13 Pro Tips To Help Tech Leaders Prioritize Internal Tickets
Bob Fabien "BZ" Zinga (版主) ????????
Award-Winning Silicon Valley Senior Cyber Executive | CISO | Board Director & Advisor | IW Commanding Officer | Business Enabler | Author | Keynote Speaker | Coach | C|CISO | CISSP-ISSMP | M.S. | MBA | #BlackLivesMatter
No matter what their role in the company, every team (and team member) can feel as if their tech concern or wish list is the most important issue there is—but not everything can be the top priority. Ultimately, it’s the tech team’s leaders who have to make the call.?
Figuring out which internal requests should be bumped up the queue and which can simmer for a while requires technical know-how, critical thinking and experience. Luckily, the tech industry leaders of?Forbes Technology Council ?bring all those qualities to the table. Below, 13 of them share tips to help tech leaders and their teams prioritize internal bugs, tickets and feature requests.
1. Prioritize the whole over the individual.
It is critical to weigh the request against the corporate strategy. Ask yourself this question: What request will not only make a big impact on the organizational level of the requestor but also on the corporate level? -?Dave Priscak ,?ON Semiconductor
2. Convene to estimate each project’s impact and the effort required.
Start with a team that’s aligned on purpose and a culture of trust. Convene the stakeholders and have each of them assess each project’s impact toward that purpose as well as the degree of effort required. Often different opinions aren’t due to differences of purpose but rather the imperfect information each individual has at their disposal when estimating impact and effort. Have a single accountable person take all this in to make the call. -?Mike Tung ,?Diffbot
3. Map requests to customer and business needs.
The strategy I use to prioritize internal bugs, tickets and feature requests is to map them to either a customer or business need or an internal efficiency metric. If a request scores high on one of these aspects, then it gets a higher priority in the list. Everything the team works on has to tie back to getting tangible value. This helps move the product and company in the right direction. -?Deepankar Das ,?Sureline Systems
4. Consider the cost-to-impact ratio.
It’s always best to look at technology prioritization through a cost-to-impact ratio. Measuring impact can be difficult—it could be time savings, productivity gain, user satisfaction or friction removal for X number of users or customers. Divide by the cost to implement, and you have a ratio. Those projects with the highest ratio should be prioritized. -?Michael Adler ,?N-able
5. Start with supporting organizational objectives.
We focus heavily on cascading goals and metrics. We first set our objectives at the organizational level, then develop departmental aims to support the organizational vision and the individual intents for the departmental targets. Once the entire organization is aligned on our overarching set of tactics, it is much easier to set priorities for smaller issues such as bugs, tickets and feature requests. -?Fardad Zabetian ,?KUDO
6. Consider the value the work will bring to customers.
Impact and value are the two factors I’ve used to prioritize work. How many customers does the bug or new feature impact, and what is the magnitude of the value they will receive? These considerations also need to be balanced by internal factors such as time and technical risk. -?Laureen Knudsen ,?Broadcom
领英推荐
7. Maximize existing resources.
One strategy is to maximize your current resources. Suppose a software request is a duplicate of existing software. In that case, it does not make sense to spend more money on functionality we already have. Another example is to “Eat one’s own dog food”—meaning, if the company develops software, it must be used to its full extent internally, which both reduces cost and provides internal beta testing. -?Bob Fabien Zinga ,?Directly, Inc/U.S. Navy Reserve
8. Always consider the big picture.
Great product leaders consider the big picture before prioritizing any initiative. For example, a high-ROI project may seem tempting, but it might delay insights that would better inform the long-term vision. Continually identify what’s blocking the next stage of growth. If you’re transparent with your team about how their ideas fit into the bigger picture, you’re more likely to win their support. -?Pete Kistler ,?BrandYourself.com
9. Ensure you’re part of setting organizational strategies.
The most important thing here is for technology leaders to ensure they are part of organizational strategy talks. Knowing what is important to the success of the whole company makes it easy to prioritize which issues to work on first. If we are not involved, it becomes tough to arbitrarily pick what to work on first. Tech leaders can add a lot of value as companies become digital-first. -?Mercedes Soria ,?Knightscope
10. Create a decision matrix.
Create a four-quadrant decision matrix mapping value (“high value” or “low value”) and ease (“hard” or “easy”). Anything that is “high value” and “easy” gets put at the top of the list, while anything that is “low value” and “hard” gets scrapped. The rest gets fit in depending on the available time. This can be done as a group using sticky notes and stickers to vote, which helps you get real insight from the team doing the work. -?Joaquin Lippincott ,?Metal Toad
11. Set up an execution timeline.
To expedite the decision process, I always use a simple execution timeline—meaning I figure out a realistic timeline to address each item on the list. Is it three days, six days, nine days or more? Having a simple 3/6/9 standard for a realistic turnaround time not only gives me a view of what I could decide quickly but also helps me evaluate overall resourcing. In hindsight, all the items need to be fixed at some point. -?Gene Yoo ,?Resecurity, Inc.
12. Get a clear description of the end goal.
For feature requests, have the requesting person describe the end goal instead of just the feature. You get an easy interaction and insight into their mind, and it encourages them to think about the need. It is also much easier to evaluate your IT potential or spot issues if you know the bigger picture from the user’s view instead of from a one-line feature request. -?Kevin Korte ,?Univention
13. Understand the overall direction of the company.
When I’m sitting in product talks, I’m always asked about the quandary of prioritization. At its highest level, one strategy is brutal prioritization. Know the direction of the company—are you product-led, customer-led or maybe both? Then ask yourself if these requests align with the company’s goals, all while measuring overall pervasiveness and impact on the customer and business. -?Amelia Quan ,?RollKall Technologies
Forbes Technology Council ?is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.