This can be a visitor put up written by Mac McConnell, VP of Advertising and marketing at Gliffy, creators of visible planning apps on the Atlassian Market – Gliffy Challenge and Gliffy Diagram.
“That isn’t what the ticket stated to construct. How may that paragraph of textual content be misunderstood? It’s so clear. ” -Any Product Supervisor, Anyplace
Any product supervisor will let you know miscommunications are the bane of their existence. Whereas growing a model new product from scratch is without doubt one of the most exhilarating issues a software program staff can do – it comes with a wholesome set of lows (principally as a result of communication mishaps). Gliffy simply skilled these peaks and valleys whereas constructing a software program software to assist groups add a visible factor to Jira. We realized a factor or two alongside the way in which that we thought may assist others and wished to share them with the Atlassian neighborhood.
One look on the doom and gloom stats — 70% of software program tasks fail, 75% of respondents lack confidence in challenge success, the typical price and time overrun is 27%, however 1 in 6 tasks have a value overrun of 200% — and it’s straightforward to really feel like giving up. However then once more, if it have been straightforward, succeeding wouldn’t really feel so darn good.
Here’s what we’ve realized.
What do builders need?
When you bought a gaggle of software program, product, and UX builders in a room collectively (we did) and requested what they wished in an excellent software program growth course of, their solutions wouldn’t shock you. Every group wanted extra particulars on the challenge and the method. Once we accomplished our debrief, we found three themes, all beginning with the letter C:
Confidence, that we’re engaged on the fitting factor, in the fitting method, on the proper time, and our efforts will get shipped as a substitute of scrapped.
Readability on how choices are made, what’s taking place, what’s coming subsequent, and on what different groups are engaged on and why.
Connection to the massive image of the challenge. Groups want to grasp how the work comes collectively, which dependencies we’ve missed, and how much progress we’re making as a staff.
Sounds easy sufficient, proper? There may be nothing new in these discoveries. They’ve plagued cross-department tasks my total profession
Is there a greater technique to construct software program?
The three Cs above are usually not a loopy pipe dream. They don’t require magic, and but by some means they’re frustratingly laborious to attain (as we ourselves came upon).
Atlassian has an entire slew of superior playbooks that assist groups acknowledge and overcome widespread issues, nonetheless, these issues are widespread as a result of they’re laborious to repair. As our staff labored to construct our new product, Gliffy Challenge, we too requested ourselves the reason for the on a regular basis points tanking our momentum and bleeding our morale. We discovered these culprits.
Poor Communication
Each new product begins with a imaginative and prescient. However even individuals who home concepts of their skulls have a tough time speaking them completely. And it solely will get extra jumbled from there.
Product folks talk the imaginative and prescient to stakeholders, UX designers, and engineers. These folks must then talk down the ranks to the folks truly doing the construct. By the point the sport of phone is over, what was constructed is completely different from what was imagined. Everyone seems to be annoyed. Work is wasted. The weak spot right here is the phrases, whether or not in textual content or audio. Visuals (photos, movies, diagrams, whiteboards) are the important thing to correct product growth.
We construct visible communication instruments as a result of we all know footage are much less ambiguous than phrases. That’s why we determined to construct a software centered round visuals. Gliffy Challenge connects with Jira and permits customers to map Jira points to a visible plan resembling a whiteboard drawing, a wireframe, UML diagram, product roadmap, or a mix of all the above.
Customers can then create hotspots and both pull in current tickets or create new ones straight from the visible. Having everybody’s Jira tickets related to a visible plan representing the challenge, permits completely different groups to see who’s engaged on what, and provides a fast overview of dependencies, permitting anybody to rapidly gage challenge standing.
Having this agreed-upon visible as a reference level significantly cuts down our staff’s communication breakdowns, each at first of the product construct and all through the method because the product (and visible) developed.
Info Fragmentation
All of us get dozens of paperwork from completely different locations all through our careers. Maintaining observe of them is troublesome and as soon as you discover them determining how the data pertains to what you’re at present engaged on could be much more difficult.
Considered one of our primary targets in constructing this new app for Jira was to have each the massive image view and the smaller puzzle items all dwelling in a single place. We wished anybody to have the ability to rapidly see total progress, know who’s engaged on what, and perceive the place the work match into the better entire. As a result of our new software is related to Jira, and each different kind of doc was hooked up, we spent much less time trying to find issues or having to make sense of them. It took a number of months to get into the behavior of sending and storing issues in a single place, however ultimately, it was properly price it.
Defective Reminiscence
Everybody forgets issues. Having a visible plan finally ends up being a giant assist in remembering issues precisely since 65% of people are visible learners. Now you’re now not simply counting on phrases, however on footage too. Along with serving to you bear in mind higher, it’s a good way to report issues to jog your reminiscence later.
We discovered utilizing Gliffy Challenge, we had extra particular and shorter conversations. Reasonably than counting on our reminiscences, we pulled out the visible plan and referred to issues straight within the diagram. As an alternative of questioning when that drop-down menu could be prepared, anybody may pull up the wireframe and test to see the ticket assignee and standing.
Aspect be aware: We saved a TON of time writing tickets. As an alternative of getting to jot down prolonged paragraphs describing what we have been referring to, we might simply add a hotspot and say “repair this factor right here.”
The suggestions from engineers was that the picture, whether or not a diagram, structure, UML, screenshot, or different visible, was extra useful in figuring out their subsequent plan of action or piece of labor. The 2 photos under are of the very same Jira epic. Which one is less complicated to grasp?
Possibility 1:
Or choices 2:
So, Is There a Higher Means?
A single software by itself has no probability of fixing advanced points and giving groups the readability, confidence, and connection they should construct merchandise in a greater method. Through the technique of constructing a product to assist others construct merchandise was that footage (diagrams, screenshots, images of a whiteboard and many others.) have been the important thing to overcoming the three Cs talked about earlier.
Having to give you an agreed-upon visible earlier within the construct course of made us work collectively extra successfully. It compelled us:
- To ask higher reply questions concerning the product earlier, as a result of we couldn’t cover behind the vagueness of phrases.
- To get extra particular when asking and answering questions as a result of the broad strokes have been documented within the visible.
- To get into the behavior of updating the visible and noting the adjustments as quickly as they have been agreed upon as a result of folks have been anticipating the visible plan to be the supply of fact.
Have been we capable of enhance our product-building course of? Completely.
Was it solely due to the brand new software, Gliffy Challenge? Completely not.
There’s a higher technique to construct software program, nevertheless it has to start out with a greater method of working collectively as a staff. So whether or not you take a look at Gliffy Challenge or discover one other method of getting your staff aligned, do it quickly. These scary stats aren’t going anyplace, however there are too many superb, game-changing new merchandise to be constructed to ever surrender making an attempt.
Strive Gliffy Challenge for Jira
