Product Inception & User Story Mapping

Course Overview

Alignment is fundamental to the success of any team, product or project. Without alignment, there can be duplication of work, misunderstanding, conflict, lack of trust and ultimately, can result in the waste of time, resource(s), and people. Inceptions (which can also be known as kick-offs, discovery, Sprint Zero, etc.) bring team members, leadership, users and interested parties together in a collaborative workshop at the start to build that alignment and trust before any development begins.

In this session we will explore the main aspects of an Inception Workshop (ie: vision, success metrics, mapping of interested parties, story map, etc) while also diving into some aspects of how to facilitate an Inception workshop for a team. As a large component of Inceptions, this workshop will also give participants a hands-on introduction to story mapping. We will learn how story mapping builds alignment on what to build, what not to build, and on the prioritization of work.

Learning Objectives

• Understand what an Inception Workshop is, who should attend, and when to do one
• Understand the inputs that are pivotal to a successful Inception workshop (ie: vision, personas, etc).
• Explore different techniques, room-setups, and locations for a successful Inception Workshop
• Understand the difference between a technical backlog and a user story map
• Build a user story map for a chosen product to gain hands-on experience and feedback
• Know the difference between epics, stories, and tasks and how they relate to each other

What you will get

• 2.5 hours of engaging and interactive training by a hands on practitioner and trainer
• Slides and templates to help you put into practice what you have learned
• Earn 3 Scrum Education Units (of the 20 required), under the “Learning” category, towards your Scrum Alliance certification renewal requirement. https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/scrum-education-units
• A 1-hour follow up ask-me-anything session to ask specific questions after you’ve had time to apply what you’ve learned

Recommended Pre-requisite

• Certified Scrum Master or Certified Scrum Product Owner
• Minimum of 1 year of practical experience using Scrum

About the Trainer

Kristi Meredith has worked as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach & Trainer in both the Public and Private Sectors on a range of software, construction, policy and hardware projects. Through her experience, she offers a wide range of services to clients, specializing in Agile & Scrum coaching, team culture & team building, visual management and graphic facilitation, and workshop facilitation. Her objective and passion is to help teams and organizations find alignment and process that enables them to deliver value to customers while also building and sustaining a people-first, positive workplace culture. She is a Certified Scrum Professional (CSP-SM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) practitioner, Certified Disciplined Agilist, and an expert in the incorporation of visuals in both facilitation and information radiators.