An Intake Process Isn't Enough

Data teams are buried under ad hoc requests.

Many think the answer is having an intake process, but an intake process is necessary but not sufficient.

What happens after a stakeholder submits an intake?

Do you respond immediately? Does the stakeholder get notified? When does it get prioritized?

Without answers, you're still in a hole trying to climb out.

Why an intake form isn't enough

An intake form simply allows stakeholders to go to one place to submit requests.

You don't have to worry about getting Slack messages, emails, and having individual team members getting tapped on the shoulder. All your requests go to one place so you know where they are and stakeholders know how to ask questions.

But only having intake form creates other problems.

Once a request is on your backlog, what happens next? Does the manager pick it up? Does a team member work on it immediately? Is it prioritized at some other time?

When you don't have a process to answer these questions, you create the worst condition for your stakeholders, unclear expectations.

Where the intake process stops, the Triage Process begins.

The Triage Process

This process starts after a stakeholder submits a request.

Your team needs to answer these questions:

1. When will the request be reviewed?
2. Who will gather and finalize requirements?
3. When is the request ready to work?
4. How does it get prioritized and worked?

When you have answers to all of these questions, you have a solid Triage Process.

All you have to do is ensure your team follows the process and stakeholders understand it.

Workflows are smooth when expectations are aligned.

A real Triage Process

This is what the Triage Process looks like for my team:

1. When will the request be reviewed?
   1. Tuesdays and Thursdays in our team meeting.
2. Who will gather and finalize requirements?
   1. We decide as a team and assign the ticket based on who will gather and finalize requirements.
3. When is the request ready to work?
   1. When requirements are finalized with stakeholders and we update the ticket status to "Ready to Work".
4. How does it get prioritized and worked?
   1. Every two weeks we plan our work for the following sprint. We only review "Ready to Work" items. We measure requests against our core company initiatives to determine what's highest priority and decide what we will work on.

This process eliminates confusion. Stakeholders know how to make requests and we know how to triage them.

Stakeholders no longer ask, "what happened to my request?".

You have it under control.

Just like a good leader should.