SAFe PM Flashcards

1
Q

ART stands for -

A

Agile Release Train

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2
Q

What is Design Thinking?

A

Iterative solution development process that promotes a holistic approach to delighting all stakeholders

Understand the problem -> Design the right solution

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3
Q

Where does a ‘Chasm’ often occur?

A

Between expectations and requirements of early adopters and the Early Majority

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4
Q

What does Market Research Drive? How?

A

Product Strategy

Focuses on the who, what and why

Determines concepts, opinions and values

Assesses value provided and customers will pay

Influences marketing and sales

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5
Q

What does User Research Drive? How?

A

Product design

Focuses on the How

Observes and evaluates what customers and users do

Determines how customers use or will use the product

Influences Capabilities and Features

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6
Q

What is Continuous Exploration (CE)?

A

Process that fosters innovation and builds alignment on what should be built by continually exploring market and Customer needs and defining a Vision, Roadmap and set of Features for a Solution

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7
Q

Core new product development questions - key to seeing if we’re solving the right problem.

A

Do customers recognize they have the problem we’re solving?

What are they doing to try and solve it now?

If there was a solution, would they buy it?

Would they buy it from us?

Can we build it?

How can we differentiate our value stream?

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8
Q

Core questions for products in growth phase - customers within same market segment have different expectations as products continue to mature and evolve.

A

How should our product change to meet changing expectations?

Is our product growing well? If not, is it failing or in a chasm? If in a chasm, what do we need to do to cross it?

Has our success changed the macro-environment? How are competitors responding?

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9
Q

Core questions for mature solutions - extract profit or opportunity for renewal and future innovations

A

Is this segment still attractive?

How can we further extract profit from superior operations?

Have we lost sight of the core challenges facing our Customers?

Is it time to exit and invest elsewhere?

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10
Q

What is Primary Data?

A

Custom designed and implemented to answer specific questions as best as possible.

Qualitative (User Research) - Empathy Interviews / Simple Surveys / Gemba / Innovation Games / Advisory Boards / Trade Studies / Ethnography

Quantitative (Market Research) - A/B Testing / Questionnaires or Surveys / Choice modeling, conjoint analysis

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11
Q

What is Secondary Data?

A

Typically, previously collected and published data.

May or may not address specific questions.

Free/Inexpensive (User Research) - government data / Libraries

For sale, often focused on markets, can be expensive (Market Research) - Syndicated or private data / may have more detailed analysis

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12
Q

Strengths of Qualitative Research -

A

In-person generates deeper understanding through contextual and non verbal communication

Strengthens customer relationships, especially B2B and B2P

Builds Customer Empathy within team researching

Creates vivid, concrete language and communication to solve problems

Forms the foundation of innovation by exploring ‘what you don’t know you don’t know’

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13
Q

Weaknesses of Qualitative Research -

A

less objective

Doesn’t scale to large numbers of people

Not statistically significant

Costly on a per customer basis, cheap in terms of actionable results

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14
Q

Innovation is fueled by what?

A

When we use research to enable ourselves to find new information: ‘what we don’t know we don’t know’

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15
Q

What is the most important planning question for Primary Research?

A

Who you ask

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16
Q

How many people should you ask to get actionable insight?

A

Quantitative Research - Use a sample-size calculator

Qualitative Research - if you have the right people, 12 customers can be 70% - 75% and 30 customers can be 90% of market needs.

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17
Q

Innovation Games -

A

What is their problem? - Speedboat / Spiderweb

What Solution do they need? - Remember the future / Give ‘em a Hot Tub / Product Box

What is MVP? - Prune the Product Tree / 20-20 Vision / Buy a Feature

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18
Q

What is Market Segmentation?

A

Process of dividing a potential market into distinct subsets (segments) with common needs or characteristics in order to focus on the most attractive.

Identifiable - identify members
Measurable - determine size
Significant - large enough to be economically feasible
Homogenous - members are similar
Heterogenous - members are distinct
Reachable - contact through promotion and distro efforts
Compatible - aligned with our mission, strength and ability

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19
Q

What is a Job To Be Done (JTBD)?

A

The higher purpose for which Customers buy products, services and solutions.

  • Create market segments of Customers facing similar problems
  • Improve design of operational Value Streams and Customer experiences
  • Create opportunities for innovation when we find entirely new ways to solve a problem
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20
Q

What is Attractiveness of a Segment?

A

Based on the Segments needs and the degree to which our products can profitably meet those needs.

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21
Q

What 3 things does the LPM team need to know about the research results?

A

Does it create a new operational or development Value Stream?

