Should we provide unique T-Shirt Sizing information for the canvas or just right size them to all be Smalls?
In an ideal world, we’d size everything as Small to help us move faster
Should we provide T-Shirt Sizing information for the canvas or just right size them to all be Smalls?
It’s a balancing act.
Ideally, we’d refine each Information Product Canvas until it fits a Small T-Shirt size. That helps us deliver faster and adopt an agile pattern of keeping work uniform. When everything is similarly sized and shaped, we reduce mental overhead, simplify estimation, and make prioritisation easier.
But the data reality doesn’t always cooperate. We often create the canvas early in the Information Value Stream, long before we fully understand all the data work involved. Trying to refine each canvas into a perfect Small at this stage can lead to waste. We end up spending more time decomposing than discovering or prioritising the Information Products that could actually deliver value.
If you’re working on the canvas during the Discover or Prioritise stages, the left-hand side of the Information Value Stream, it’s often better to make a pragmatic guess. A quick T-Shirt size guesstimate is good enough to inform prioritisation without getting bogged down in the detail. If it’s easy to break the canvas into smaller, more deliverable pieces, do it. If not, size it roughly and move on. You can always iterate later.
If you’re refining the canvas during the Design or Build stages, the right-hand side of the stream, that’s when you should invest in decomposing larger canvases into Small-sized Information Products. This allows you to deliver iteratively and generate value sooner.