Focus on delivering value

As developers, designers, project managers and team leaders, we know how to work together to deliver great solutions with Drupal. However, we've found that no amount of technical, design or project management discipline is able to guarantee success unless everyone understands the business value of the solution being created.  More important than creating great designs or great code is understanding why the product we're building is needed, and how it will change the lives of the people who interact with it. To create world-beating products with Drupal, this understanding of the product's purpose is essential.

At Fluxus we have developed Focus, a complete workflow for project delivery. We begin with the business case and this flows through to the design, development and delivery of each individual feature. In this pragmatic talk I will be lifting the lid on our process, sharing our experience of what has worked well - and what hasn't.

The Focus development workflow puts an emphasis on teamwork, with diverse individuals contributing to a single shared vision of the product being developed.  By empowering the whole team, and running an inclusive process that bridges divides between business and technology, we find that outcomes are better, failures and waste are reduced and team engagement and enjoyment is increased.

This presentation will be invaluable for organisations of all sizes - from small agencies to large corporations, as it builds on our experience in delivering large-scale and smaller projects alike.  It will explain techniques including impact mapping, lean UX, BDD and kanban, and will also demonstrate how these techniques can be used together in practical, real-world situations.

Our aim in sharing this knowledge is to help build an understanding of value-driven project management within the Drupal community, as we have found it to be extremely effective and believe that the community as a whole could benefit from wider knowledge of this approach.