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Investing in our software platform | April 2021 Release

April 29, 2021

This year, our focus is on improving the user experience and on helping you define and execute your strategy. Here are some updates you will find the next time platform users login:

Improving the user experience

New Parking Lot section

  • To make it more accessible we have moved the Parking Lot from the Backlog section to its own section. This will make it easier for you to add and edit new Parking Lot items.
  • Reminder: The Parking Lot is the place where you keep items that are pending review. These items can later be associated with Epics, and are discussed in Sprint reviews. The Parking Lot allows you to capture additional tasks that had not been identified as necessary earlier.

Improved visibility on Backlog item details

  • During your Sprint review, you can now access the details of a backlog item. If you click on the three dots and edit, you can now see the comments and progress wherever you are in the Sprint review process.
  • Beside the Epic and Initiative, you can now see the percentage of progression and the number of comments associated with a backlog item.

Improved Backlog filtering and ordering

  • In the Backlog section you can now filter by Epics, initiatives and status. This will make it easier for you to review what’s left to be done before the Sprint Review.

Improved Backlog assignation in the next Sprint Planning

  • Having visibility on your assigned items during Next Sprint planning was cumbersome. We have revamped the Next Sprint planning dashboard to make it easier for you to see what backlog items you have and the total effort it represents

Improvement in strategy definition and execution

More flexible Strategic Overview section

  • In the Introspection section of the strategic overview, you can now edit the label of the finance section and of the strategic concepts. For example, you could change the 10-year goal to 5-year goal by hovering on the right of the label and then clicking on Edit

Pass from voting during Set Weight

  • In the past, everybody had to vote for the effort during the Set Weight phase. When the item was not clear for everyone, this resulted in users picking an arbitrary number and the weight to pass nonetheless. To make the weight voting process more precise, you can now pass from voting. It will now show you who passed from voting and then you can have the discussion on what is required to achieve the Backlog item.

More visibility on the priority totals during Sprint Review

  • When you assign priorities during Sprint Review, you can now see the priority totals. This will make it easier to rebalance the priority and ensure that you narrow your focus for the strategy execution.

More visibility on total effort remaining and effort required per Sprint to complete your strategic plan

  • In the next Sprint Planning section of the Sprint Review you can now see Sprint KPIs and Yearly KPIs.
  • By seeing the Sprints KPIs and Yearly KPIs side by side, it will help you assess if you are on the right track to realize your yearly planning and if not, it should engender discussion about the need to groom the backlog or assign more resources to your strategic plan.

What’s coming

For the next release, we will continue improving the user experience and are working on improved analytics to see your progress throughout the year. We are also working on improved documentation for the platform methodology and features.