demystifying agile product management...the set-up • “product manager” is a job title – org...
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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 organiza:ons – “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
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Demystifying Agile
Product Management
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
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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 Management
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 Management
www.synerzip.com
Practical Reality
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• 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”
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VP or Founders
more technical more market-focused
Heroic Single Product Manager/Owner
“management”
www.synerzip.com
Dysfunctional PO/PM Organization
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VP Eng
Product Owners
VP Marketing
Product Managers
more technical more market-focused
“management”
www.synerzip.com
PM/PO Product Peers
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PM Director/ Product Strategist
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
“management”
www.synerzip.com
PM/PO: Market Mentoring
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GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
Product Owner
Senior Product
Manager
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