Client Top-obaly

Long-term plan and current needs

Right from the start it was clear this would be a long-term partnership. Planning came next, initially on an annual basis. We met and put together requirements and plans for what would be worked on over the next 12 months.

Over time it became clear this method wasn’t working. Continuous planning was needed – having an annual outlook while also responding to current needs.

To plan long-term and have clearly defined collaboration goals, we still put together an annual plan. Long-term planning is complemented by regular meetings that help us stay on track and discuss new tasks.

„The annual plan is the main compass setting the direction of what we need to do. It allows us to plan the work and capacity of developers and other Proof & Reason team members in advance. Regular weekly status calls then allow us to be more flexible.“

Tomáš Pelán

Marketing specialist, Top-obaly.cz

A backlog that fits all ideas

The foundation of planning and collaboration with Top-obaly.cz is a backlog from which a regularly updated plan is created.

We record all ideas that come in:

• from the client, their needs, requirements and wishes for what they’d like to improve on the website, or what works at competitors,
• from customer research, where we regularly collect feedback and look for opportunities to improve the e‑shop and the entire service,
• from us, based on experience and practice from other e‑shops, or based on proven trends.

Prioritisation and planning with Shape Up

From the ideas, we need to select those that are a priority and will be addressed first. We consider:

• the benefit of the solution for the client’s business and their customers,
• but also the efficiency in terms of usability and feasibility of the solution
• or its complexity and return on investment.

We validate every idea with data from our own research or external studies. This reduces the risk that the client would invest in a solution that ultimately wouldn’t work.

We then design the solution and estimate its complexity. The principle of describing ideas is based on the method Shape Up by Basecamp. For each idea we prepare a description that includes:

• goals and expected benefits,
• problem definition,
• sketches – rough proposals of what the solution could look like,
• scope and task complexity determined using the T‑shirt Sizing method – assigning tasks letters from S to XL.

„Proof & Reason considers above all whether the solution will work and deliver what we expect from it. We select the needs with the greatest business benefit. Together we determine priorities and decide what to tackle.“

Tomáš Pelán

Marketing specialist, Top-obaly.cz

Aligning priorities in regular meetings

In addition to the annual planning meeting, we have found regular video calls, known as status calls, to be invaluable. A call with the client, at which only the project manager from Proof & Reason is usually present, or someone else from the team when their expertise is needed.

Regular calls last up to half an hour and we manage to cover:

• what we have been working on and what we will work on next,
• what company news might affect the plan,
• whether the client is dealing with a problem we could help with,
• whether we have an idea that should be included in the long-term plan,
• and what the current priorities, goals and tasks are.

We don’t wait for status calls with urgent problems and needs. If a bug appears on the e‑shop, we fix it immediately.

We refine the system to maximise benefits for both sides

The way we manage the collaboration has evolved gradually – from an almost unstructured stream of tasks to today’s system of collecting ideas, prioritising them and communicating regularly with the client.

We’ve set up the entire process to suit both sides and we continuously improve it. This helps us work as one team with Top-obaly.cz, not as client and vendor. We see their passion and drive to improve the project.

We cover the collaboration with Top-obaly.cz in more detail in an article on our blog.