How we linked the product backlog and our roadmaps in Aha!

Nick Fantham

Channel Manager – Retail Online Banking

We had a problem

We were trying to manage — and keep track of — a backlog with several strategic themes and investments feeding into it. Trying to understand how each feature connected to the greater scheme of things felt impossible at times — and our backlog stayed imbalanced as a result. So, prioritizing a complex backlog of features and projects with consistent metrics — and keeping this backlog up to date — was a huge challenge for our whole product team. We did our complex reporting on releases and roadmaps using a combination of spreadsheets, PowerPoint slides, and Word docs that were always out of date. We did this because we had no other way to manage our work. We could not find a tool that was complex enough to solve our needs.

Aha! as a solution

We use Aha! to map out our development roadmap. It helps us account for the various strategic themes and goals that each unit of work aims to address.

Aha! has simplified the way we manage our digital banking applications products. We use the platform to plan out our roadmap the way we do in our heads. It’s like Aha! knew exactly what we needed before we knew we needed it.

Aha! has removed all the extra labor involved in updating different documents and presentations. This enables us to maintain a product backlog with only the most important features. It also gives greater product management consistency across our different portfolios.

Life is good

Our feature prioritization is faster and clearer than ever. That’s because there is a stronger link now between our backlog and our roadmap. We have direct linkage to the various strategic themes feeding into them. To make things even better, the portfolio reporting in Aha! is simple and consistent.

Our product team used to work in fight-or-flight mode. Aha! empowers us to work with more confidence than ever.

The hours that our team spent making manual updates are done. The auto-updates within Aha! give us confidence that we always have the latest version of our work. And the presentation options within Aha! help us create several different versions of the same roadmap. This is essential for showing different audiences what they need to see.