The Agile Product Manager/Owner Dilemma (ProdCampNYC)

Dilemma: Agile Product Managers and Product Owners Product Camp NYC Rich Mironov, CMO, Enthiosys [email_address]

An Unapologetic Product Guy
CMO at Enthiosys, agile product mgmt consultancy
Business models/pricing, roadmaps
Innovation Games ® and customer needs
Agile transformation, interim PM executive
Repeat offender at software prod mgmt
“ The Art of Product Management”
Chair of Agile ‘09 track PMs/POs
Founded P-Camp

Agenda
Context, context, context
Why talk about product managers versus product owners?
What does a product manager do?
What is a product owner? How did we get here?
Recommendations

Disjoint Communities Product Managers Agile Community Nearly empty, very lonely

Product Owner? Product Manager?
Most agilists think about “product owners”
Formal part of agile team
Needs to be physically present
Driving user stories and sub-iteration decisions
Showcases provide primary customer input
Most product managers are not agilists
Majority of work to deliver products (revenue) happens outside Engineering
Markets must be experienced directly, not filtered through Sales or execs
Servicing multiple inbound and outbound queues

Where Does Product Management Fit? Mktg & Sales market information , priorities, requirements, roadmaps, MRDs, personas, user stories… software strategy, forecasts, commitments, roadmaps, competitive intelligence budgets, staff, targets Field input, Market feedback Segmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing, qualification, demos… Markets & Customers Development Executives Product Management

Product Management Planning Horizons Daily Sprint Strategy Portfolio Product Release Exec PM Dev Team 2 wk 2-9 mon many mons years many years

Pragmatic Marketing ® Framework Strategic Tactical Less Technical More Technical © 1993-2009 Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved Pricing Buy, Build or Partner Operational Metrics Business Case Sales Process Product Portfolio Market Requirements Market Sizing Marketing Plan Product Roadmap Customer Acquisition Market Research Market Problems Distinctive Competence Product Performance Customer Retention Positioning Launch Plan Thought Leaders Use Scenarios Innovation Success Stories Presentations & Demos Win/Loss Analysis Competitive Write-Up Event Support Channel Training Collateral & Sales Tools White Papers User Personas “ Special” Calls Release Milestones Answer Desk Technology Assessment Competitive Analysis Lead Generation Buyer Personas Market Analysis Product Strategy Program Strategy Product Planning Quantitative Analysis Channel Support Sales Readiness

Pragmatic Marketing ® Framework © 1993-2009 Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved Pricing Buy, Build or Partner Operational Metrics Business Case Sales Process Product Portfolio Market Requirements Market Sizing Marketing Plan Product Roadmap Customer Acquisition Market Research Market Problems Distinctive Competence Product Performance Customer Retention Positioning Launch Plan Thought Leaders Use Scenarios Innovation Success Stories Presentations & Demos Win/Loss Analysis Competitive Write-Up Event Support Channel Training Collateral & Sales Tools White Papers User Personas “ Special” Calls Release Milestones Answer Desk Technology Assessment Competitive Analysis Lead Generation Buyer Personas Market Analysis Product Strategy Program Strategy Product Planning Quantitative Analysis Channel Support Sales Readiness Dir, Prod Strategy Tech Prod Mgr Prod Mktg Mgr

What Does a Product Owner Do?
“ In Scrum, a single person must have final authority representing the customer's interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions. This person must be available to the team at any time , especially during the sprint planning meeting and the sprint review meeting.”
Responsible for
Defining the features of the product
Deciding release date and content
Profitability of the product (ROI?)
Prioritizing features according to market value
Changing features and priority between iterations
Accepting or rejecting work results
How developers define product management

Product Owner Must Be…
Omniscient
Represent true market needs without spending a lot of time “in the field”
Manage complexities of detailed stories as well as marketplace financial tradeoffs
IMO very difficult to do solo, nearly impossible without some product management experience

Product Owner’s Calendar Borrowed from Catherine Connor, Rally

Much More to Do
Product Owner role adds 40-60% more work for a traditional product manager
It was already hard to tell your boss how you spend your time
Many PMs don’t recognize how stretched they really are
Not just whiners and shirkers

