agile2016: intro to agile product management
TRANSCRIPT
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Rich MironovIntro to Agile Product Management
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About Rich Mironov
• Veteran product manager/software execo “What do customers want?”
o Organizing agile/lean product organizations
• 6 startups, including as CEO/founder• “The Art of Product Management”
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Agenda
• What’s a Product Owner?What’s a Product Manager?
• Scope and Failure Modes • Starter Organizational Models
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Where Do We Find Agile Product Managers?
• Commercial software companieso Responsible for technical delivery AND revenue results
• Scaled-up agile organizationso At product / portfolio / strategy levels
• Usually a formal position
Our focus is on jobs-to-be-done and skills, not titles
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Scrum Teams
fromDanRawsthorne&DougShimp:“ExploringScrum- theFundamentals”
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• Usually one PO per team, not one PO per product
• Intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog, prioritization, acceptance
• Represents the customer’s interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions... available to the team at any time
• Feeds the hungry agile beast
• Usually one PO per team, not one PO per product
• Intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog, prioritization, acceptance
• Represents the customer’s interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions... available to the team at any time
• Feeds the hungry agile beast
• Usually one PO per team, not one PO per product
• Intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog, prioritization, acceptance
• Represents the customer’s interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions... available to the team at any time
• Feeds the hungry agile beast
What Does a Product Owner Do?
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Feeding the Agile Beast
Steam engine “firemen” need to shovel coal constantly, otherwise the train will stop
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ProductBacklog Epics & User Stories
ReleaseBacklog Epics & User Stories
SprintBacklog User Stories
Potentiallyreleasable software
Softwarerelease
Acceptedstory(“DONE”)
ReviewDemo,feedback
RetrospectiveProcess improvement
1 day
DailyStandup
Sprint: 1 to 3 weeksNo changes in duration or goal
Release planning
Sprintplanning
Charter ReleaseRetrospectiveProcess improvement
N sprints
Agile/Scrum: Product Owner Focus
product owner focus
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What Does a Product Manager Do?
• Drives delivery and market success of whole productso Targets market segments, not individual customers
o “What does this segment need/what will it pay for?”
o Technical features, acceptance and adoption
o Resolves inevitable competing priorities
o Aligns all functional groups (development, sales,marketing, support, partners, finance…)
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Product Managers Define Value for Specific Target Segments
• Commercial software = many customerso Profitability is entirely about scale
o Nth subscriber or copy at near-zero cost
• We propose value to prospectso Customers rarely compute value/ROI for us
o “If you use our help desk automation app, your support staff will be 15% more productive”
• We segment markets for similar customerso Exclude those who want very different solutions
o Exclude those who don’t accept our proposed value
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Conversations, priorities,market information, requirements,
roadmaps, epics, user stories, backlogs, personas…
product bits
strategy, forecasts, commitments, roadmaps, competitive intelligence
budgets, staff,targets
Field input,Market feedback
Segmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing,
qualification, demos…
Markets & CustomersDevelopment
Mktg & Sales
Executives
ProductManagement
What Does a Product Manager Do?
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What Does a Product Manager Do?
• ACTIVITY and OUTPUT (what people see)o Write epics/stories, meet customers, cajole, pitch
prospects, call meetings, accept epics/stories, praise teams, distract Sales, present roadmaps, catch arrows
• OUTCOME (where we earn our salaries): o Make technical/market trade-offs for revenue and
adoption
o Deflect interruptions
o Turn away poor deals, customers and partners
o Balance short/long-term; revenue/architecture
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Product Mgmt: Inherently Political
• Logic and facts are insufficiento Your development team will never be big enough
o Sales teams paid to close deals this quarter
o HIPPO
• Responsibility without authority
• Where strategy meets implementation
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Business Value: Slightly Estimatable
• Business value error bars > effort error bars• Blending of
o Hopes for future revenueo Promises of future operational savings
o Quality (not a linear scale)
o Future development efficiencies
• Allocating our scarcest, most valuable resource (YOU!)
