Strategy & Direction · master area

Initiative Identification

Naming the multi-cycle bet. Bigger than a feature, smaller than a portfolio bet. Contains a population, a journey, a falsifiable bet, an unvalidated assumption, a success signal across cycles, and a dated kill criterion. Without the kill criterion, the initiative is a wish.

Owners: PO + Leadership Phases it lives in: Why We Build (named) and Before We Build (briefed)

Where it lives in the chain

• Why We Build · Initiative Identification — the canon
• Before We Build · Initiative Brief — where the identification becomes a signed artefact

How to do this

• Practice — Writing Initiative Briefs · Kill criterion
• Template — Initiative Brief
• Clinic — An initiative without a goal
• Skill path — Leadership foundations · Step 9 · PO foundations

Related crafts

• Goals & Objectives — what initiatives ladder up to
• Portfolio Management — where active initiatives live together
• Initiative Brief (Product Definition) — the artefact the identification produces
• Value Declaration — the economic frame