Sign Ahead: En Route to Public BETA

Well, hello! Looking at the calendar, it's March. It's almost sorta warm.

Welcome back to The Digital Road Ahead, a place to share my thoughts and experiences as Product Director for DriveBC Modernization and assist in the digital transformation of the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. This will include what I'm learning and what I'm bringing to the table that's working (or not) around topics like leadership, agile, SCRUM, change management, communication, relationship building... all the things. Hopefully, it'll help others on their journeys.

Please share with anyone you think it'll be of use to.

Now on to the ideas, lessons, and musings...

Road to Public BETA

Backlog Vs Parking Lot - As the Product Owner, it's my responsibility to prioritize what's in the backlog (aka all the work to be done or considered to be done) based on user value. But, that can get a bit overwhelming when it's treated as a catchall for everything, reaching 450+ items to sift through and manage. I've heard of some backlogs being much bigger. Sadly, it wasn't really working for me. So after a recent conversation with an instructor for a course on better story mapping, I proposed a new approach.

Backlog = all tickets relevant to only the next release, all bugs prioritized by impact, and operational day-to-day work.

Parking Lot = consists of everything beyond the next iteration/release. Tickets and stories will be brought into the backlog only after user experience research and assessments in planning for the next iteration.

Having a manageable backlog (we're aiming to keep it around 150) helps me wrap my brain around it easier, as well as communicates actual progress to the team. A big backlog never looks like it's going down. A smaller one does.

Waiting for the Public Feedback - speaking of prioritizing, it's now interesting to now be at get to a point where we are making informed decisions about usability and the platform’s experience for users, but really knowing it's the public feedback that will determine if we're right, close or wrong and need to adjust.

I've said, "let's go with BLANK but I'm really curious what the public will say." And truthfully, that's extremely exciting for myself and the team to share our hard work, while embracing continuous improvement to better serve our audience. We're certainly using the user experience research we conducted last year to guide us, but it's soon time to show the public something they can touch and try to give us that next round of valuable feedback.

Lessons Along the Way

Every edition of this newsletter, I'm reaching out to those that I admire in the digital transformation space (so far including Rumon Carter, Jillian Carruthers, Justin Hewitt, Jessie Adcock, ICD.D, Nancy Norris, Savannah Murphy, Stuart Restall and Catherine Chernoff) and asking them to share their experiences.

For this month, I've asked Director for Product Development Aaron Unger from the Corporate Information and Records Management Office to answer the following question:

The greatest lesson I've learned in my journey of digital transformation is...

...lean into your strengths. You’re where you are for a reason and whatever that is, there is a place for it in your organizations. Provide the best version of you that you can to your team and trust that they will in turn do the same.

Secondly, be self aware of where you need to learn and grow so that you can broaden your skill set.

Thank you for sharing, Aaron!

Brain Food

If you're looking for a new book to feed your brain, this month I asked Senior Product Manager at Citizen Services Daniel Hirner to share a resource that's stood out for him.

I’m currently reading Remote Work Revolution by Tsedal Neeley.? I like this book as it validates a lot of assumptions I have had with my experience working remotely for a number of years.? It also provides helpful tips and guidance for building trust and culture in a digital environment.

Much appreciated, Daniel.

Big Shout Out:?Leadership Colleague

This month, I'm sharing a big kudos to Director of Data Services Jean Bishop who has been an amazing resource and safe space/sanity break for me. She provides insights, leadership, support and heavy heaps of kind candor that I appreciate immensely. I've had the absolute pleasure of working with Jean off and on for about a decade prior to my current Product Director role, and it speaks to the value of being able to rely on those trusted relationships we build over time.

Thank YOU, Jean! (I know you're going to hate that I gave you a shout out, my friend)

That's it for the March edition of The Digital Road Ahead. Thank you for being so supportive and interested in my journey and lessons along the way. If you think this newsletter would be of value to anyone else, please share and/or give it a LIKE (helps get the word out). Love to help anyone who may find this material relevant, even if it's about not feeling alone in their journey.

Until next time, cheers!