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.
He describes a broad range of agile product management practices, including making agile product discovery work, taking advantage of emergent requirements, creating a 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.
In "Agile Product Management with Scrum," Roman Pichler provides a comprehensive guide to using the Scrum framework to manage product development.
The book covers key concepts and best practices for creating and managing a product backlog, planning and conducting sprints, and delivering a successful product.
One key takeaway from the book is the importance of having a clear product vision and goals. Pichler emphasizes the need for a shared understanding of what the product should achieve and how it will benefit customers.
This helps to guide decision-making throughout the development process and ensures that everyone is working towards a common goal.
My Book Highlights:
"... The Product Owner is the one and only person responsible for managing the Product Backlog and ensuring the value of the work the team performs. This person maintains the Product Backlog and ensures that it is visible to everyone..."
"... Product marketers tend to be outward-facing; their primary responsibility is to understand the market, manage the product roadmap, and look after the cumulative profits across releases. Product managers tend to be inward-facing; their responsibilities consist of detailed feature descriptions, prioritization, and collaboration with the development team. In Scrum, the product owner takes on all of these responsibilities..."
"... As the product owner, your responsibility is to make sure the product backlog is well groomed—its items prioritized and its high-priority items detailed—prior to the sprint planning meeting. You will also be expected to attend the sprint planning meeting in order to clarify requirements and answer questions..."
"... A product roadmap should state for each version the projected launch date, the target customers and their needs, and the top three to five features..."
"... The product owner and ScrumMaster roles complement each other: The product owner is primarily responsible for the “what”—creating the right product. The ScrumMaster is primarily responsible for the “how”—using Scrum the right way..."
"... Whenever a requirement is entered into the backlog, ensure that the related customer need is properly understood. Ask why a requirement is necessary and how it benefits the customer. Do not make the mistake of blindly copying requirements into the product backlog, as this creates an inconsistent and unmanageable wish list..."
"... The product owner is a visionary who can envision the final product and communicate the vision. The product owner is also a doer who sees the vision through to completion. This includes describing requirements, closely collaborating with the team, accepting or rejecting work results, and steering the project by tracking and forecasting its progress. As an entrepreneur, the product owner facilitates creativity; encourages innovation; and is comfortable with change, ambiguity, debate, conflict, playfulness, experimentation, and informed risk-taking..."
"... To minimize any potential loss or damage from an inaccurate forecast, select a narrow set of customer needs and quickly release a product increment. Then inspect and adapt..."
"... As a rule of thumb, organizations should employ feature teams whenever possible and use component teams only if they must..."
"... Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying no to all but the most crucial features..."
Another important lesson is the need for regular and effective communication. Pichler stresses the importance of regular meetings, such as sprint planning and retrospectives, to keep everyone informed and aligned on the progress of the project.
He also emphasizes the importance of clear and open communication between the product owner, the development team, and stakeholders.
Pichler also highlights the importance of flexibility and adaptability in product development.
Scrum is an iterative and incremental framework, and Pichler stresses the importance of being able to adapt to changes and learning from feedback during the development process.
This helps to ensure that the final product meets the needs of customers and is successful in the marketplace.
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
Overall, "Agile Product Management with Scrum" provides valuable insights and practical guidance for anyone looking to use the Scrum framework to manage product development.
By following the principles and practices outlined in the book, you can improve your ability to deliver successful products and meet the needs of customers.
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 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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