Product Managers, Product Owners and Scalable Models for Agile Product Teams
Rich Mironov
Zurich, 17 Sept 2014
1 w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m © 2014. This presentation and all derivative works copyright Rich Mironov
• Veteran product manager/exec/strategist • Organizing product organizations
• Tandem, Sybase, 5 B2B startups as “product guy” or CEO
• The Art of Product Management • Founded Product Camp
ABOUT RICH MIRONOV
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1. Product Managers ≠ Product Owners 2. Failure Modes 3. Small and Larger
Organizational Maps
AGENDA
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• “Product manager” is a job title • “Product owner” is an agile team role • Overlapping, but very different scope and skills • “One-per-scrum-team” does not match large-scale
commercial software • Work has to get done, regardless of title
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
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• Drive* whole product strategy and market thinking • Make* hard trade-offs among complex choices • Communicate and align around (current) plan
* Get the smartest people and ideas into the room * We collaborate but it’s not a democracy
HOW PRODUCT MANAGERS ADD VALUE
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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?
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• Logic and facts are not sufficient • R&D demand >> supply • Sales teams paid to
close individual deals • HIPPO
• Responsibility without authority
• Where strategy meets implementation
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT: INHERENTLY POLITICAL
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Product Backlog Epics & User Stories
Release Backlog Epics & User Stories
Sprint Backlog User Stories
Poten5ally releasable so8ware
So8ware release
Accepted story (“DONE”)
Review Demo, feedback
Retrospec-ve Process improvement
1 day
Daily Standup
Sprint: 1 to 3 weeks No changes in dura5on or goal
Release planning
Sprint planning
Charter Release Retrospec-ve Process improvement
N sprints
AGILE METHODOLOGY WITH SCRUM
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• “…represents the customer’s interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions... available to the team at any time.”
• Provides intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog, prioritization, acceptance
• Wins development team’s appreciation and inclusion • One PO per team, not per product • Feeds the hungry agile beast
WHAT DOES A PRODUCT OWNER DO?
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Steam engine “firemen” need to shovel coal constantly, otherwise the train will stop
FEEDING THE AGILE BEAST
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backlog, priorities, epics, user stories,
personas, demo feedback
product bits
Markets & Customers Development
Marketing& Sales
Executives
Product Owner
‘small p’ PRODUCT OWNER
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showcase customers
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PO/PM SCOPE
Product Backlog Epics & User Stories
Release Backlog Epics & User Stories
Sprint Backlog User Stories
Poten5ally releasable so8ware
So8ware release
Accepted story (“DONE”)
Review Demo, feedback
Retrospec-ve Process improvement
1 day
Daily Standup
Sprint: 1 to 4 weeks No changes in dura5on or goal
Release planning
Sprint planning
Charter Release Retrospec-ve Process improvement
N sprints
product manager focus
product owner focus
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• Engineering output • Product features • Order of delivery
• Product/market/business model • Pricing • Competitive positioning • Partners and Channels • Services and Support • Fit with corporate strategy • Product split, merge or EOL
PRODUCT MANAGER HAS MORE LEVERS
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Product manager
Product owner
A6er: Greg Cohen
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• Most product management teams are already understaffed
• Product ownership adds 40-60% more critical work • Urgency of stories, backlog grooming,
sprint planning, standups, acceptance
• One Product Manager could “do it all” for one team • But typical Dev:PM ratio is 25:1, not 10:1
PRODUCT MANAGERS: OVERSUBSCRIBED, OVERCOMMITTED, BURNING OUT
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• 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
HOW DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS TYPICALLY PICK PRODUCT OWNERS
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MINIMAL PM/PO “ORGANIZATION”
VP or Founders
more technical more market-focused
Heroic Single Product Manager/Owner
“management”
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DYSFUNCTIONAL PO/PM ORGANIZATION
VP Eng
Product Owners
more technical more market-focused
VP Marketing “management”
Product Managers
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PM/PO ORGANIZATIONAL MAP: PRODUCT PEERS
PM Director/ Product Strategist
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
“management”
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PM/PO ORGANIZATIONAL MAP: MARKET MENTORING
GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
more technical more market-focused
Product Owner
Senior Product
Manager
“management”
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1. Must fully staff product manager/owner teams • Not just assign developers as product owners
2. On large projects, product managers are not default product owners for every team
3. Skills, experience and mentoring matter
4. No cookie-cutter solution
TAKEAWAYS
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CONTACT Rich Mironov, CEO Mironov Consulting 233 Franklin St, Suite #308 San Francisco, CA 94102
RichMironov
@RichMironov
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