What’s in the Product Vision for Testers? Part 2

A more formal type of modelling session would be the Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions. It is a facilitated and highly structured meeting that specifies roles, rules, and suggestions for room arrangement. These sessions are typically held at the early parts of the project, and iterates on the different parts of the application. Participants in JAD sessions include: the executive sponsor, subject matter expert, facilitator, and key users. Before a JAD session, a well-defined agenda is distributed among the participants and an information package that everyone is expected to read. When the JAD sessions take place, the participants come up with documents that detail business activities and system interfaces with use cases and business models. JAD sessions help with faster development, because clients are involved throughout the development process.

When testers participate in modelling sessions, they can provide insights on integration points, possible defects, and suggestions on how to better design portions of the system. They should also listen to the users who are part of the sessions to better understand their needs, which will later on help them test the application better.

The Product Vision

According to Roman Pichler, coming up with the product vision must answer the following questions:

1. Who are the target customers and users? Are the two different?
2. What problems will the product solve?
3. What attributes of the product will satisfy the customer needs?
4. Who are the internal and external competitors, and how do they perform?
5. What is the time-frame and budget for the project?

This Product Vision template by Geoffrey Moore briefly captures the answers to the questions above in this simple statement:

• For [target customer],
• Who [statement of need or opportunity]
• The [product name] is a [product category]
• That [key benefit or reason to buy]
• Unlike [primary competitive alternative]
• Our product [statement of primary differentiation]

The groundwork done from the market research, business case development, and modelling sessions will help the Product Owner and the development team create the product vision. Everyone in the project must be involved, and testers must play their strengths in refining the product vision. They are a vital part in ensuring the quality of the product, and preventing defects by letting the team understand the requirements better is more cost-effective in the long run.

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