Uploaded byRich Mironov
Agile@Cork: Silicon Valley View of Product Owner/Manager Challenges
The document discusses the roles and challenges of product owners and product managers in Silicon Valley, emphasizing the importance of validating product ideas and ensuring they meet market demands. It highlights the significance of agile methodologies and the need for effective backlog management in product development. Additionally, it outlines common pitfalls in product framing and the necessity of achieving product-market fit to drive revenue success.
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Agile@Cork: Silicon Valley View of Product Owner/Manager Challenges
- 1. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE Silicon ValleyView of Product Owner/Product Manager Challenges Rich Mironov Agile@Cork 13 April 2015 © Rich Mironov, 2015 w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 2. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE • Veteranproduct manager/exec/strategist • Business models, pricing, agile product organizations • “What do customers want?” • 6 startups, including as CEO/founder • “The Art of Product Management” • Chaired first agile product manager/owner tracks, founded Product Camp, ABOUT RICH MIRONOV w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 3. What we’reobsessed with in Silicon Valley Narrow definition of Product Owners Thinking broadly about product success AGENDA 3
- 4. • Except forpeople, software startups cost nothing • Talent and speed-to-market matter • Find the smartest people at any price • Validate, build, launch, repeat • Profitability is entirely about scale • Can we reach 1M users? 10M? 1B? SOFTWARE ECONOMICS IS ABOUT TALENT, SPEED AND GROWTH 4
- 5. • Every corporatefunction/department: Engineering, Finance, Sales, Marketing, HR, Real Estate… • Transportation: Uber, Google autonomous car, Tesla, SpaceX • Mobile: software IP crushing handsets • Wearable computing • Biotech: bioengineering components • Internet of Things: billions of smart devices • Manufacturing: DIY 3D printing • Automated investment portfolios INNOVATION AND DISRUPTION: “SOFTWARE IS EATING THE WORLD” w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 6.
- 7. • Free orcheap for thousands of attendees • “We can validate any product idea and build a paper prototype by Sunday afternoon” • Build/measure/learn at warp speed LEAN STARTUP WEEKENDS AND HACKATHONS 7
- 8. • Biggest wasteis building a product the market doesn’t want • Agile without good validation risks building the wrong thing twice as fast OUTPUT vs. OUTCOME w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 9. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE • “…representsthe 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 • Agile redefinition of classic product management WHAT DOES A PRODUCT OWNER DO? w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m 9
- 10. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE Steam engine “firemen”need to shovel coal constantly, otherwise the train will stop FEEDING THE AGILE BEAST w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m 10
- 11. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE PRODUCT OWNERFOCUS 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 4 weeks No changes in duration or goal Release planning Sprint planning Charter Release Retrospective Process improvement N sprints product owner focus
- 12. • Makes sensefor well-behaved IT projects • Budget/ROI approved by “the business” • Problem, stakeholders, users already defined • Rough timeline or acceptance criteria • Then scrum team and PO assigned • Success = on time, on spec, with quality • Makes sense for contract development • Customer writes cheque and requirements • Success = on time, on spec, with quality PRODUCT OWNER: ENGINEERING VIEW OF THE PRODUCT PROBLEM w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 13. IT = internallyconsumed Professional service = built or tailored for each client Product = something standard we can sell to thousands (millions) of customers with little modification or incremental effort IT and PROFESSIONAL SERVICES vs. PRODUCTS w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 14. Most success/failure happensduring product framing • “What problem should we solve that thousands of customers will pay for?” • Product/market fit • Validate, validate, validate, validate, validate, validate, validate • Prospects rarely agree on features or priorities • Choose user, segment, value/benefit, positioning • Savvy competitors in every niche • No one is required to buy your product NARROW PRODUCT OWNER: INSUFFICIENT FOR REVENUE SOFTWARE w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 15. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLEw ww . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 16. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTFAILURES 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 4 weeks No changes in duration or goal Release planning Sprint planning Charter Release Retrospective Process improvement N sprints Most product failures happen here
- 17. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE 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 & CustomersDevelopment Marketing & Sales Executives Product Management WHAT DOES A PRODUCT MANAGER DO?
- 18. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE backlog, priorities, epics,user stories, personas, demo feedback product bits Markets & CustomersDevelopment Marketing & Sales Executives Product Owner ‘small p’ PRODUCT OWNER showcase customers
- 19. Even if you’rebuilding for internal use… • Talk with lots of users • Not only your designated customer / stakeholder • Look for distinct segments, disagreements, shifting needs • Validate that real users need your work (=Lean) • Run the numbers (or make someone else does) • Play product manager when you can WHAT TO DO? w w w . M I R O N O V . c o m
- 20. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE MINIMAL PM/POPRODUCT “ORGANIZATION” 20 VP or Founders more technical more market-focused Heroic Single Product Manager/Owner “management”
- 21. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE DYSFUNCTIONAL PO/PM ORGANIZATION 21 VPEng Product Owners more technical more market-focused VP Marketing “management” Product Managers
- 22. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE PM/PO PRODUCTORGANIZATION: MARKET MENTORING 22 GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO more technical more market-focused “management”
- 23. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE PM/PO PRODUCTORGANIZATION: PRODUCT PEERS 23 PM Director/ Product Strategist GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO more technical more market-focused “management”
- 24. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE SHARED PO/PMSCOPE 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 4 weeks No changes in duration or goal Release planning Sprint planning Charter Release Retrospective Process improvement N sprints product manager focus product owner focus
- 25. CLICK TO EDIT MASTE R TITLE CONTACT Rich Mironov,CEO Mironov Consulting 233 Franklin St, Suite #308 San Francisco, CA 94102 RichMironov @RichMironov Rich@Mironov.com +1-650-315-7394
Editor's Notes
- #5 AWS, GoogleDocs, DropBox, Skype, Puppet, SourceForge, Jira…
- #6 "Web browser pioneer Marc Andreessen writes in the Wall Street Journal that software is 'eating the world.' He argues that software's importance to the economy is being underestimated, and will become much more evident in the near future. Quoting: 'But too much of the debate is still around financial valuation, as opposed to the underlying intrinsic value of the best of Silicon Valley's new companies. My own theory is that we are in the middle of a dramatic and broad technological and economic shift in which software companies are poised to take over large swathes of the economy. More and more major businesses and industries are being run on software and delivered as online services—from movies to agriculture to national defense. Many of the winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial technology companies that are invading and overturning established industry structures. Over the next 10 years, I expect many more industries to be disrupted by software, with new world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing the disruption in more cases than not.'"
- #7 Silicon Valley: Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo/Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp (but huge in Europe) NYC: Tumblr China: Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo, Renren, QQ/Qzone, WeChat Russia: Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki
- #8 Avoid the Steve Jobs myth
- #15 (e.g. Amazon Fire)
- #21 Degenerative case: one person has to do it all. Suck it up.
- #22 Symptoms:
- #23 Challenges: PO tends to stay inwardly focused, not build outward skills. PM tends to ignore/slight intense agile activity and strategic product opportunities it presents Senior PMs see join PO role as less valuable/important Counterbalances: Pair of PM and PO, high-bandwidth collaboration on iteration planning and acceptance criteria Career track discussions for PO: up to PM, over to PgM, over to EngM…
- #24 Challenge: individual PMs are (appropriately) pulled into deep agile details and iteration rhythms. Tend to lose contact with/focus on broader external markets / customers / competitors. Need to balance this with a senior PM (dir PM…) who works product strategy and integration issues.