Where am I coming from?
• Product Ownership at scale
–Fiserv: 1 team -> 6+ teams
–Orion: Cross organisation release train
• Building products
• Large, monolithic products*
• Multiple teams working on a single release
What do I do?
• Create Backlog
• Prioritise Backlog
• Work with team to deliver backlog
• Go have coffee?
Why do I care about being agile?
“My vision for our organisation is
that we will regularly ship product
(software) that meets the needs of
our users”
Let’s break it down…
• “…regularly ship product…”
–We live in an uncertain world of unpredictable interactions
–There’s always a new client
• “…meets the needs of our users…”
–Solves their business problem (not features)
–Meets only their needs, not imagined needs
Always be delivering VALUE
Team Success
Build this feature!
Solve this problem!
Requirements Up front design
No change allowed Doesn’t work how we expected it to
Churn
Business Problem Team finds solution
Innovation
Empowerment
Validation
Did it work?
Successful Team?
“The team can understand the
business problem, self-organise
around solving it, and recognise
when it is solved”
Are we solving a business problem?
• We’ve come from a world of features
• We need to solve… OMG SHINY TECH THINGS
• Business problems tend to change less over time
”Let’s lift this up a level”
Which business problem do we solve?
Value
Architecture
Market/ Features
Quality
Tech Debt
Team Happiness
Support Delivery
Engineering
Innovation
UX
Security/ Compliance
...
What do we value?
• Varies with time, environment
• Can’t be consistently quantified
• Can be agreed on?
Quality
Timeliness
Team
Happiness
Technical
Debt
Reduction
Communicating Vision
• Between the Business and the Delivery Team(s)
• Specification by Example
• Workshops
• Never Assume
WHAT
I
KNOW
WHAT
YOU
KNOW
WHAT
WE
KNOW
Scaling
Chief Product Owner (Spotify)
Software Product Manager (Fiserv)
Solution Product Owner (Orion Health)
Capability PO
Team PO
Component PO
Capability PO
Team PO
Component PO
Capability PO
Team PO
Component PO
Capability PO
Team PO
Component PO
Do you need a mythical beast?
• Product Manager – deep into market
–NZ context – not always co-located
• Business Analyst – part of the team finding solutions
• YMMV – how big are the roles in your organisation?
Product Manager
(Subject Matter Expert)
Business Analyst
(part of team)
Product
Owner
Product
Owner
Business Analyst
(part of team) Roadmap
Scrum
Events
Product Manager
(Subject Matter Expert)
The Business Analyst (YMMV)?
Overall Product (or Capability) Scope
Specific
Busin
ess P
roble
m
Product Owner
Bu
sin
ess A
na
lyst
Sp
ecific
Bu
sin
ess P
rob
lem
Specific
Busin
ess P
roble
m
Product Owner:
• Broad but shallow
Business Analyst:
• Narrow but deep
Blurred Lines:
• Product Analyst role
Too many hats?
• Product Owner = Random business guy
• Product Owner = Scrum Master
• Product Owner = Team Lead (or other tech person)
• Product Owner = Business Analyst
• Product Owner = Product Owner
The Effective PO – Measure 1
”We solve the business problems of
our users, we don’t just deliver them
features (and we validate)”
Coming events
Next Event :
Unconference format – Agile Roles
Date: 28th of September
Time: 5:45 PM
Venue: AUT WG901/2/3
Let’s stay in touch!
@AgileAuckland
meetup.com/Agile-Auckland/
Group: Agile Auckland
Special Thanks
• Event organised by volunteers
• Jim from SERL for venue and catering
Software Engineering Research Laboratory
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