Two Sizes of Product Owner
“ small p” product owner
Focus on iterations (rather than releases)
User story elaboration, backlog management
Available to dev team hour by hour
Customer showcase (rather than market research)
Internal recruit, often little product management experience
“ Big P” Product Owner, aka CPO
Strategic view of customers, profitability, markets
Sets broad direction, owns resource allocation
Deep experience with customer segments
My experience, “Big P” Product Owners call themselves:
VP Product Management
VP/GM of Business Unit
VP Engineering

PO/PM Organizational Map GM - VP PM - VP Eng/CTO product owners Product Management Organization more technical more market-focused

“ small p” product owner Development customer information, priorities, requirements, roadmaps, personas, user stories… software Marketing/Sales Customers Executives product owner

“ small p” product owner product owner Pricing Buy, Build or Partner Operational Metrics Business Case Sales Process Product Portfolio Market Requirements Market Sizing Marketing Plan Product Roadmap Customer Acquisition Market Research Market Problems Distinctive Competence Product Performance Customer Retention Positioning Launch Plan Thought Leaders Use Scenarios Innovation Success Stories Presentations & Demos Win/Loss Analysis Competitive Write-Up Event Support Channel Training Collateral & Sales Tools White Papers User Personas “ Special” Calls Release Milestones Answer Desk Technology Assessment Competitive Analysis Lead Generation Buyer Personas Market Analysis Product Strategy Program Strategy Product Planning Quantitative Analysis Channel Support Sales Readiness

Product Owner Focus
Intensive focus on iterations and daily processes
Frequent backlog prioritization according to market value
Detailed user stories and acceptance criteria
Blocking issues
Iteration content and release content
Accepting or rejecting work results
Very limited time for cross-functional activities..
Review (or write) product descriptions and data sheet copy
Unit/revenue forecasts, sales analysis for exec team
Review (or design) sales qualification checklists
Pitch product to customers onsite or in the field
Help with pricing “specials” that reflect market’s value perception
Repeatedly brief Support, Legal, Channel Sales, PR, Marcom

Context and Solo Models
A seasoned Agile Product Manager can also be a Product Owner
Cover both roles for one moderately complex product
Heroically for two products?
A Seasoned Product Owner can not also be a Product Manager
Outbound coordination and Sales/Marketing/Field role don’t fit into schedule
Best: Single organization for both PMs and POs
Best: Collocated PMs and POs/TPMs (40% / 60%)
Tough: HQ PM, remote PO with each dev team

Scalable PM/PO Models
Small product, co-located team
Agile product manager is the product owner
Complex product
PM covers strategic/outbound, PO (TPM) for inbound
Report up through same PM management chain
Distributed teams
One or more PMs at main Eng location
Every remote team has a PO (or PM)
Frequent, intense collaboration among all PMs/POs
Pool of PM/PO talent with strategic leadership
Larger departments, enough resources to allocate
Pair up, mix and match, share, share, share

Product Manager Failure Modes
Solo Product Manager fails the agile team if…
Part-timer, not fully engaged in team
Lack of detail on stories, acceptance tests
Stale items in backlog
Handwaving and bluster
Best of intentions, but pulled in too many directions
“ Build what I meant”

Product Owner Failure Modes
Solo Product Owner fails the market if…
Weak on actual economic value: pricing, packaging, upgrades, professional service models, discounting, competitive dynamics
Disconnected from cross-functional teams that turn software into products (Marketing, Sales, Support…)
Trading off company-wide product strategy in favor of product-level features
Assuming showcase customers represent market

Take-Aways
Agile makes the PM job much bigger
One of the reasons Agile delivers better software
Framed as Product Owner
Without deep and complex market input, PO can’t represent users/customers/markets
Really hard for one PM to cover both roles
Think about skills mix, R&D geo-distribution
Start asking for more help now
Or let me recap the problem for your boss

The Agile Product Manager/Owner Dilemma (ProdCampNYC)

by Rich Mironov on Oct 05, 2009

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The Agile Product Manager/Owner Dilemma (ProdCampNYC) — Presentation Transcript