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Demystifying Agile Product Management - By Rich Mironov
The document discusses the roles of product managers and product owners within agile frameworks, highlighting their key responsibilities and differences. It emphasizes the importance of market validation, prioritization, and the need for effective communication and collaboration within distributed development teams. Additionally, it outlines the skills desired by hiring managers for these positions and touches on the operational challenges faced by product management in agile environments.
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Demystifying Agile Product Management - By Rich Mironov
- 1. Demystifying Agile Product Management RichMironov CEO, Mironov Consulting January 22, 2014
- 2. About Rich Mironov •Veteran product manager/exec/strategist – Business models, pricing, agile – Organizing product organizations – “What do customers want?” • 6 startups, including as CEO/founder • “The Art of Product Management” • Founded Product Camp, chaired first agile product manager/owner tracks www.synerzip.com
- 3. Agenda 1. What isa product manager? An agile product owner? 2. Finding and growing product skills 3. Product management/ownership in distributed models 3 Demystifying Agile Product Managemen t www.synerzip.com
- 4. The Set-up • “Productmanager” is a job title – Org charts, HR category, not necessarily agile – Reports to Marketing, Engineering or executives • “Product owner” is an agile team role – Part of self-organizing team – Reports to Engineering or Program Office • Work has to get done, regardless of title – Sprint-level stories, backlogs, priorities, acceptance… – Engagement with users, buyers and corporate priorities 4www.synerzip.com
- 5. What Does AProduct Manager Do? • For commercial / revenue software… – Drives delivery and market acceptance of whole products – Targets market segments, not individual customers – “Are we building the right thing?” • For strategic internal development… – Drives acceptance and adoption – Resolves inevitable competing priorities 5www.synerzip.com
- 6. 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? www.synerzip.com
- 7. Feeding The AgileBeast Steam engine “fireman” needs to keep shoveling coal, otherwise the train will stop IMO, agile needs 40- 60% more product management than waterfall 7www.synerzip.com
- 8. What Does aProduct Owner Do • “…represents the customer’s interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions... available to the team at any time.” • Feeds the hungry agile beast • Provides intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog, prioritization, acceptance • Wins adulation of development teams • Does portion of product management that developers see www.synerzip.com
- 9. backlog, priorities, epics, userstories, personas, demo feedback product bits Markets & CustomersDevelopment Marketing & Sales Executives Product Owner „small p‟ Product Owner showcase customers www.synerzip.com
- 10. Product Owner‟s Calendar FromCatherine Connor, Rally www.synerzip.com
- 11. Product Manager HasMore Levers • Engineering output – Product features – Order of delivery • Whole product/business model – Pricing – Competitive positioning – Distribution – Services 11 Product manager Product owner After: Greg Cohen www.synerzip.com
- 12. Why is PrioritizationHard? • Customer/field demands always far outstrip resources – Likely discard 80%+ of enhancement requests • Decisions are semi-quantitative – Huge error bars on revenue impact, market reactions, development estimates, support costs – Short-term vs. long-term • Incremental features grow into crufty products – Deal-driven vs. strategic “curating” • People and organizations matters Confidential 12www.synerzip.com
- 13. Product Manager FailureModes Product Manager fails agile team when… • Part-timer, not engaged with team • Lack of detail on stories • Stale backlog • Handwaving and bluster • Best of intentions, but pulled in too many directions • “Build what I meant” 13www.synerzip.com
- 14. Product Owner FailureModes Product Owner fails the market when… • Weak on market realities: pricing, packaging, selling cycle, upgrades, discounting, service models, competitive dynamics • Disconnected from Marketing, Sales, Support/Services • Trading off company strategy for product features • Confusing showcase customers with broader market 14www.synerzip.com
- 15. Market Failure Modes •Delivering (big) products that don’t sell • Commitment to outdated plans • Urgency to start coding • Assuming static markets Independent of titles, how do we reduce risk of catastrophic failures? 15www.synerzip.com
