Should We Do It
Can We Do It
Will We Do It
Answer these three questions before you start on any large initiative
Asking Should we do it starts a conversation around whether this is strategically aligned with our goals and objectives.
Asking Can we do it then moves the conversation to whether or not it’s technically feasible, what types of architectural enablers might we have to invest to deliver on this idea?
Once we have answered the Can we do it then we need to move onto the important aspect that will drive the final decision do it — Cost.
Just because we CAN do something doesn’t mean we SHOULD. At one organization the business came to us with an awesome idea (no really it was) but when we told them that could take more than 20 sprints to accomplish (almost a year) the business said that it would be valuable to them if it was 4–6 sprints but not more than 20. This caused them to go back to the drawing board to refine their objective goals.
Once we evaluate the strategic alignment, technical feasibility, and the potential cost of initiatives, only then are we ready to pull the trigger to invest in this idea.
Asking the Will we do it, provides everyone an ability to confirm that this is the right decision and then make that investment decision transparent to the organization.
It may sound non-Agile in approach (it’s not Discovery is an important component) but before we invest our teams in large Initiatives we should take some time to assess whether that is a good idea to do it in the first place. Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should.