Does it motivate new Epics?

Does it motivate budget adjustments?

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22
Q

Key factors in determining value of a market segment -

A

Current and future size of the segment

Amount customers are willing to pay for your products or services

Competitors, substitutes and compliments

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23
Q

Market segment Value informs 3 strategy questions -

A

Is the segment valuable enough?

Is it aligned to our Enterprise and/or portfolio strategy?

What would it take for us to win? Can we do it with given team, offerings, structures and so forth?

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24
Q

For each potential segment, we can ask if serving this segment -

A

Aligns with our Values and Mission

Helps us advance our Vision

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25
Q

What are Personas? How do we use them?

A

Fictional characters based upon your research that represent the different people who might use your product or solution in a similar way.

Convey the problems they’re facing and key triggers for using product

Capture rich, concise information that inspire great products without unnecessary details

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26
Q

What are the 3 types of personas?

A

Primary - Must be satisfied by product. Goals drive the design process.

Secondary - will make accommodations as long as they don’t interfere with Primary

Negative - Not going to satisfy. Helps make tough choices about features. Focus on the other 2

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27
Q

What is Empathic Design? What does it do?

A

Our Ability to put aside our preconceived ideas and develop Solutions from the perspective of our Customers

Motivates teams to understand and experience the world from the Customers perspective, difficulties they face

Customer centric enterprises use it

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28
Q

What does empathy address?

A

Aesthetic and emotional needs

Ergonomic needs

Capabilities not explicitly requested by users - Performance, security, compliance. Operations, maintenance, support

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29
Q

What are Empathy Maps? Why are they used?

A

A tool that helps teams develop deep, shared understanding and empathy for other people.

Use it to design better experiences and Value Streams.

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30
Q

What are 8 Empathy Interview Guidelines?

A

Face to Face is Best

Build rapport before asking questions

Keep questions short

Ask only one question at a time

Encourage stories

Observe non-verbal queues

Explore emotions - “tell me more”

Thank them!

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31
Q

What is the meaning of The Golden Circle? What are the levels?

A

Suggests that meaning and purpose help create successful products and services and inspire action

Why (Inner most golden): Why do you do what you do? What is the purpose of your product?

How (2nd level): How do you do this? What makes your enterprise special or sets you apart?

What (Outer level): The solutions your creating.

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32
Q

What is the Vision

A

Description of the future state of the product

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33
Q

What do Value Proposition Canvases do?

A

Help us create products that match customer needs

Provides context to create more effective solutions and models and evolves over time as we learn more about the customer

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34
Q

What is a Business Model Canvas (BMC)?

A

Documents business models of existing or new products

Provides a shared language to describe and visualize the current and future business models

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35
Q

What does a portfolio canvas provide?

A

Business context -

How the solution fits into overall strategy

relationship to other portfolio initiatives

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36
Q

What does a Value Stream canvas provide?

A

Execution details -

ARTs

Teams

Suppliers

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37
Q

What does a Customer Journey Map do?

A

Illustrates the user’s experience engaging with a company through products, online experiences and services.

  • May document desires, activities, feelings questions, pain points etc.
  • Identifies gaps and opportunities for new products and capabilities.
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38
Q

A high impact customer journey map requires what 4 things?

A

Research (not opinion)

A graphical representation

A focus on Customer goals and emotions

An understanding of your brand promise

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39
Q

Whole product thinking creates a compelling reason to buy with these 4 aspects -

A

Generic Product - Minimum to satisfy customer

Expected Product - Features typically found in this type of product

Augmented Product - Features that differentiate this specific product from competitive or alternative products

Potential Product - Our vision of future capabilities that keep Customers

40
Q

What does the Sweet Spot of Strategy do?

A

Helps you identify competitive advantage and ensure you’re not wasting investments

Customer needs and company’s capabilities = WIN

Competitors offerings and customer needs = LOSE

Competitors offerings and company’s capabilities = Potential Waste

All 3 = FIGHT

41
Q

Facts of Designing API Strategy -

A

Provide access to complementary Solutions

Can be monetized

Need a product mindset

Long term and evolve over time

Should leverage Design Thinking

42
Q

Data Strategy refers to the choices a PM makes in how they and their Customers will -

A

Create and manage data and metadata

Own, access, use and share data and metadata

Support any necessary regulations

43
Q

What is Solution Intent?

A

Repository for storing, managing and communicating the knowledge of current and intended Solution behavior

44
Q

What do System specifications guide?

A

Roadmaps and backlogs

45
Q

What are the 6 Customer centric requirement artifacts?

