Manage Opportunities

(Activity) for Tier: Product

PURPOSE

Opportunities are specific project uncertainties that cause a positive impact on the project. They provide structure for managing improvement objectives for a team or project. The purpose of some activities, such as Retrospectives, is to identify opportunities for improvement. This activity provides guidance for managing opportunities. Opportunities are managed much like risks. We attempt to prioritize the most impactful opportunities that have the highest likelihood of success (typically the lowest cost). Opportunity plans increase the likelihood that the opportunity will materialize. Opportunities can be managed at multiple levels. The Project Lead ensures they are managed and may delegated the responsibility to the Scrum Master and/or Project Manager.

PARTICIPATING ROLES

• ACCOUNTABLE

  • Project Lead

• RESPONSIBLE

  • Project Manager
  • Scrum Master

INPUTS

• Opportunities identified in other activities`

ENTRY CRITERIA

• Opportunity Categories have been identified
• Opportunity Work Item Template(s) has been created

WHEN

Continuously through the life of the project

SUB-ACTIVITIES

1. Identify Opportunities

   • Proactively identify potential opportunities relating to achieving objectives. Retrospectives are the most common source. Use the categories identified while planning for risk and opportunities to help brainstorm.
   • Review the opportunities with stakeholders to determine which ones are worth tracking and developing plans for. Opportunities should relate to achieving an objective. The stakeholders vary based on the activities involved.
   • Record draft selected opportunities using the Opportunity work item and the template developed during planning.
   • Provide a succinct title that can easily remind stakeholders of the effort at a glance.

2. Develop an Opportunity Statement

   • Write a statement that captures the cause, effect, and objective within the description field. Use the template developed during ref: plan for risk and opportunities. These statements should relate to achieving an objective.

3. Analyze Opportunities

   • Consider cost, impediments, skills or training needed, regulations and contractual requirements, compliance to process, and working agreements when selecting a likelihood.

   • Select the likelihood that the opportunity will materialize from the following set: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

     • Very Low (1): Less the 10% likely.
     • Low (3): 10 to <30% likely.
     • Medium (5): 30 to <50% likely.
     • High (7): 50 to <70% likely.
     • Very High (9): Great than 70% likely.

   • Record this in the likelihood field of the work item.

   • Determine the impact of the opportunity. Attempt to quantify this by doing a relative comparison to other potential impacts and select a numeric value from the following set: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. Use the following scale to assist and record this in the impact field:

     • Very Low (1): Discussed and deemed unworthy of implementation.
     • Low (2): Minor impact, unlikely to benefit outside the team if escalated.
     • Medium (4): Moderate to large impact but can be managed through normal means.
     • High (8): Major impact that may result in significant improvements. These are typically escalated for analysis of applicability to the organization.
     • Very High (16): Major improvements that must be escalated for organization wide lessons learned.

   • Calculate the item’s exposure by multiplying the likelihood and the impact. Record this in the exposure field.

   • Prioritize the items by exposure with higher exposure indicating a greater need to mitigate risks and enable opportunities.

4. Plan Opportunities

   • For each opportunity, develop an opportunity plan and record it in the opportunity plan field.

     • Document high level options and reference external plans as needed. These options should increase the likelihood or enhance the impact of successfully materializing the opportunity.

5. Enable Opportunities

   • Continuously execute opportunity plans starting with the highest exposure items and working down the list. Set these items to the Active state and assign them to the best stakeholder to execute and monitor.
   • Assign child tasks to one or more team members best able to execute the plans. This is optimally performed by the stakeholder themselves.

6. Monitor Opportunities

   • Continuously review, update, and communicate the items starting from the highest exposure and working down.

     • Update parameters (impact, likelihood, etc.) based on execution of the opportunity plans or external changes.
     • Update tasks for items that have active plans being executed.
     • Update other aspects of the item to ensure its information is current.

   • Resolve opportunities that have been completed.

   • Close opportunities once all tasks are closed and stakeholders have reviewed and agree the item is complete.

7. Escalate Opportunities

   • Escalate any opportunity that may benefit the business unit or InnovaSystems by adorning it with an “Escalate” tag.

OUTPUTS

• List of opportunities ranked by exposure
• Opportunity Work Item marked for escalation

EXIT CRITERIA

SEE ALSO

Process Guidance Version: 10.4