Whether you’re a developer, a designer, a content specialist, a digital strategist—anyone with a passion for understanding what it takes to deliver a great user experience can try on the Product Owner hat and see how it fits. I’ll introduce you to the skills and training that have helped me most in my first year as the Web Product Owner for Ithaca College, and share first-hand insights on how adding this new role to our web team transformed not just a head-to-tail site upgrade, but how we’re thinking about the future of the web overall.

1. A HAT OF MANY HATS
Becoming the Web Product Owner
#HEWEB18
#UAD4
THE PRESENTATION HAS BEEN RATED
Some Swearing
and Graphic
Descriptions of
Intense Nerdery

2. Senior Web Strategist
Office of College Relations and Communications
dcameron@ithaca.edu
David Cameron
@davecameron
www.dave-cameron.com

3. DAVE’S RULES
If I say something you don’t understand, please raise your
hand and ask me to clarify.
If you hear something you like, please share it!
#heweb18 / #UAD4
Please remember to submit an evaluation at the end.
You are among friends. Be as honest as you need to be.
Keep it human.

4. PROLOGUE

5. OH, THE THINGS YOU’LL LEARN
DURING A COMPLETE OVERHAUL
OF YOUR COLLEGE WEBSITE
PROLOGUE

6. www.ithaca.edu
Our first complete full-stack overhaul
and redesign in over a decade.

8. 2004

9. 2004
2006

10. 2004
2006
2011

11. 2011
2017

13. birdonacake.blogspot.com

14. birdonacake.blogspot.com

15. And meanwhile,
behind the scenes…

16. Designers & Developers
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
Content Creators

17. Designers & Developers
Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
I.T. MarCom
🔥🔥🔥

18. Designers & Developers
Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE

19. Designers & Developers
Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE

20. Designers & Developers
Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
🚨 💩

22. A New Vision

23. AUDIENCE
FIRST

25. “Ithaca.edu is your partner
across the IC experience.
We empower you with the
information and tools you
need to unlock your potential
and impact our communities.”

27. https://bynd.com/work/ithaca-college

29. 🤯 🤦

30. “How I became a new leader of our web team
by taking on the role of Product Owner, what
that role means, and how learning the role has
tested all my skills and experience and nearly
broken me, but also delivered valuable lessons
that have changed the way we manage and
govern our college web experience, and how
you can take on this role at your institution if
you haven’t already and why you should.”

31. With Hats!

32. FIRST, WE NEED
TO AGREE

33. YOUR WEBSITE IS A
PRODUCT

34. A digital platform that exists
to deliver unique value
to an audience of users.

35. Information
Services
Transactions
Stories
Connections
Inspiration

36. CREATED BY A
PROCESS

37. DEFINE ➫ DESIGN ➫ DEVELOP ➫ DEPLOY

38. Designers & Developers
Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
DEFINE ➫ DESIGN ➫ DEVELOP ➫ DEPLOY

39. Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
DEFINE ➫ DESIGN ➫ DEVELOP ➫ DEPLOY
Designers & Developers
Content Creators

40. Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
Designers & Developers

41. PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP
Focus on continuous delivery of a valuable and
measurable USER EXPERIENCE which meets the
expectations of the audience and changes over
time to stay up to date with their needs.

42. ENTER THE
PRODUCT OWNER

43. I HAVE A VERY PARTICULAR SET OF SKILLS.
SKILLS I HAVE ACQUIRED
OVER A VERY LONG CAREER.

45. HOW I DESCRIBE MY
PRODUCT OWNER ROLE
I am responsible for understanding the needs and
expectations of our web audience as much as
possible, translating those into a vision and goals
that guide and inform the decisions of everyone on
the team responsible for building and managing
that product experience.

46. mindtheproduct.com

47. DEFINING THE
PRODUCT OWNER
Product Owner is a role in Agile Development,
and may be held by a member of the
development team.
Sometimes called Business Analyst, especially
where product decisions are tied to specific
business performance goals.

48. DEFINING THE
PRODUCT OWNER
Also referred to as Product Manager, but should
not be confused with Project Manager.
Product Manager manages priorities of what is
being worked on and why; Project Manager
manages process and resources used to deliver
on schedule.

49. ARE YOU SHIPPING
A PRODUCT?
or
SHIPPING
A PROCESS?

50. medium.com/@sippey
The product manager’s job
is to set that context, of
“This is the problem that
we’re solving, and here’s
who we’re solving it for,
specifically, and here’s how
we want to measure
success.”
- Michael Sippey,
Head of Product at Medium.com

51. “THE QUESTIONS”
🙌 🙌 🙌 🙌

52. 1. What problem are we solving?
2. Who are we solving it for?
3. How are we going to measure success?

53. Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products by Laura Klein
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/build-better-products/

54. Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products by Laura Klein
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/build-better-products/

55. Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products by Laura Klein
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/build-better-products/

56. WHAT
WHY
HOW
PRODUCT DECISIONS
Product
Owner
Developer
Designer
“Doing the
Right Thing”
“Doing the
Thing Right”

57. Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
Designers & Developers

58. Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
Designers & Developers

59. THE
PRODUCT ROADMAP
Your New Best Friend

60. Roadmaps bring together everything that is in
progress, or in the backlog to work on next, and
ties them to specific, measurable goals that are in
turn tied to the overall vision of the user
experience.
The Roadmap is the tool we use to provide the
context for answering questions and helping the
team create solutions.

61. Plans are
worthless, but
planning is
everything.
– President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Public Domain

62. https://trello.com/b/PDIV7XW3/buffer-transparent-product-roadmap

63. https://trello.com/b/ZnTQyumQ/slack-platform-roadmap-for-developers

64. www.ithaca.edu
¯_(ツ)_/¯

67. THE BIG PICTURE
Vision Product
Strategy
Product
Roadmap
Product
Backlog

68. THE BIG PICTURE
Vision Product
Strategy
Product
Roadmap
Product
Backlog

69. http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-04-14

71. Seek first to
understand, then
to be understood.
Stephen R. Covey
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
twitter.com/stephenrcovey

74. Content Creators
Stakeholders
AUDIENCE
Designers & Developers

75. You Can’t Wear All the Hats.
Wear One Hat Made From Other Hats

76. A Successful
Struggle

77. YOU ARE NOT YOUR USER

78. http://gph.is/1xaTvuJ

79. CHALLENGES
We were not prepared for how little good process
we had in place until it revealed itself.
This has been my life nearly two years.
Trying to be a Project Manager + Product
Owner means being terrible at both.

81. 170.00
171.00
172.00
173.00
174.00
175.00
176.00
177.00
178.00
179.00
180.00
1 31 61 91 121 151 181 211 241 271 301 331 361
Lbs.
Days
Daily Weight Glide Path

82. HONEST
UNAFRAID
MINDFUL
ACTIVE
NICE

83. H ONEST
U NAFRAID
M INDFUL
A CTIVE
N ICE

84. HUMAN
100%

85. www.ithaca.edu
Our first complete full-stack overhaul
and redesign in over a decade.

88. 2011
2017

90. w3award.com

91. “THE QUESTIONS”

92. 1. What problem are we solving?
2. Who are we solving it for?
3. How are we going to measure success?

93. Empowering one person to manage the overall
vision of what we want our web experience to be
and set clear, measurable goals for improvement.
Communicating and aligning the effort and purpose
of our team to the product vision and goals.
Bringing visibility to product planning and work in
progress.
1. What problem are we solving?

94. For all site users and audiences, regardless of
location or device, who interact with our website.
For people working to empower that audience.
For our leadership and campus stakeholders that
support that work.
2. Who are we solving it for?

95. Targeted improvement in navigation and access to
the tools and information valued by our audience.
Reduction in time and effort required to identify,
develop, and ship new releases.
The Product Owner can go to a conference or
take a vacation and the product vision and
planning doesn’t fall apart.
3. How are we going to measure success?

96. YOU
CAN DO THIS 👍
#OwnTheWeb

97. You don’t need the title of
“product owner” to take on
the role of product owner.

98. When faced with
a challenge,
get smarter.
– Ed Catmull, CEO Pixar
variety.com/exec/ed-catmull/

99. Senior Web Strategist
Office of College Relations and Communications
dcameron@ithaca.edu
David Cameron
@davecameron
www.dave-cameron.comnngroup.com

100. START HERE
Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell
by Henrik Kniberg
http://tinyurl.com/ponutshell
www.productschool.com/
product-management-book/

101. START HERE
Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction While Embracing Uncertainty
by C. Todd Lombardo, Bruce McCarthy, Evan Ryan, Michael Connors

102. postlight.com/trackchanges/podcast/
Ep. 43
Ep. 95

103. postlight.com/trackchanges/podcast/
Ep. 43
Ep. 95

104. bit.ly/Heweb18books

105. STUFF THAT HELPED ME GET THIS DONE
BeethovenSteve Reich
Icons via The Noun Project
thenounproject.com
California
Zinfandel ALL THE POST-ITS

106. THANK YOU!
I FEEDBACK
dcameron@ithaca.edu