A

Preview/Brief

Epic

Feature

Capability

Story map

Story

46
Q

Define this Customer centric artifact - Preview/Brief

A

Document describing behavior and context for activities

47
Q

Define this Customer centric artifact - Epic

A

Container large/expensive enough to require up front analysis, definition of MVP and financial approval

48
Q

Define this Customer centric artifact - Feature

A

Delivered piece of business functionality that fulfills need. Sized or split to be delivered by a single ART in a PI

49
Q

Define this Customer centric artifact - Capability

A

Higher level solution behavior spanning multiple ARTs. Split into multiple features within a PI

50
Q

Define this Customer centric artifact - Story map

A

Collection of stories that together define a workflow

51
Q

Define this Customer centric artifact - Story

A

Short description of a small piece of functionality written in user’s language

52
Q

What are the 2 Technical requirement artifacts and what do they do?

A

Enabler - Support the activities needed to extend the Architectural Runway to provide future business functionality

Nonfunctional Requirements (NFR) - System attributes such as security, reliability, performance etc. Constraints or restrictions on design of system across backlogs.

53
Q

What are the 6 questions Roadmaps help answer?

A

Who are my desirable markets (segments)? - Market Map

What do they care about/pay for? - Features/Benefits

When and how frequently should I release a Solution? - Rhythms and Events

How should my architect evolve? - Architectural Runway

Are there external factors I need to manage? - External Forces

What versions are supported? - Supported Versions

54
Q

Agile Roadmaps promote and retain what?

A

Intentionality - forecasts for the future

and

flexibility - balance the need to prepare for the future with the desire to respond to change

55
Q

What are the 4 roadmaps and their focuses?

A

PI Roadmap - series of planned PIs with Milestones - focus on shorter-terms with more fidelity

Solution Roadmaps - clarity in long range planning and help PMs collab with Portfolio Management - focus on markets, Epics and Enablers

Supported Versions Roadmaps - clarity in managing solutions w/multiple versions or complexities - focus on Solution lifecycle

Prune the Product Tree - Innovation game to help PMs understand stakeholder perceptions of growth. - Captures evolution of Features over time

56
Q

Market Rhythms and Market Milestones help identify what?

A

Valuable release windows

57
Q

What is the Impact-Effort Matrix?

A

A tool to gain consensus on the value and effort of Roadmap items

58
Q

What are User Stories?

A

An Agile way of documenting requirements using the “As a (user role) I want (activity) so that (business value)” template

59
Q

What are the 3 Cs of User stories?

A

Card -

Conversation -

Confirmation -

60
Q

What are the 4 types of Enabler Stories that build the groundwork for future User Stories?

A

Infrastructure - build frameworks that enable a faster more efficient process

Architecture - build runway, enable smoother faster development

Exploration - build understanding of customer needs to understand prospective solutions and alternatives

Compliance - schedule and manage compliance activities

61
Q

When to use a Story map?

A

If the Feature captures a workflow

62
Q

What is Kanban in a nutshell?

A

Visual Tool for workflow

Columns represent steps in process (To do, doing, done)

work items pulled across board

policies define how items move

WIP promotes flow and continuous delivery of value

63
Q

What are the 4 connected Kanban systems?

A

Portfolio concerns

Solution concerns

Program concerns

Team concerns

64
Q

What is WSJF and what does it do?

A

Weighted Shortest Job First helps business select most promising ideas and aligns investments w/revenue and market rhythms.

Requires estimates and forecasts.

65
Q

What does CoD stand for?

A

Cost of Delay

66
Q

How do you calculate WSJF?

A

Cost of Delay / Job duration = WSJF

67
Q

What are the 3 components of Cost of Delay?

A

User and business value

Time criticality

Riske reduction & Opportunity enablement

68
Q

What are 2 successful PI Planning outputs?

A

Committed PI objectives (SMART)

Program Board

69
Q

What are aspects of a PO sync?

A

Visibility into progress, scope and priority adjustments

Facilitated by RTE or PM

Participants: PMs, POs, stakeholders, SMEs

Weekly or more frequently, 30-60 min

Timeboxed and followed by a ‘Meet after’

70
Q

What do Value Stream Economics do?

A

Model the flow of value and financial model of the Value Streams.

Ensure Value Streams are creating viable/sustainable products

71
Q

What are 2 ways to create value for your Customer?

A

Reduce their costs

Increase their revenue

72
Q

What is Hard Value and how do you find it?

A

Value that can be objectively measured

Lab testing

Surveys assessing impact of solution

Direct observation of operational changes

73
Q

What is Soft/Intangible Value and how do you find it?

