolsets among the business, IT, and customers. The goal is to become more reactive to changes in business and customer expectations and more proactive about market trends.

Product does not mean the same thing to everyone

Do not expect a universal definition of products.
Every organization and industry has a different definition of what a product is. Organizations structure their people, processes, and technologies according to their definition of the products they manage. Conflicting product definitions between teams increase confusion and misalignment of product roadmaps.

“A product [is] something (physical or not) that is created through a process and that provides benefits to a market.” (Mike Cohn, Founding Member of Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance) “A product is something ... that is created and then made available to customers, usually with a distinct name or order number.” (TechTarget) “A product is the physical object ... , software or service from which customer gets direct utility plus a number of other factors, services, and perceptions that make the product useful, desirable [and] convenient.” (Mark Curphey)

Organizations need a common understanding of what a product is and how it pertains to the business.

This understanding needs to be accepted across the organization.

“There is not a lot of guidance in the industry on how to define [products]. This is dangerous because what will happen is that product backlogs will be formed in too many areas. All that does is create dependencies and coordination across teams … and backlogs.” (Chad Beier, “How Do You Define a Product?” Scrum.org)

Products enable the long-term and continuous delivery of value

Diagram laying out the lifecycles and roadmaps contributing to the 'Continuous delivery of value'. Beginning with 'Project Lifecycle' in which Projects with features and services end in a Product Release that is disconnected from the continuum. Then the 'Hybrid Lifecycle' and 'Product Lifecycle' which are connected by a 'Product Roadmap' and 'Product Backlog' have Product Releases that connect to the continuum.

Phase 1

Build the case for product-centric delivery

Phase 1
1.1 Define product
1.2 Define your drivers and goals
1.3 Understand the role of product ownership
1.4 Communicate what comes next
1.5 Make the case to your stakeholders

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

  • Define product in your context.
  • Define your drivers and goals for moving to product delivery.
  • Understand the role of product ownership.
  • Communicate what comes next for your transition to product.
  • Lay out the case to your stakeholders.

This phase involves the following participants:

  • Product owners
  • Product managers
  • Development team leads
  • Portfolio managers
  • Business analysts

Step 1.1

Define product

Activities
  • 1.1.1 Define “product” in your context
  • 1.1.2 Consider examples of what is (and is not) a product in your organization
  • 1.1.3 Identify the differences between project and product delivery

This step involves the following participants:

  • Product owners
  • Product managers
  • Development team leads
  • Portfolio managers
  • Business analysts

Outcomes of this step

  • A clear definition of product in your organization’s context.

Make the Case for Product Delivery

Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3 Step 1.4 Step 1.5

Exercise 1.1.1 Define “product” in your context

30-60 minutes

Output: Your enterprise/organizational definition of products and services

Participants: Product owners, Product managers, Development team leads, Portfolio managers, Business analysts

  1. Discuss what “product” means in your organization.
  2. Create a common, enterprise-wide definition for “product.”
“A product [is] something (physical or not) that is created through a process and that provides benefits to a market.” (Mike Cohn, Founding Member of Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance) “A product is something ... that is created and then made available to customers, usually with a distinct name or order number.” (TechTarget) “A product is the physical object ... , software or service from which customer gets direct utility plus a number of other factors, services, and perceptions that make the product useful, desirable [and] convenient.” (Mark Curphey)

Record the results in the Make the Case for Product-Centric Delivery Workbook.

Example: What is a product?

Not all organizations will define products in the same way. Take this as a general example:

“A tangible solution, tool, or service (physical or digital) that enables the long-term and evolving delivery of value to customers and stakeholders based on business and user requirements.”

Info-Tech Insight

A proper definition of product recognizes three key facts:

  1. Products are long-term endeavors that don’t end after the project finishes.
  2. Products are not just “apps” but can be software or services that drive the delivery of value.
  3. There is more than one stakeholder group that derives value from the product or service.
Stock image of an open human head with gears and a city for a brain.

How do we know what is a product?

What isn’t a product:
  • Features (on their own)
  • Transactions
  • Unstructured data
  • One-time solutions
  • Non-repeatable processes
  • Solutions that have no users or consumers
  • People or teams
 You have a product if the given item...
  • Has end users or consumers
  • Delivers quantifiable value
  • Evolves or changes over time
  • Has predictable delivery
  • Has definable boundaries
  • Has a cost to produce and operate

Exercise 1.1.2 Consider examples of what is (and is not) a product in your organization

15 minutes

Output: Examples of what is and isn’t a product in your specific context.

Participants: Product owners, Product managers, Development team leads, Portfolio managers, Business analysts

  1. Leverage the definition you created in exercise 1.1.1 and the explanation on the slide What is a product?
  2. Pick examples that effectively show the difference between products and non-products and facilitate a conversation on the ones that seem to be on the line. Specific server instances, or instances of providing a service, are worthwhile examples to consider.
  3. From the list you come up with, take the top three examples and put them into the Make the Case for Product Delivery Presentation Template.
Example:
What isn’t a product?
  • Month-end SQL scripts to close the books
  • Support Engineer doing a password reset
  • Latest research project in R&D
 What is a product?
  • Self-service password reset portal
  • Oracle ERP installation
  • Microsoft Office 365

Record the results in the Make the Case for Product Delivery Workbook.

Product delivery practices should consider everything required to support it, not just what users see.

