Gather Influencers Stage

The purpose of the value stream stage “Gather Influencers” is to bring together inputs for a planning cycle. Typical inputs include: consumer demand, improvement ideas, new technology opportunities, technology lifecycle events (e.g., end-of-life), and any known policy (legal and regulatory demands) or budget constraints for the Digital Product Portfolio. Other inputs may include an internal and/or external environmental scan to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Discussion with the business is centered on Digital Product value delivery for consumers and corresponding policy requirements. The deliverable for this value stream stage is new or updated Strategic Themes and/or Strategic Objectives.

An important part of this stage is to manage the strategic roadmap of the Digital Enterprise. Throughout the IT4IT Value Streams, this roadmap will be refined from the Strategic intent to the Architecture Roadmap to the Digital Product Roadmap to the Release Roadmap.

Table 1. Gather Influencers Value Stream Stage

Entrance Criteria:

  • Consumer demand

  • Improvement ideas

Exit Criteria:

  • Defined vision

  • Strategic Themes

  • Strategic Objectives

Value Item:

  • Technology investment plan input

Activities:

  • Shall co-create vision and strategic roadmap (Business + Technology)

  • Should consider existing strategic roadmap, consumer demand, improvement ideas, and budget constraints

  • Should review standards and policies for compliance gaps and new requirements

  • May conduct an environmental scan:

    • Internal analysis to assess strengths and weaknesses

    • External analysis of the market and competitors (political, environmental, social, technical, economic, and legal) to assess opportunities and threats

  • Shall define Strategic Themes and Strategic Objectives

Examples of Participating Stakeholders:

  • Business Analyst

  • Business Stakeholder

  • Chief Security Officer

  • Compliance Manager

  • Consumer

  • Enterprise Architect

  • External Stakeholder

  • Product Manager

  • Vendor Manager

Participating Data Objects (Component):