- 16. Agenda 1. What isa product manager? An agile product owner? 2. Finding and growing product skills 3. Product management/ownership in distributed models 16 Demystifying Agile Product Managemen t www.synerzip.com
- 17. What PM HiringManagers Want Analyzed 41 recent technology product manager job postings • 76% want previous PM experience (average of 3.3 years) • 93% want excellent verbal and written communication skills • 93% want a BS (68% prefer CS/EE) • 32% want MBAs • 88% want experience in that company’s market segment 17www.synerzip.com
- 18. How Development ManagersHire • 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 www.synerzip.com
- 19. Look for BalancedSet of Talents • Product experience, ideally in multiple markets • Technical enough to succeed with your Dev team • Demonstrated empathy for customers • Can deal with different styles/personality types Confidential 19www.synerzip.com
- 20. Agenda 1. What isa product manager? An agile product owner? 2. Finding and growing product skills 3. Product management/ownership in distributed models 20 Demystifying Agile Product Managemen t www.synerzip.com
- 21. Practical Reality 21 • Mostdevelopment teams are distributed – Often in multiple locations – Far from Marketing and Sales • Agile development, waterfall validation – Focus on timely delivery • Need winning products, not just code – Keep our product decisions agile www.synerzip.com
- 22. Distinct Product Managers/Owners? Oneway to split up work • Product Manager – Program-level responsibility for features, stories, teams – Feature-level backlog, review, team-level escalations – Intensive daily collaboration with product owners, customer prospects – 40% scrum-of-scrums, 40% customers, 20% overhead • Product Owner – 100% dedicated to 1 or 2 scrum teams – Manage/groom team backlog, write/accept all stories, sprint planning and reviews – Solid line to product management 22www.synerzip.com
- 23. Minimal PM/PO “Organization” 23 VPor Founders more technical more market-focused Heroic Single Product Manager/Owner “management” www.synerzip.com
- 24. Dysfunctional PO/PM Organization 24 VPEng Product Owners VP Marketing Product Managers more technical more market-focused “management” www.synerzip.com
- 25. PM/PO Product Peers 25 PMDirector/ Product Strategist GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO more technical more market-focused “management” www.synerzip.com
- 26. PM/PO: Market Mentoring 26 GM/ VP Eng / VP Products / CPO more technical more market-focused “management” www.synerzip.com
- 27. Delegating Stories andAcceptance? • Varies with team, project, technical depth • Which stories (design choices) are customer- visible? – Example: extra focus on UI, configuration options? – Example: performance goal (epic) versus specific performance improvements (stories) • Plan ahead, negotiate a working agreement – What kinds of story writing, to whom? – Acceptance of which stories, to whom? – Check in frequently: where are the bottlenecks? 27www.synerzip.com
- 28. Take-Aways • Product managementis a superset of product ownership • Successful products demand real market validation, hard-nosed economic thinking and uncomfortable trade-offs • Product managers need to be near customers and markets; product owners need to be near development www.synerzip.com
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- 30. Synerzip in aNutshell 1. Software product development partner for small/mid- sized technology companies • Exclusive focus on small/mid-sized technology companies, typically venture-backed companies in growth phase • By definition, all Synerzip work is the IP of its respective clients • Deep experience in full SDLC – design, dev, QA/testing, deployment 2. Dedicated & stable team of high caliber software professionals for each client • Seamlessly extends client’s local team, offering full transparency • Stable teams with very low turn-over • NOT just “staff augmentation”, but provide full mgmt support 3. Actually reduces risk of development/delivery • Experienced team - uses appropriate level of engineering discipline • Practices Agile development – responsive, yet disciplined 4. Reduces cost – dual-shore team, 50% cost advantage 5. Offers long term flexibility – allows (facilitates) taking offshore team captive – aka “BOT” option www.synerzip.com
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- 32. Call Us fora Free Consultation! Hemant Elhence hemant@synerzip.com 469.322.0349 Thanks! www.synerzip.com