Building Magic Funnels, Part 2: Pragmatic Pedantry 31

Posted by tottinger Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:00:00 GMT

The middle of the funnel we started on needed work. While it is a simple idea that the single, most important thing in the funnel is the first to emerge from the bottom, it is a multi-flavored affair to try to manage for real.

My first strategy was to get the right people in a room and have them fight it out. I think that the prioritization process should be a lot like local government (maybe a school board?) in that people should argue and complain and push and eventually settle on compromises and deals. Ultimately, I believe that people who have a strong interest in the company can make the right decisions. At least they can be right enough for the next 5 days. When you have one-week iterations, the next chance to change the agenda is never far away.

This first strategy didn’t work out, and so we went to a backup plan. A C level manager said he knew what we should do, and so we scheduled an hour or so with him, myself, our priority manager (“funnel guy”) and the senior technical developer.

Our guys used the sticky post-it 3×5 cards and papered the CIO’s windows and whiteboards. They listed the various categories of work from the various stakeholders and pasted them up in priority order.

I asked my first pedantic question: “What is the single most important thing we can work on? If you had only one story that you knew for sure would be finished this week, which would it be?” That led to a nice discussion.

When they placed the card on the table, signifying that it was definitely in the build, I asked again if there was any one card anywhere else in the room more important. I asked if that was really the single most important one.

When the answer was “yes, absolutely” I was ready for my second pedantic question: “Now that this card is off the board, what is the single most important card left for us to do, if only two stories were guaranteed to be done.” Now the pedantry was fully exposed, but the idea had carried. The team collected all the most important stories and placed them in order on the table.

Now I was ready for my next round of pedantry.

Comments

Leave a response

  1. Avatar
    gucci louis vuitton shoes about 1 year later:

    Welcome to Freshstyleshop, the hottest urban clothing site on the net! We offer great products from Gucci sneakers, prada sneakers, LV shoes, True Religion Jeans and many more! Our selection of products are always increasing for the fact that we have new items added weekly to our selection. All products on our site are already marked down 40-60% off retail price. Freshstyleshop also backs all its orders with a 110% satisfaction guarantee, making sure that our customers are left satisfied with the hottest products on the net.

  2. Avatar
    Shirtwaist over 2 years later:

    Stripe unlined upper garment is joker sheet is tasted, pants matchs skirt is harmonious. Tie-in pants, leisure, a handsome capable of taste, tie-in skirt, appear very college diversified, melting and lovely breath, have reduced the magical age. Stripe unlined upper garment skirt collocation of whole summer, let you are young.

  3. Avatar
    Chemise over 2 years later:

    Bull-puncher knickers is always at leisure wear the limelight, cowboy comfortable and cool and refreshing knickers shading effect, it is become big period of change garments according to the spring love and melody. Loose t-shirts , vests even swimsuit can matching, become do not fall convention of change garments according to the collocation of the election.

  4. Avatar
    liding rode over 2 years later:

    OK, I got it. Thanks for your sharing. That is very interesting Smile I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this.

  5. Avatar
    jimmy choo over 2 years later:

    Tamara Mellon for this brand by a master hand with East London shoemakerjimmy choo was founded in 1996. Tamara aware of the practical fashion footwear market needs, is therefore logical to introduce this stylish footwear product line. Jimmy Choo shop Knightsbridge in London first opened its first stores that, with fun and full of beautiful and “sexy just right” design, soon to become well recognized creative footwear. In 1998, jimmy choo shoes was opened its first New York branch, then in 1999 opened its second store in Los Angeles. Brand fame, popular young Hollywood family, a red carpet on the best choice, and even jumped for the Oscar winner Halle Berry and Hilary Swank so lucky star mark. These jimmy choo handbags, jimmy choo pumps, jimmy choo sandals, jimmy choo boots have really revolutionized footwear that you should be glad to add to your collection – chick, cool and functional. You could not ask for more and it’s well worth the money you spent on them.

  6. Avatar
    Tenant Screening over 3 years later:

    Credasys offers full tenant screening, employment screening and mortgage credit checks services to property managers, landlords, and others in the real estate and rental industry.

  7. Avatar
    oxpdffr over 3 years later:

    Word en PDF Convertisseur est un bon aide dans votre travail, il est utilisé comme une imprimante virtuelle et supporte convertir tous les formats qui peuvent être imprimable en document PDF. Si vous avez d’autres besoins, ce convertisseur contient huit formats de sortie : PS, EPS, PDF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, PCX, et TIFF, vous pouvez convertir vos fichiers en ces formats. Télécharger gratuitement Word en PDF Convertisseur et prendre un essai.