A

Value that is subjective

Brand

Convenience

Values

Intellectual Property

74
Q

Levels of capturing Magnitude of Value are?

A

Who - Who is receiving the value?

Overview - Overview of Value provided

Magnitude - How is Value measured? Can it be captured via formula?

Implementation - What changes does the Customer need to make to realize value?

Revenue or Cost - Is the value creation associated with increasing revenue or reducing cost?

75
Q

What is a Value Exchange Model?

A

Captures how you exchange products and Solutions for money, forming the core of your business model

Can have multiple

Create unique requirements

Changing them causes change to architecture

76
Q

What are the 7 types of value exchange?

A

Time-based - defined period of time

Transaction - measurable unit of work, with the exchange of money

Meter - Something that is counted (CPU, storage, users)

Hardware - Customer pays for Hardware, which derives value from embedded software (microwave)

Service - Exchange of money tied to service; software is required to provide service

Revenue obtained/cost saved - aggregation of transactions

Data/Digital goods - software generates unique data that is typically perishable (credit scores, stock quotes)

77
Q

What are 3 main influences on a products price?

A

Market Aspects

Pricing strategy/objectives

Stage of product life cycle

78
Q

What does Price Elasticity of Demand (PED) measure?

A

The responsiveness of demand after a change in price

Lowering the price tends to increase consumption

79
Q

What is Discount Analysis?

A

Process of comparing the list or asking price of a product and its actual sale price. Customers only pay what they feel it’s worth.

80
Q

3 ways to increase revenue?

A

Discounts

Bundles

Tiered Pricing

81
Q

What is a profit engine?

A

set of business model choices that create additional or repeated value exchanges or increase the profit of a value exchange

82
Q

What are 6 key profit engines?

A

Leverage installed base

Product pyramid

Platform ecosystem

Experience curve

First, fast

Think offering

83
Q

What is a License Model?

A

Governs the use of intellectual and other property

84
Q

How can you ensure viable and sustainable commercial products?

A

Calculate revenue

Calculate costs

Profit = Revenue - Cost

85
Q

How can you ensure viable and sustainable internal products?

A

Spend justification = Value - Cost

86
Q

What is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?

A

Financial estimate intended to help Customers determine the direct and indirect costs of a Solution

87
Q

what is the ROI formula?

A

ROI = (Benefits - Costs) / Costs * 100

88
Q

What are the 4 ways Customers analyze economic value?

A

Return on Investment (ROI) - net gain from project divided by it’s total cost

Net Present Value (NPV) - Difference between present value of an investment’s future savings and its costs.

Internal Rate of Return (IRR) - discount rate necessary to drive NPV to zero. Value another investment would need to make to be equal to cash flows of the other investment

Payback Period - Break even point or time it takes for project to yield a positive cash flow

89
Q

Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration occurs every PI and serves what purposes?

A

Is an estimating buffer for meeting PI objectives

Provides dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, PI planning and Inspect and Adapt events

90
Q

Difference between Output Metrics and Outcome Metrics?

A

Output Metrics - Measure work: Feature cycle time, bug counts, velocity

Outcome Metrics - Measure results or value: Customer and employee NPS, retention, success. Innovation

PMs focus on Outcome Metrics!

Avoid Vanity Metrics

91
Q

What are the 2 approaches to outcome Metrics?

A

Net Promoter Score (NPS) - Used to measure customer satisfaction

Dave McClure’s AARRR Metrics - Measure how cohorts adopt and use ‘new’ products through stages - Acquisition - Activation - Revenue - Retention - Referral

92
Q

What are the 3 categories of NPS?

A

Promoters - score of 9-10, loyal

Passives - score of 7-8, satisfied

Detractors - score of 0-6, unhappy

93
Q

What is an Epic?

A

A large initiative that requires analysis, definition of an MVP and financial approval that has an Epic Owner to guide it

94
Q

What does the Lean Startup promote?

A

building new products through a combo of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases and validated learning

Customer feedback is critical during development

95
Q

What do the 4 investment horizons do?

A

Horizon 3 (Evaluating) - Investments for new potential solutions

Horizon 2 (Emerging) - Solutions that come from H3

Horizon 1 - Desired state where Solutions deliver more value than their cost

Horizon 0 (Retiring) - Investment to decommission Solutions

96
Q

What are the 4 Epic Pivots?

A

Value Exchange Model Pivot - Customers want a different way to pay

Customer segment pivot - prior learning suggests the same product may resonate with a different type of Customer

Customer problem pivot - customer is facing a different problem than you hypothesized

Feature pivot - solution is re-oriented around one specific feature