Business Scope is the second step in the Progressive Elaboration process. In order to understand the technical complexity in more detail and eventually break the Epics into Features and Stories, we need to first understand the Business and UX architecture.

In the A2F Framework, the Business Architecture is helpful to:

  • Analyze and design in support of business strategy execution.
  • Analyze of the why, what, how, where and why of a business.
  • Analyze and design of business strategies, models, structures, programs, processes, capabilities and metrics.

The Business Architecture is derived from the Enterprise & Program Portfolio Vision and drives the Technology Architecture. Its theoretical scope is extremely broad. In practice, business architecture teams such as Product Managers are typically focused on programs of strategic importance to a business such as transformation to a new business model.

The Business Architecture should address the following:

  • Business Strategy - Typically includes the high-level Business Goals and Objectives and a document describing the Target Operating Model.
  • Business Services - This describes the products and services an organization offers and sells to its customers.
  • Business Information - This describes the structure of the business information needed by each business processes and information created by business processes. Includes knowledge and meaning.
  • Business Processes - This defines the business processes, organization structure and roles that are required to define and operate an organization.
  • Business Events - This defines the triggering events received by the organization to which it must respond, and the outgoing notification events that an organization creates.
  • Event Value Chains - This defines the flow and sequence of business processes/activities that are triggered by a business event and resulting in added value.
  • Organization Architecture - This defines the organization structure, roles and responsibilities that are required in an organization.
  • Business Functions - This defines the functions and capabilities that are required within the organization.
  • Organization Services - This defines the services that are provided by people (as opposed to those provided by applications).
  • Capabilities - This defines the functions, behaviors and services that may be provided by the organization units (internal Actors and Business Roles).

 

Business Architecture Flow

Below is an example of a Business Architecture model. It is important to note that the Program Portfolio may have an existing model, therefore, during Progressive Elaboration - the intent would be to review and update as needed.

Architecture Model

UX Architecture

    Most people think of architecture as just a part of putting up a heavy building but it is not. It is about:

  • Adaptability - Think about how your users are working with it rather than how you imagined it and iterate based on those insights. The open plan has revolutionized the architectural world and gave back the freedom of changing spaces according to user needs. Agile and lean are following a similar path.
  • Users come first - You are taking someone’s time and/or space and modeling it. Better be worth it or they will hate it and dump it right away.
  • Interpretation - Don’t try to build a massive violin, think about what the violin means and find a way to show that. Think about interactions. You are playing in 4 dimensions, with natural and artificial light, color and proportion to influence perception over time. Think about how people will feel and function while they are in touch with this reality. Great buildings and products show the value of simple things by creating experiences. Interpretation is a basis of this subtlety.

So, What is User Experience?

User Experience (UX) is about how we react to the things around us; what we see, what we smell, what we hear, and what we feel. It is a collective impression that we use to help us form opinions on various things. Think about this morning's breakfast. Can you smell the coffee? Can you taste the jam on your toast? Can you feel the coolness of the metal spoon as you lift it? The answers to some of these questions will be positive, and some will be negative. But regardless of the individual answers, they will contribute to your overall impression of the meal, your user experience.

What Does a User Experience Architect Do?

User experience architects focus on controlling the outcomes of our experiences. It is their job to ensure that we arrive at a desired conclusion or conclusions when we come into contact with their product or service. In order to accomplish this, user experience architects follow a set of principles. They are:

  • Be Relevant - ensure that the experience presents a specific message or follows a theme, and that the experience promotes that message or theme.
  • Be Relatable - ensure that the user can relate to the experience. It must have meaning to them.
  • Be Leading - keep the user apprised of progress. In other words, provide status and error messages.
  • Be Clear and Concise - don't muddy the waters, or mince words.
  • Be Focused - stay on your message or theme. Don't get distracted, or introduce anything that leads the user away from your objective.

By following these principles, they can create storyboards, user journeys, and paper prototypes to explain an outcome or experience.

Creating the high-level user experiences and outcomes at in the Business Scope step of the Progressive Elaboration is critical to help the Leads and others understand what the Epic is about and eventually size based on complexity.