Optimizing the Copperleaf Product Roadmap

Copperleaf^® is dedicated to helping our clients around the world make better decisions. One of the keys to better decision making lies in the Copperleaf Value Framework, which acts as the basis for how investments are valued and compared across an organization. Though each client will have a unique value framework depending on their organization’s strategic objectives, the purpose is the same: to enable clients to objectively and fairly compare investments across a common scale and make informed decisions about what work should be done and when.

At Copperleaf, we strive to make the best strategic decisions for ourselves too. That’s why we’ve developed our own value framework to help us determine which investments will deliver the highest value to our clients and drive our strategic objectives, just like our clients do! We see our development teams as highly strategic resources—where we allocate their efforts is critical to ensure the long-term success of Copperleaf, and allows us to continue delivering value to our clients.

As explained in a previous article, we rely on four key drivers when deciding what to build next: the Copperleaf Community, new technology, emerging market requirements, and industry best practices. Once we identify a potential initiative, we do a cost/value analysis, develop a business case, and evaluate each one using a value framework that includes:

• Client Benefits: the increased value our clients can create from implementing the new product or feature, including the amount of time clients will save during the planning process and how the enhanced capability will better support their planning objectives and results
• Copperleaf Costs: the time and resources required to build the product or feature across all Copperleaf teams
• Copperleaf Benefits: the breadth and depth of competitive differentiation, including our ability to sell into new markets and create value
• Client Loyalty: the benefits of achieving client satisfaction to retention, referenceability, and community engagement
• Copperleaf Employee Engagement: retention of staff and knowledge, and improvement in productivity and happiness

By using our own unique value framework to evaluate our roadmap decisions, we can quantify the benefits and ensure an objective, economic prioritization of the products and features we develop. Having a value framework also helps create internal alignment because everyone is able to clearly see and understand why decisions are being made. It guarantees that we are maximizing value for Copperleaf and clients alike.