Using Story Points to Estimate Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Apps

#98. Hey everyone, Dian Taylor is here! Dian is a two-time MVP and a director of pre-sales at RSM US. She's presenting, 'Getting Started with Power Virtual Agents' at DynamicsCon on 20 September. So I invited Dian onto the Amazing Apps show to tells us all about Power Virtual Agents and give us a sneak peek into her presentation.We discuss the summer weather in Florida and the easy life of pre-sales as well as some serious topics such as how amazing chatbots can provide an awesome customer experience while others want to make you throw your computer out the window.Discover why Dian thinks I should start my chats with "Hello, my sweet chatbot... 🥰"ResourcesDian Taylor on LinkedInD365Goddess on TwitterD365Goddess on YouTubeD365Goddess websiteRegister for DynamicsConRegister for Summit North AmericaSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

24 Aug 202118min

#97. I share five reasons why I think you should avoid analysis in advance when you're building Dynamics 365 and Power Platform applications. My five top reasons:Peak ignorance. You're analyzing the requirements during the period when your stakeholders know least about Microsoft business applications and your analysts know least about their needs. Priority categorization. Your requirement specification doesn't order the requirements by business value. Over-engineering. Your requirements are likely to lead to over-engineered complexity and a rejected user experience.Wasted effort. You're spending time chasing the illusion of completeness and putting yourself at risk of a significant change that will derail your requirements specification. Opportunity cost. By deferring deployment you're deferring the benefits, and costing your organization money.ResourcesScrum.orgCustomery AcademyAmazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

16 Aug 202119min

#96. I continue the deeper dive into the role of the Product Owner with advanced Product Owner questions. This episode covers:Can the product owner role be combined with scrum master or developer?Which product owner certification that I recommend?Making decisions about the product backlog,Whether the Product Owner needs to be technical,What's the difference between a product owner and a project manager?Whether the product owner has to accept the developers' increments in the sprint review? What does a typical sprint look like for a product owner?ResourcesBooks to support Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) certification (Amazon affiliate links):The Professional Scrum Product Owner by Don McGreal and Ralph JochamProduct Mastery: From Good to Great Product Ownership by Geoff WattsAgile Product Management with Scrum by Roman PichlerCustomery AcademyAmazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

26 Juli 202120min

#95. I continue the deeper dive into the role of the Product Owner, who is responsible for maximizing the impact of the application that the scrum team is building. And I think our product owners in Power Platform and Dynamics 365 projects have a couple of twists compared to product owners on other scrum teams. This episode covers 10 myths about Product Owners. ResourcesCustomery AcademyAmazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

13 Juli 202118min

#94. I dive deeper into getting into the right mindset to build applications.  In the last episode, we looked at ten potential candidates for the product owner role in our scrum teams building Power Platform and Dynamics 365 applications. In this episode, we're going to continue the product owner topic by helping the product owner set a product goal.This episode covers:The 2020 edition of the Scrum Guide's reference to Product Goals.Where Product Goals sit in the overall goal hierarchy.Bringing the Goal Hierarchy to life with an example from a Dynamics 365 or Power Platform project. How Product Goals and product backlogs are related.ResourcesHow to Lead in Product Management by Roman PichlerProduct Goals in Scrum | Roman PichlerProduct Goals in Scrum | Roman Pichler on YouTubeCustomery AcademyAmazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

5 Juli 202113min

#93. I dive deeper into getting into the right mindset to build applications, including using the Scrum agile approach.This episode covers:Why the Product Owner is the most critical role in the Scrum team.The accountability of the Product Owner.Which type of person within an organisation makes the best Product Owner.ResourcesProduct Mastery - from good to great product ownership, by Geoff WattsAgile Product Management with Scrum, by Roman PichlerProfessional Scrum Product Owner, by Don McGreal and Ralph JochamProfessional Scrum Product Owner training courses and the PSPO I certificationScrum.orgCustomery AcademyAmazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

28 Juni 202124min

#92. Join me with Gail Mercer-MacKay, the founder and CEO of Mercer-MacKay. They have a unique position in the Microsoft ecosystem: they help Microsoft partners clarify their marketing message and produce compelling digital content that inspires Microsoft customers to take action. Our discussion covers:Why Mercer-MacKay decided to Deploy Microsoft business applications internally.Gail's perspective on choosing a Microsoft business applications partner.The process of building the Minimal Viable Product in just 8 weeks.Hurdles and roadblocks encountered during the development of the tool.ResourcesGail Mercer-MacKay on LinkedInMercer MacKay Solutions - Digital StorytellingDaXaiMicrosoft Partner of the Year AwardsGavriella Schuster on LinkedInStoryBrand bookStoryBrand trainingAmazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

21 Juni 202137min

#91. Join me with Reza Rad, the founder and CEO of RADACAD providing Power BI training and consultancy services to thousands of Microsoft customers and partners every year. Reza's list of achievements is pretty embarrassing. He's not just a 10 times Microsoft MVP.  He's a Microsoft Regional Director. He's written over 15 books on data analytics, in addition to dozens of courses on RADACAD. He's been a speaker at dozens of industry conferences and used all of that experience to organize and host the Power BI summit for over 3000 people earlier this year, as well as the Difinity conference in New Zealand, SQL Saturday, New Zealand BI user groups, and the list goes on and on.Our discussion covers:The story behind Reza's successful training academy.The difference between the approach the Microsoft customer typically takes with a Dynamics 365 project and the approach they normally take with Power BI.Areas where Reza's Power BI customers typically run into trouble:  architectural challenges as they scale up, and visualization challenges about representing their data in a truthful, insightful way.What's coming next for Power BI which is exciting Reza and the Power BI community.ResourcesReza Rad on LinkedIn Radacad on LinkedIn Radacad Online Academy Alberto Cairo Visualization Expert Amazing Applications podcast page on LinkedInAmazing Applications podcast page on PodchaserScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free online mini-course at Customery AcademySupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

14 Juni 202148min