How Agile plus Product Management helps Build the RIGHT Things the RIGHT Way

1. How Agile plus Product Management helps Build the RIGHT Things the RIGHT Way Rich Mironov 15 September 2021 Product Elevation / Dublin @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

2. • Veteran software product management executive • 170 clients, smokejumper VP/CPO • “What do customer segments want (to pay for)?” • 6 startups, including as CEO • Product Camp founder, blogger (2002), Agilist (2005), “The Art of Product Management” (2008) About Rich Mironov @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

3. • What does a product manager do? • Agile: development as the inner loop • Product managers and product owners • Takeaways Agenda @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

4. For commercial / revenue software… • Drives delivery and market acceptance of whole products • Targets market segments, not individual customers/buyers/users • Defines and measures success • Resolves inevitable competing priorities For strategic internal development… • Aligns funding, acceptance and adoption for measurable business outcomes • Resolves inevitable competing priorities For commercial / revenue software… • Drives delivery and market acceptance of whole products • Targets market segments, not individual customers/buyers/users • Defines and measures success • Resolves inevitable competing priorities For strategic internal development… • Aligns funding, acceptance and adoption for measurable business outcomes • Resolves inevitable competing priorities What Does a Product Manager Do? @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

5. Context, conversations, market view, priorities, problem statements, roadmaps, epics, user stories, backlogs, personas… product bits Revenue forecasts, commitments, roadmaps, strategy budgets, staff, targets “ input & feedback” Sellable stories, segmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing, demos… “Makers” Marketing & Sales Executives Product Management What Does a Product Manager Do? @RichMironov @ProductElev8n Markets & Customers & Users

6. • Arrives every day with hundreds of good ideas • From customers, sales, support, execs, engineers, analysts… • Universalized from single instances • “Everyone needs…” Good Idea Train @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

7. • Engineering demand always >> supply • Exclusive OR trade-offs, but AND demands • Stakeholders incented to disagree • Sales teams, executives, business unit heads, user representatives, auditors… • Each has long list of wants/features/fixes • Product goal is healthy product, real end user impact, financial results Product Management: Inherently Political @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

8. @RichMironov @ProductElev8n - Rich Mironov There’s nothing more wasteful than brilliantly engineering a product that doesn’t sell, or a project that doesn’t deliver measurable improvement.

9. “Customers are experts in what they want to achieve, not how to achieve it.” - Alex Osterwalder @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

11. Agile Development (Inner Loop) @RichMironov @ProductElev8n From Mike Cohn

12. Product Management (Outer Loop) @RichMironov @ProductElev8n • Customers • Markets • Biz Models • Strategy • Portfolios • Pricing • Funding •Customers •Sales •Marketing •Onboarding •Support •Upgrades •EOL/EOS

13. 1. Stable, whole teams tied to external customer value streams 2. Product manager and team learn directly from end users (not proxies) 3. Whole team works on problems as well as solutions 4. Objectives are end user behavioral changes (not delivery dates) 5. Frequent process retrospectives and experiments: team picks tools and processes that fit situation 6. Automated test suite, everyone writes tests 7. Trust Rich’s Markers for Strong Agile Organizations @RichMironov @ProductElev8n 1. Stable, whole teams tied to external customer value streams 2. Product manager and team learn directly from end users (not proxies) 3. Whole team works on problems as well as solutions 4. Objectives are end user behavioral changes (not delivery dates) 5. Frequent process retrospectives and experiments: team picks tools and processes that fit situation 6. Automated test suite, everyone writes tests 7. Trust

15. Product Backlog Epics & User Stories Release Backlog Epics & User Stories Sprint Backlog User Stories Potentially releasable software Software release Accepted story (“DONE”) Review Demo, feedback Retrospective Process improvement 1 day Daily Standup Sprint: 1 to 3 weeks No changes in duration or goal Release planning Sprint planning Charter Release Retrospective Process improvement N sprints Generic Agile/Scrum Cycle @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

16. (Narrow) Scrum View of Product Owners @RichMironov @ProductElev8n Product Backlog Epics & User Stories Release Backlog Epics & User Stories Sprint Backlog User Stories Potentially releasable software Software release Accepted story (“DONE”) Review Demo, feedback Retrospective Process improvement 1 day Daily Standup Sprint: 1 or 2 weeks No changes in duration or goal Release planning Sprint planning Charter Release Retrospective Process improvement N sprints product manager focus product owner focus

17. Context, conversations, market view, priorities, problem statements, roadmaps, epics, user stories, backlogs, personas… product bits Revenue forecasts, commitments, roadmaps, strategy budgets, staff, targets “ input & feedback” Sellable stories, segmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing, demos… “Makers” Marketing & Sales Executives Product Management What Does a Product Manager Do? @RichMironov @ProductElev8n Markets & Customers & Users

18. Team-level priorities, epics, user stories, backlogs software bits Markets & Customers & Users “Makers” Marketing & Sales Executives Scrum Product Owner ‘small p’ Product Owner @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

19. Every handoff loses context • “Proxies” is a four-letter word • Specs always incomplete or incorrect • Second-hand information: sparse, biased, context-light, full of hidden assumptions • User stories should be conversation starters (by design) Handoffs Are the Enemy of Insight @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

20. Commercial Product Failures @RichMironov @ProductElev8n Product Backlog Epics & User Stories Release Backlog Epics & User Stories Sprint Backlog User Stories Potentially releasable software Software release Accepted story (“DONE”) Review Demo, feedback Retrospective Process improvement 1 day Daily Standup Sprint: 1 to 3 weeks No changes in duration or goal Release planning Sprint planning Charter Release Retrospective Process improvement N sprints Most product failures happen here

21. • Write and accept all stories, prioritize team-level backlog • Must be available to team at all times BUT • Proxies and stakeholders interpret user need • No time, training or reward for direct end user discovery • Focus on team-level productivity, not end user value • Assigned after project defined, funded, scheduled Product owner is a partial role, not a job IMHO, Scrum-Defined Product Owners Are Set Up to Fail @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

22. • “Product owner” work is half of every product manager’s job • Shared long-term success with one development team • Discovery/validation is half of every product manager’s job • Learning, Jobs To Be Done, product strategy, economics • Help market/sell/deliver real end user value • Every product manager manages overwhelming demand, unaligned stakeholders, painful trade-offs • Responsible for getting RIGHT things done In My Product Organizations… @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

23. 1. Product management focuses on building RIGHT things • True end user value/impact given inevitable prioritization conflicts • Measured on outcomes, not delivery dates 2. Agile (maker/dev) team focuses on building things RIGHT • Assumes audience, external value metrics, product/market strategy, semi-stable prioritization 3. Biggest source of waste: low-value deliverables 4. IMHO, scrum product owner definition fatally flawed 5. We work together to ship successful software! Takeaways @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

24. Rich Mironov Mironov Consulting www.mironov.com +1-650-315-7394 rich@mironov.com @richmironov @RichMironov @ProductElev8n

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