demystifying agile product management - synerzip · demystifying agile product management rich...
TRANSCRIPT
Demystifying Agile
Product Management
Rich Mironov CEO, Mironov Consulting
January 22, 2014
About Rich Mironov
• Veteran product manager/exec/strategist
– Business models, pricing, agile
– Organizing product organizations
– “What do customers want?”
• 6 startups, including as CEO/founder
• “The Art of Product Management”
• Founded Product Camp, chaired first agile product manager/owner tracks
www.synerzip.com
Agenda
1. What is a product manager? An
agile product owner?
2. Finding and growing product skills
3. Product management/ownership in
distributed models
3
Demystifying Agile
Product Managemen
t
www.synerzip.com
The Set-up
• “Product manager” is a job title
– Org charts, HR category, not necessarily agile
– Reports to Marketing, Engineering or executives
• “Product owner” is an agile team role
– Part of self-organizing team
– Reports to Engineering or Program Office
• Work has to get done, regardless of title
– Sprint-level stories, backlogs, priorities, acceptance…
– Engagement with users, buyers and corporate priorities
4 www.synerzip.com
What Does A Product Manager Do?
• For commercial / revenue software…
– Drives delivery and market acceptance of whole
products
– Targets market segments, not individual customers
– “Are we building the right thing?”
• For strategic internal development…
– Drives acceptance and adoption
– Resolves inevitable competing priorities
5 www.synerzip.com
market information, priorities,
requirements, roadmaps, epics, user stories, backlogs,
personas, MRDs…
product bits
strategy, forecasts, commitments, roadmaps, competitive intelligence
budgets, staff,
targets
Field input,
Market feedback
Segmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing,
qualification, demos…
Markets & Customers Development
Marketing& Sales
Executives
Product
Management
What Does A Product Manager Do?
www.synerzip.com
Feeding The Agile Beast
Steam engine “fireman” needs to keep shoveling coal, otherwise the train will stop
IMO, agile needs 40-60% more product management than waterfall
7 www.synerzip.com
What Does a Product Owner Do
• “…represents the customer’s interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions... available to the team at any time.”
• Feeds the hungry agile beast
• Provides intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog, prioritization, acceptance
• Wins adulation of development teams
• Does portion of product management that developers see
www.synerzip.com
backlog, priorities, epics, user stories,
personas, demo feedback
product bits
Markets & Customers Development
Marketing& Sales
Executives
Product
Owner
„small p‟ Product Owner
showcase customers
www.synerzip.com
Product Owner‟s Calendar
From Catherine Connor, Rally
www.synerzip.com
Product Manager Has More Levers
• Engineering output – Product features
– Order of delivery
• Whole product/business model – Pricing
– Competitive positioning
– Distribution
– Services
11
Product manager
Product owner
After: Greg Cohen
www.synerzip.com
Why is Prioritization Hard?
• Customer/field demands always far outstrip resources
– Likely discard 80%+ of enhancement requests
• Decisions are semi-quantitative
– Huge error bars on revenue impact, market reactions, development estimates, support costs
– Short-term vs. long-term
• Incremental features grow into crufty products
– Deal-driven vs. strategic “curating”
• People and organizations matters
Confidential 12 www.synerzip.com
Product Manager Failure Modes
Product Manager fails agile team when…
• Part-timer, not engaged with team
• Lack of detail on stories
• Stale backlog
• Handwaving and bluster
• Best of intentions, but pulled in
too many directions
• “Build what I meant”
13 www.synerzip.com
Product Owner Failure Modes
Product Owner fails the market when…
• Weak on market realities: pricing,
packaging, selling cycle, upgrades,
discounting, service models,
competitive dynamics
• Disconnected from Marketing,
Sales, Support/Services
• Trading off company strategy for product features
• Confusing showcase customers with broader
market
14 www.synerzip.com
Market Failure Modes
• Delivering (big) products that don’t sell
• Commitment to outdated plans
• Urgency to start coding
• Assuming static markets
Independent of titles, how
do we reduce risk of
catastrophic failures?
15 www.synerzip.com
Agenda
1. What is a product manager? An
agile product owner?