  8. Avatar
    porno over 3 years later:

    To be honest, I liked your description more than Jim Highsmith’s

  9. Avatar
    cul over 3 years later:

    OK, I got it. Thanks for your sharing. That is very interesting Smile I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this.

  10. Avatar
    backup iphone sms over 3 years later:

    Keep your Contacts and SMS safe! Actually, the contacts and SMS have more values than a cell phone’s own value. You can pay money to buy a new iPhone, but cannot buy your lost contacts and SMS back. So it’s important for you to backup your contacts and SMS in iPhone. And we recommend you backup contacts and SMS regularly. Our backup software can help you take a snapshot for your contacts and SMS. Your important personal information will be never lost.

  11. Avatar
    moncler over 3 years later:

    Very few has the knack of writing such beautiful post like you do.. !!moncler mens I have been following this blog and i feel different energy while reading your post. Keep it dear buddy.. !!moncler women

  12. Avatar
    Pandora over 3 years later:

    You would want this clarity of detail if you ventured out on a lake every day to fish for dinner.

  13. Avatar
    pandora uk over 3 years later:

    Now the pedantry was fully exposed, but the idea had carried. The team collected all the most important stories and placed them in order on the table.

  14. Avatar
    Criminal Check over 3 years later:

    Now the pedantry was fully exposed, but the idea had carried. The team collected all the most important stories and placed them in order on the table.

  15. Avatar
    accounting services over 3 years later:

    OK, I got it. Thanks for your sharing. That is very interesting Smile I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this.accounting services

  16. Avatar
    Criminal Records over 3 years later:

    I was ready for my second pedantic question: “Now that this card is off the board, what is the single most important card left for us to do, if only two stories were guaranteed to be done.”

  17. Avatar
    Tenant Screening over 3 years later:

    What is the single most important thing we can work on? If you had only one story that you knew for sure would be finished this week, which would it be?” That led to a nice discussion.

  18. Avatar
    okey oyunu oyna over 3 years later:

    your post is very good. Thanks

    internette görüntülü olarak okey oyunu oyna, gerçek kisilerle tanis, turnuva heyecanini yasa.

  19. Avatar
    tony over 3 years later:

    What is the single most important thing we can work on? If you had only one story that you knew for sure would be finished this week, which would it be?” That led to a nice discussion. welcome to my air max eshop,thanks.

  20. Avatar
    http://www.toryburchsreva.com over 3 years later:

    The tory burch sale is the best !

  21. Avatar
    oilpaintings over 3 years later:

    We are dedicated to providing our clients with oil paintings by retail or wholesale online, we have thousands of paintings for sale. You can buy high-quality and discount oil paintings in our online shop.

  22. Avatar
    chaussures air max over 4 years later:

    bonjour, très bon site et post.i Nice vais vous présenter mes amis.

  23. Avatar
    burberry over 4 years later:

    We are dedicated to providing our clients with oil paintings by retail or wholesale online, we have thousands of paintings for sale. You can buy high-quality and discount oil paintings in our online shop

  24. Avatar
    amatrice over 4 years later:

    merci pour cette info

  25. Avatar
    lace front wigs over 4 years later:

    Lace Wigs, Human Hair Wigs, Synthetic Wigs, Lace Front Wigs, Full Lace Wigs, Custom Wigs -Best Lace Wigs Wholesale Store.

  26. Avatar
    gucci scarf over 4 years later:

    within one month

  27. Avatar
    drug forum over 4 years later:

    When you decide to buy medicines from online pharmacies, it is important to purchase only from licensed pharmacies in your state as well as take time to look for adequate company information.

    drug forum

  28. Avatar
    iPhone contacts backup over 4 years later:

    with iPhone contacts backup application. you can easily export the contacts on iPhone to computer or itunes easily. without too much trouble.

  29. Avatar
    iphone sms to mac backup over 4 years later:

    Most of us will delete the SMS file if the iPhone inbox is full. For some of the very important text file, you would like to save it to Mac hard drive and read it later or you need print them. So, why not export the text message to HDD and save it now?

  30. Avatar
    Wood Flooring over 4 years later:

    Could not be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!....

  31. Avatar
    rayban over 4 years later:

    ???????????? aviator?????????????http://www.e-rayban.net/ ray ban ???aviator????????????????????????????????RayBan???

Comments