
Agile Product Management with Scrum book uses real-world examples to demonstrate how product owners can create successful products with Scrum.
Summary
Title: Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love
Author: Roman Pichler
Themes: Agile, Career, Cases, Technology, Management, Business
Year: 2010
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 0321684133, 9780321684134
Pages: 160
In Agile Product Management with Scrum, leading Scrum consultant Roman Pichler uses real-world examples to demonstrate how product owners can create successful products with Scrum.
"... A good product owner’s intensity of focus and responsibility for success are clearly illustrated in this book but rarely seen in product companies or on IT teams. We need a compelling picture of a great product owner along with the specifics of how to execute the role, and Roman Pichler has provided an outstanding guide..." - Jeff Sutherland
He describes a broad range of agile product management practices, including making agile product discovery work, taking advantage of emergent requirements, creating the minimal marketable product, leveraging early customer feedback, and working closely with the development team.

Benefitting from Pichler’s extensive experience, you’ll learn how Scrum product ownership differs from traditional product management and how to avoid and overcome the common challenges that Scrum product owners face.
"... Being the product owner is no solo act. The product owner is part of the Scrum team and closely collaborates with its other members. While the ScrumMaster and team support the product owner by jointly grooming the product backlog, the product owner is responsible for making sure that the necessary work is carried out..."
"... The product owner must be an effective communicator and negotiator. The individual communicates with and aligns different parties, including customers, users, development and engineering, marketing, sales, service, operations, and management. The product owner is the voice of the customer, communicating customer needs and requirements and bridging the gap between “the suits” and “thetechies.” Sometimes this means saying no and other times negotiating a compromise..."
"... The product owner must have enough authority and the right level of management sponsorship to lead the development effort and to align stakeholders..."
"...Prioritization directs the team’s work by focusing the team on the most important items. It also freezes the backlog contents progressively. As mentioned before, items are detailed according to their priority..."
"... Estimating product backlog items allows us to understand their rough size and the likely effort necessary to provide them. That’s helpful for two reasons: It facilitates prioritization, and it allows us totrack and forecast the project’s progress..."
This book is an indispensable resource for anyone who works as a product owner or expects to do so, as well as executives and coaches interested in establishing agile product management. Roman Pichler did a great job describing many relationships, and of course, focused on the many relationships that the Product Owner has.
1 - Understanding the Product Owner's Role
The Product Owner Role
Desirable Characteristics of a Product Owner
Visionary and Doer
Leader and Team Player
Communicator and Negotiator
Empowered and Committed
Available and Qualified
Working with the Team
Collaborating with the Scrum Master
Working with Customers, Users, and Other Stakeholders
Scaling the Product Owner Role
The Chief Product Owner
Product Owner Hierarchies
Choosing the Right Product Owners
Common Mistakes
The Underpowered Product Owner
The Overworked Product Owner
The Partial Product Owner
The Distant Product Owner
The Proxy Product Owner
The Product Owner Committee
Reflection
2 - Envisioning the Product
The Product Vision
Desirable Qualities of the Vision
Shared and Unifying
Broad and Engaging
Short and Sweet
The Minimal Marketable Product
Simplicity
Ockham’s Razor
Less Is More
Simple User Interfaces
Customer Needs and Product Attributes
The Birth of the Vision
Using Pet Projects
Using Scrum
Techniques for Creating the Vision
Prototypes and Mock-ups
Personas and Scenarios
Vision-Box and Trade Journal Review
Kano Model
Visioning and the Product Road Map
Minimal Products and Product Variants
Common Mistakes
No Vision
Prophecy Vision
Analysis Paralysis
We Know Best What Is Good for Our Customers
Big Is Beautiful
Reflection
3 - Working with the Product Backlog
The DEEP Qualities of the Product Backlog
Detailed Appropriately
Estimated
Emergent
Prioritized
Grooming the Product Backlog
Discovering and Describing Items
Discovering Items
Describing Items
Structuring the Backlog
Prioritizing the Product Backlog
Value
Knowledge, Uncertainty, and Risk
Releasability
Dependencies
Getting Ready for Sprint Planning
Choosing a Sprint Goal
Preparing Just Enough Items Just in Time
Decomposing Items
Ensuring Clarity, Testability, and Feasibility
Sizing Items
Story Points
Planning Poker
Dealing with Nonfunctional Requirements
Describing Nonfunctional Requirements
Managing Nonfunctional Requirements
Scaling the Product Backlog
Use One Product Backlog
Extend the Grooming Horizon
Provide Separate Backlog Views
Common Mistakes
Disguised Requirements Specification
Wish List for Santa
Requirements Push
Grooming Neglect
Competing Backlogs
Reflection
4 - Planning the Release
Time, Cost, and Functionality
Quality Is Frozen
Early and Frequent Releases
Quarterly Cycles
Velocity
The Release Burndown
The Release Burndown Chart
The Release Burndown Bar
The Release Plan
Forecasting Velocity
Creating the Release Plan
Release Planning on Large Projects
Common Baseline for Estimates
Look-Ahead Planning
Pipelining
Common Mistakes
No Release Burndown or Plan
Product Owner in the Passenger Seat
Big-Bang Release
Quality Compromises
Reflection
5 - Collaborating in the Sprint Meetings
Sprint Planning
Definition of Done
Daily Scrum
Sprint Backlog and Sprint Burndown
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
Sprint Meetings on Large Projects
Joint Sprint Planning
Scrum of Scrums
Joint Sprint Review
Joint Sprint Retrospective
Common Mistakes
The Bungee Product Owner
The Passive Product Owner
Unsustainable Pace
Smoke and Mirrors
Reporting Up the Sprint Burndown
Reflection
6 - Transitioning into the Product Owner Role
Becoming a Great Product Owner
Know Yourself
Develop and Grow
Get a Coach
Ensure That You Have Sponsorship from the Right Level
You’re Not Done Yet
Developing Great Product Owners
Recognize the Importance of the Role
Select the Right Product Owners
Empower and Support the Product Owners
Sustain the Application of the Product Owner Role
Reflection
Roman Pichler is a product management expert specializing in digital products. He has more than 15 years of experience in teaching product managers and product owners, advising product leaders, and helping companies build successful product management organizations.
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