Focus on One Target Opportunity at a Time

In the Opportunity Mapping chapter (Chapter 6), you learned that, as you work vertically down the opportunity solution tree, you are deconstructing large, intractable opportunities into a series of smaller, more solvable sub-opportunities. The benefit of this work is that it helps us adopt an Agile mindset, working iteratively, delivering value over time, rather than delivering a large project after an extended period of time.

By addressing only one opportunity at a time, we unlock the ability to deliver value iteratively over time. If we spread ourselves too thin across many opportunities, we’ll find ourselves right back in the waterfall mindset of taking too long to deliver too much all at once. Instead, we want to solve one opportunity before moving on to the next.

Focusing on one opportunity at a time allows the trio to explore multiple solutions (more on that in Chapter 8), setting up good compare-and-contrast decisions. It’s also consistent with the kanban concept of limiting work in progress. Researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland conducted a literature review on the benefits of kanban and found that software teams that use kanban see an increase in quality and consistency in delivery and a decrease in customer complaints. They found that limiting work in progress was a key component of this success²⁹.

To choose a target opportunity, you’ll need to assess and prioritize the opportunity space. However, you don’t need to assess every opportunity you encounter. Instead, you’ll use the tree structure to help you optimize your prioritization.