The non secret formula
In a recent management meeting, we were planning future work. We were discussing where we should bet our efforts, and how we should prioritize the pieces of work that were on the table. The discussion quickly turned HIPPO. We have seen this happen before. These priorities are hard to explain and defend. Neither stakeholders nor people doing the actual work understand why. When pushed management risk slipping into explaining their priorities with because I say so. This creates disengagement and a continuum of the debate of opinions.
We realized that this was a situation we wanted to avoid. Instead, we started talking about how we would prioritize the work. We started listing important factors that would be part of our decision on how to prioritize work items against each other. We came up with a number of categories and started rating the items and giving each category a weight. By doing this we created the first draft of a prioritization formula. A transparent way to explain how and why we prioritize. The idea is for our stakeholders to understand why their request has a specific position on our backlog, and for our team members to understand which work is the most important. We can still discuss and disagree, but now we will be discussing the formula and data, instead of people’s opinions. We took the first step towards making data-driven decisions.
This reminds me of a story a good friend of mine that works as a medical doctor, sometimes serving in the emergency room. He said that people are usually very upset about having to wait, even if they come in with something minor. He found that it often helps to explain to the patients why they are waiting — and what is keeping the doctors so busy. I know your hand hurts, and you just want to get home as quickly as possible, but we are right now attending to a child that was badly hurt in a car accident.
One of the most powerful examples of this transparency through a formula at play is the Management 3.0 practice of Salary Formula where people are paid according to a formula that is open for anyone. These are data-driven decisions at it’s best.
