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Silicon Valley Agile - Product Managers, Product Owners, and Scalable Models for Agile Product Teams
Rich Mironov discusses the differences between product managers and product owners in agile development. He outlines common failure modes when these roles are not properly defined or staffed. For larger organizations, Mironov proposes organizational maps that divide responsibilities between product managers and multiple product owners across several agile teams, to ensure products have both technical and market focus. The presentation emphasizes the need to thoughtfully assign these critical roles rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
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Silicon Valley Agile - Product Managers, Product Owners, and Scalable Models for Agile Product Teams
- 1. Product Managers, ProductOwners, and Scalable Models for Agile Product Teams SV-ALN, 10 June 2014 1 © 2014. This presentation and all derivative works copyright Rich Mironov | mironov.com
- 2. About Rich Mironov • Veteran product manager/exec/strategist • Business models, agile, organizing product teams • 6 startups as “product guy” or CEO • Ran first Product Camp, first agile product manager/owner tracks 2
- 3. Agenda 1. Product Managers≠ Product Owners 2. Failure Modes 3. Small and Large Organizational Maps 3
- 4. Organizational Context • “Productmanager” 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 complexity of large-scale commercial software • Software companies often don’t assign/train anyone • Work needs to get done, regardless of title 4
- 5. What Does aProduct Manager Do? For revenue software… • Drives delivery and market acceptance of whole products • Targets market segments, not individual customers 5
- 6. What Does aProduct Manager Do? 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 6
- 7. Product Management: InherentlyPolitical • Logic and facts are not sufficient • Sales teams get paid for closing individual deals • HIPPO • Responsibility without authority • Keep the process moving 7
- 8. What PM HiringManagers Want Tech product manager job postings • 76% want 3+ years PM experience • 93% want excellent verbal and written communication skills • 93% want a BS (68% prefer CS/EE) • 32% want MBAs • 88% want experience in their segment 8
- 9. Agile Methodology withScrum 9 Product Backlog Features & User Stories Release Backlog Features & 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
- 10. What does aProduct Owner Do? • “…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 • One product owner per team, not per product • Wins development admiration and inclusion • Feeds the hungry agile beast 10
- 11. Feeding the AgileBeast Steam engine “fireman” needs to constantly shovel coal, otherwise the train will stop 11
- 12. ‘small p’ ProductOwner 12 backlog, priorities, epics, user stories, personas, demo feedback Markets & Customers Development Marketing& Sales Executives Product Owner showcase customers
- 13. SEGMENTATION EXERCISE 13 Apple Coca-Cola TurboTaxPublix SAIC Sysco IBM John Deere
- 14. PO/PM Scope 14 Product Backlog Features & UserStories Release Backlog Features & 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 product manager focus product owner focus
- 15. Product Manager HasMore Levers • 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 15 Product manager After: Greg Cohen Product owner
- 16. Agenda 1. Product Managers≠ Product Owners 2. Failure Modes 3. Small and Large Organizational Maps 16
- 17. Absenteeism • Teams withno formal product owner • “Our engineering lead writes the stories” • Short-term borrowing of untrained SMEs • One product-somebody per 3-10 teams 17
- 18. Product Management: Oversubscribed, Overcommitted,Burning Out • 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 can “do it all” for a single team • But typical Dev:PM ratio is 35:1, not 10:1 18
- 19. How Development Organizations TypicallyPick Product Owners • Internal borrowing • SMEs with technical chops, story writing experience, “already know” the market • No organizational blocking or market-side skills • Belief in rational/unemotional/technical customers • Slant toward smartest users 19
- 20. Product Management FailureMode 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” 20
- 21. Product Owner FailureModes Product Owner fails markets when… • Weak on market realities: pricing, packaging, selling cycle, upgrades, discounting, competitive dynamics • Disconnected from Marketing, Sales, Support • Sees showcase customers as typical 21
- 22. Organizational Failure Mode 22 • Absent/understaffed product team • Lack of market direction • Technically complete products that don’t sell
- 23. Agenda 1. Product Managers≠ Product Owners 2. Failure Modes 3. Small and Large Organizational Maps 23
- 24. Minimal PM/PO “Organization” 24 VPor Founders Heroic Single Product Manager/Owner more technical more market-focused “management”
- 25. Dysfunctional PO/PM Organization 25 VPEng Product Owners VP Marketing Product Managers more technical more market-focused “management”
- 26. PM/PO Product Peers 26 PMDirector/ Product Strategist GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO more technical more market-focused “management”
- 27. PM/PO: Market Mentoring 27 GM/ VP Eng / VP Products / CPO more technical more market-focused Product Owner Senior Product Manager “management”
- 28. 90 Person Project(1 Product, 8 Teams) 28 Product Manager TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM POSM TEAM PO SM
- 29. What Does EachTeam Do? 29 Product Manager HEADLINE FEATURES PERFORMANCE RE-ARCH DRIVERS & CONNECTORS UX/UI TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM PO SM TEAM POSM TEAM PO SM
- 30. Right Product Owners? 30 LeadProd Manager PERFORMANCE RE-ARCH DRIVERS & CONNECTORS UX/UI TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM Product Mgr? HEADLINE FEATURES TEAMSM UX Lead? TME? Two Performance Architects?
- 31. Wrong Product Owners! 31 PERFORMANCE RE-ARCH DRIVERS& CONNECTORS UX/UI TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM TEAM SM UX Lead HEADLINE FEATURES TEAMSM TME Perf Arch Product Mgr Lead Prod Manager
- 32. Delegating to ProductOwners • No cookie-cutter solution, no magic formula • Varies with scope, teams, technical depth, skills… • What is this team working on? Who brings right talent mix? • Full-time owners, not borrowed 10% • Solid or strong dotted line to product management • Vigorous daily discussion among product team • Product management keeps whole-product responsibility 32
- 33. Takeaways 1. Must fullystaff product owner roles • Not a sideline, not an add-on, not an afterthought 2. On large projects, product managers are not default product owners for every team 3. Need to thoughtfully select/hire/train POs and PMs 4. IMHO, cookie-cutter assignments endanger products 33
- 34. Rich Mironov Mironov Consulting 233Franklin Street, Suite 308 San Francisco, CA 94102 34 /in/RichMironov @RichMironov Rich@Mironov.com +1-650-315-7394