The lean canvas

Agile Method: General Overview

The Lean Canvas allows you to quickly describe a project without overlooking important elements.

Note: This post was translated from french with the help of AI. The original post was written with the knowledge of a younger me.

It is used by startups to launch their projects but can also be applied in agile methodology to maintain project coherence among multiple stakeholders.

Indeed, a good Lean Canvas allows the agile team or teams to prioritize or rewrite stories, in agreement with the Product Owner, so as not to deviate from short- or long-term objectives desired by clients.

Overview of a Lean Canvas

• The “Problem” box allows defining the project’s objective. It helps keep the direction when designing User Stories.
• The “Solution” box allows defining the minimum viable objective to achieve before production. Development User Stories should be prioritized accordingly.
• The “Key Metrics” box allows defining the priority NFRs.
• The “Unique Value Proposition” box allows defining development User Stories and priority NFRs from the start of production.
• The “Unfair Advantage” box allows defining priority Spikes from the start of production.
• The “Channels” box allows defining marketing User Stories to prioritize.
• The “Customer Segment” box allows defining user personas (including buyers personas if the project involves marketing).
• The “Cost Structure” and “Revenue Streams” boxes can be the subject of NFRs. Their analysis helps prioritize certain stories (the stories that cost the most in the sprints where revenue streams perform best, and vice versa).

From a story perspective, the Lean Canvas is the visual representation of the Saga.

Download our Lean Canvas template (odg format, LibreOffice and OpenOffice).

Sources

• The Inventor of Lean Canvas