Cross-section of an iceberg above and below water with visible product delivery practices like 'Funding', 'External Relationships', and 'Stakeholder Management' above water and internal product delivery practices like 'Product Governance', 'Business Functionality', and 'R&D' under water. There are far more processes below the water.

Products and services share the same foundation and best practices

For the purpose of this blueprint, product/service and product owner/service owner are used interchangeably. Product is used for consistency but would apply to services as well.

Product = Service

 “Product” and “service” are terms that each organization needs to define to fit its culture and customers (internal and external). The most important aspect is consistent use and understanding of:
  • External products
  • Internal products
  • External services
  • Internal services
  • Products as a service (PaaS)
  • Productizing services (SaaS)

Exercise 1.1.3 Identify the differences between project and product delivery

30-60 minutes

Output: List of differences between project and product delivery

Participants: Product owners, Product managers, Development team leads, Portfolio managers, Business analysts

  1. Consider project delivery and product delivery.
  2. Discuss what some differences are between the two.
    Note: This exercise is not about identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each style of delivery. This is to identify the variation between the two.
Theme Project Delivery (Current) Product Delivery (Future)
Timing Defined start and end Does not end until the product is no longer needed
Funding Funding projects Funding products and teams
Prioritization LoB sponsors Product owner
Capacity Management Project management Managed by product team

Record the results in the Make the Case for Product Delivery Workbook.

Identify the differences between a project-centric and a product-centric organization

Project Product
Fund projects — Funding –› Fund products or teams
Line of business sponsor — Prioritization –› Product owner
Makes specific changes to a product —Product management –› Improves product maturity and support
Assignment of people to work — Work allocation –› Assignment of work to product teams
Project manager manages — Capacity management –› Team manages capacity

Info-Tech Insights

  • Product ownership should be one of your first areas of focus when transitioning from project to product delivery.
  • Product delivery requires significant shifts in the way you complete development work and deliver value to your users. Make the changes that support improving end-user value and enterprise alignment.

Projects can be a mechanism for funding product changes and improvements

Diagram laying out the lifecycles and roadmaps contributing to the 'Continuous delivery of value'. Beginning with 'Project Lifecycle' in which Projects with features and services end in a Product Release that is disconnected from the continuum. Then the 'Hybrid Lifecycle' and 'Product Lifecycle' which are connected by a 'Product Roadmap' and 'Product Backlog' have Product Releases that connect to the continuum. Projects within products

Regardless of whether you recognize yourself as a product-based or project-based shop, the same basic principles should apply.

The purpose of projects is to deliver the scope of a product release. The shift to product delivery leverages a product roadmap and backlog as the mechanism for defining and managing the scope of the release.

Eventually, teams progress to continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) where they can release on demand or as scheduled, requiring org change management.

Step 1.2

Define your drivers and goals

Activities
  • 1.2.1 Understand your drivers for product-centric delivery
  • 1.2.2 Define the goals for your product-centric organization

This step involves the following participants:

  • Product owners
  • Product managers
  • Development team leads
  • Portfolio managers
  • Business analysts

Outcomes of this step

  • A clear understanding of your motivations and desired outcomes for moving to product delivery.

Make the Case for Product Delivery

Step 1.1 Step 1.2 Step 1.3 Step 1.4 Step 1.5

Exercise 1.2.1 Understand your drivers for product-centric delivery

30-60 minutes

Output: Organizational drivers to move to product-centric delivery.

Participants: Product owners, Product managers, Development team leads, Portfolio managers, Business analysts

  1. Identify your pain points in the current delivery model.
  2. What is the root cause of these pain points?
  3. How will a product-centric delivery model fix the root cause (drivers)?
Pain Points
  • Lack of ownership
 Root Causes
  • Siloed departments
 Drivers
  • Accountability

Record the results in the Make the Case for Product Delivery Workbook.

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About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

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Authors

Hans Eckman

Ari Glaizel

Contributors

  • Emily Archer, Lead Business Analyst, Enterprise Consulting, authentic digital agency
  • David Berg, Founder & CTO, Strainprint Technologies Inc.
  • Kathy Borneman, Digital Product Owner, SunTrust Bank
  • Charlie Campbell, Product Owner, Merchant e-Solutions
  • Yarrow Diamond, Sr. Director, Business Architecture, Financial Services
  • Cari J. Faanes-Blakey, CBAP, PMI-PBA, Enterprise Business Systems Analyst, Vertex, Inc.
  • Kieran Gobey, Senior Consultant Professional Services, Blueprint Software Systems
  • Rupert Kainzbauer, VP Product, Digital Wallets, Paysafe Group
  • Saeed Khan, Founder, Transformation Labs
  • Hoi Kun Lo, Product Owner, Nielsen
  • Abhishek Mathur, Sr Director, Product Management, Kasisto, Inc.
  • Jeff Meister, Technology Advisor and Product Leader
  • Vincent Mirabelli, Principal, Global Project Synergy Group
  • Oz Nazili, VP, Product & Growth, TWG
  • Mark Pearson, Principal IT Architect, First Data Corporation
  • Brenda Peshak, Product Owner, Widget Industries, LLC
  • Mike Starkey, Director of Engineering, W.W. Grainger
  • Anant Tailor, Co-founder & Head of Product, Dream Payments Corp.
  • Angela Weller, Scrum Master, Businessolver
  • 12 of anonymous company contributors

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