• Someone has to force-rank backlog/programs
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Thought Experiment
Imagine if…• Our epic/project business value
estimates were +/- 70%• 1 in 6 delivered absolutely no value
• Would that change portfolio planning?• Interactions with stakeholders?
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There’s nothing more wasteful than brilliantly engineering a product that doesn’t sell, or a project that doesn’t matter.
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Good Idea Train
• Pulls into product station every dayo From customers, sales, support, execs, engineers…
• Delivers hundreds of “good ideas” each dayo Few are new or earthshaking
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backlog, priorities, epics, user stories,
personas, demo feedback
product bits
Development
Executives
ProductOwner
‘Small p’ Product Owner
showcase customers
Markets & Customers
Mktg & Sales
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Product Manager Has More Levers
• Engineering outputo Product featureso Order of delivery
• Product/market/businesso Pricingo Competitive positioningo Partners and resellerso Service / Supporto Fit with corporate strategyo Product split, merge or EOL
Product manager
Product owner
After: Greg Cohen
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Product Managers: Oversubscribed, Overcommitted, Burning Out
Not what we intended, but…• Most product management
teams already understaffed• Product ownership adds
40-60% more critical worko Urgency of stories, backlog
grooming, sprint planning, standups, acceptance…
• One person can “do it all” for a single agile teamo But typical Dev:Product ratio is 25:1, not 10:1
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Product Manager Failure Modes
Product Manager fails agile team(s) when…• Part-timer, not engaged with team(s)• Lack of story detail, context• Stale backlog• Best of intentions, but pulled in
too many directions
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Product Owners: Typically Underpaid, Under-Spec’d, Lacking Clout
Not what we intended, but…• Selection (hiring) focuses on SME/BA,
technical skills, story writing• Little focus on market-side experience
o Engineering’s belief in rational/technical customers
o Requirements are out there to be “gathered”
• Often lack organizational blocking skills• Short-term assignment or career path?
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Product Owner Failure Modes
Product Owner fails “the business” when…• Weak on market realities: whole
product, benefits, competition, pricing, field relationships
• Unable to hold back interrupts• Showcase customers as good
proxy for broader market
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Commercial Product Failures
ProductBacklog Epics & User Stories
ReleaseBacklog Epics & User Stories
SprintBacklog User Stories
Potentiallyreleasable software
Softwarerelease
Acceptedstory(“DONE”)
ReviewDemo,feedback
RetrospectiveProcess improvement
1 day
DailyStandup
Sprint: 1 to 3 weeksNo changes in duration or goal
Release planning
Sprintplanning
Charter ReleaseRetrospectiveProcess improvement
Nsprints
Most product failures happen here
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Shared Product Scope
ProductBacklog Epics & User Stories
ReleaseBacklog Epics & User Stories
SprintBacklog User Stories
Potentiallyreleasable software
Softwarerelease
Acceptedstory(“DONE”)
ReviewDemo,feedback
RetrospectiveProcess improvement
1 day
DailyStandup
Sprint: 1 to 3 weeksNo changes in duration or goal
Release planning
Sprintplanning
Charter ReleaseRetrospectiveProcess improvement
Nsprints
product manager focus
product owner focus
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Minimal Product “Organization”
VP or Founders
more technical more market-focused
Heroic SingleProduct Manager/Owner
+ team
“management”
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Dysfunctional Product Organization
VP Eng/CIO
ProductOwners+ team
more technical more market-focused
VP Marketing
“management”
ProductManagers
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Peer Product Organization
ProdMgmt Director/Product Strategist
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
“management”
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Mentor Product Organization
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
“management”
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Agile Product Takeaways
• Product management scope includes market success as well as technical delivery
• Agile stretches/stresses commercial product organizations
• Teaming, collaboration and skills aremore important than titles
• Honest, deep, serious, ongoing validation of real customer/user value leads to best outcomes and least waste
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CONTACT
Rich Mironov, CEO
Mironov Consulting
233 Franklin St, Suite #308
San Francisco, CA 94102
RichMironov
@RichMironov
+1-650-315-7394
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