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Agile options

Once there is an understanding of the goal and the reality of the current situation has been analysed, we are in a good position to begin to map out the various options available:

• What are the options for moving from the current reality towards your goal?
• Are there alternative options to be explored?
• Why is this better than the existing/other solutions?
• What impact would each option have?
• What are the key elements of the options?
• Are the necessary skills/knowledge available?
• How does this option impact on dependent activities or people?
• What resources are required?
• Constraints – does the project have any limitations, obligations or restraints?
• Definition of success – what does success look like?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of this option?

A good way of thinking through the options is to map them out using sticky notes and create a roadmap of the different directions and routes you might take towards a viable solution.

Mapping the options

Draw a horizontal line on a large piece of paper to create a timeline. If you do not have any large paper, use a table, a blank wall or a window or, if you would like something more permanent, a magnetic whiteboard.

On the left, where the line starts, put the current month or year and, at the end of the line on the right, put a date when you hope to have completed your project, reached your goal or overcome your challenge.

Using sticky notes, add the actions you think you will need to carry out and the milestones you might reach on your journey between now and the date you have set. Place these along the timeline.

As you think of actions to add to the timeline, you may wish to move or add others, you may find you have alternative routes to each option. Capture and map these, and draw new lines to show decision points, if needed.

Consider where key decision points may occur: where your path may split and you will have to choose one course or another, and where on the journey these may occur. These forks in your journey may signify places where you will need to decide whether to persevere or pivot in a new direction, which could be a minor or major change.

By thinking through and mapping the options you may identify assumptions to be validated and it may uncover scenarios you have not considered previously.

By doing this, you are gaining a clearer image of whether your journey is fairly easy to predict or if there is a large degree of uncertainty. For the first, agile can help you to navigate efficiently along this fairly certain path but, with metrics and measures, check you are still on course and your actions are valid. In the second, it helps to show you where there is uncertainty and helps to identify the actions necessary to learn more.

Of course, we need to be mindful that along our journey, external and internal factors are likely to change, which may influence our direction and the actions we can take. We may also identify that our initial conclusions may be based on a number of assumptions, and this is our best guess at what it may look like at the start of our journey.

As mentioned previously,

journeys are often like a game of Snakes and Ladders in that we do not know what shortcuts or setbacks we may land upon on the way.

This is a great exercise to do with your colleagues or your customers to help gain context, understand assumptions, identify ideals, consider uncertainty and identify options to progress. Each option can be reviewed and the costs and benefits of each option discussed to identify which should be taken forward.