2. Finding and growing product
skills
3. Product management/ownership in
distributed models
16
Demystifying Agile
Product Managemen
t
www.synerzip.com
What PM Hiring Managers Want
Analyzed 41 recent technology product
manager job postings
• 76% want previous PM experience
(average of 3.3 years)
• 93% want excellent verbal and written
communication skills
• 93% want a BS (68% prefer CS/EE)
• 32% want MBAs
• 88% want experience in that
company’s market segment
17 www.synerzip.com
How Development Managers Hire
• Look first for SMEs
• Huge premium on technical chops, story writing
• Rarely consider market-side experience
– Believe in rational/unemotional/technical customers
• Undervalue organizational “blocking” skills
• Can be disastrous for revenue products
www.synerzip.com
Look for Balanced Set of Talents
• Product experience, ideally
in multiple markets
• Technical enough to
succeed with your Dev team
• Demonstrated empathy for
customers
• Can deal with different
styles/personality types
Confidential 19 www.synerzip.com
Agenda
1. What is a product manager? An
agile product owner?
2. Finding and growing product skills
3. Product management/ownership
in distributed models
20
Demystifying Agile
Product Managemen
t
www.synerzip.com
Practical Reality
21
• Most development teams are
distributed
– Often in multiple locations
– Far from Marketing and Sales
• Agile development, waterfall validation
– Focus on timely delivery
• Need winning products, not just code
– Keep our product decisions agile
www.synerzip.com
Distinct Product Managers/Owners?
One way to split up work
• Product Manager
– Program-level responsibility for features, stories, teams
– Feature-level backlog, review, team-level escalations
– Intensive daily collaboration with product owners, customer prospects
– 40% scrum-of-scrums, 40% customers, 20% overhead
• Product Owner
– 100% dedicated to 1 or 2 scrum teams
– Manage/groom team backlog, write/accept all stories, sprint planning and reviews
– Solid line to product management
22 www.synerzip.com
Minimal PM/PO “Organization”
23
VP or Founders
more technical more market-focused
Heroic Single
Product Manager/Owner
“management”
www.synerzip.com
Dysfunctional PO/PM Organization
24
VP Eng
Product Owners
VP Marketing
Product
Managers
more technical more market-focused
“management”
www.synerzip.com
PM/PO Product Peers
25
PM Director/ Product Strategist
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
“management”
www.synerzip.com
PM/PO: Market Mentoring
26
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
“management”
www.synerzip.com
Delegating Stories and Acceptance?
• Varies with team, project, technical depth
• Which stories (design choices) are customer-
visible?
– Example: extra focus on UI, configuration options?
– Example: performance goal (epic) versus specific
performance improvements (stories)
• Plan ahead, negotiate a working agreement
– What kinds of story writing, to whom?
– Acceptance of which stories, to whom?
– Check in frequently: where are the bottlenecks?
27 www.synerzip.com
Take-Aways
• Product management is a superset of
product ownership
• Successful products demand real market
validation, hard-nosed economic thinking
and uncomfortable trade-offs
• Product managers need to be
near customers and markets;
product owners need to
be near development
www.synerzip.com
Questions?
www.synerzip.com
www.synerzip.com
Hemant Elhence
469.322.0349
Synerzip in a Nutshell
1. Software product development partner for small/mid-sized technology companies
• Exclusive focus on small/mid-sized technology companies, typically venture-backed companies in growth phase
• By definition, all Synerzip work is the IP of its respective clients
• Deep experience in full SDLC – design, dev, QA/testing, deployment
2. Dedicated & stable team of high caliber software professionals for each client
• Seamlessly extends client’s local team, offering full transparency
• Stable teams with very low turn-over • NOT just “staff augmentation”, but provide full mgmt support
3. Actually reduces risk of development/delivery • Experienced team - uses appropriate level of engineering discipline
• Practices Agile development – responsive, yet disciplined
4. Reduces cost – dual-shore team, 50% cost advantage
5. Offers long term flexibility – allows (facilitates) taking offshore team captive – aka “BOT” option
www.synerzip.com
Confidential
Our Clients
Call Us for a Free Consultation!
Hemant Elhence
469.322.0349
Thanks!
www.synerzip.com