Criteria: Use Cases to Support

Every product has a set of use cases (usage scenarios, applications, missions) that it is designed to support or enable.  Obviously, a product that addressed more user needs and the needs of more users will find a larger number of customers who are willing to pay for it.

Consider the following criteria when prioritizing the use cases that your product will support:

You should set a specific Must limit (your “line in the sand” or walkaway point) for each factor.  You should also identify your realistic “Ideal” value, the best you can hope for out of any real-world alternatives.  Once you’ve identified these values, set the relative importance of the criteria by dragging them into the appropriate priority bands.  Then you are ready to use the Think it Through tool to evaluate your alternatives.

Our Decision Driven® Strategy web service includes a Roadmap view that displays the alternatives for any decision on a time scale.  Once you have prioritized your use cases by scoring them in the Think it Through window, just set the start dates on the high value use cases.  Presto - you have the start of a Product Roadmap that can then be enriched as you work through additional design decisions (Feature Set, Product Architecture, etc.).