Presented at IIBA Baltimore on March 11, 2014. The last 10 years of Agile have focused on the team. The next 10 years of Agile will focus on the enterprise. That said, should the Product Owner continue to be a single person or does it need to evolve as well? Let's cover the basics and then see how LeadingAgile has been successful at leveraging the Product Owner role at scale.

1. The Product Owner and the Scrum Team
Can one person do this at scale?
Derek Huether, Enterprise Agile Coach
LeadingAgile

2. Derek Huether – Enterprise Agile Coach
Twitter:
@derekhuether or @leadingagile
Google:
+derekhuether or +leadingagile
LinkedIn:
/derekhuether or /company/leadingagile

3. What makes Agile great?

4. Simple by Design

5. 4 Values
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

6. 12 Principles
Satisfy the
Customer
Welcome
Change
Deliver
Frequently
Collaborate
Daily
Support & Trust
Motivated
Teams
Promote
Face-to-Face
Conversations
Deliver Working
Software
Promote
Sustainable
Pace
Promote
Technical
Excellence
Maximize
Through
Simplicity
Have
Self-Organized
Teams
Reflect & Adjust
Regularly

7. Incremental
Iterative
1 2 3
1 2 3

8. What makes Scrum a great Agile
delivery framework?

9. Simple by Design

10. Scrum Framework
Scrum Team
1. Product Owner
2. Development Team
3. Scrum Master
Scrum Events
1. The Sprint
2. Sprint Planning
3. Daily Scrum
4. Sprint Review
5. Sprint Retrospective
Scrum Artifacts
1. Product Backlog
2. Sprint Burndown
3. Delivery Increment

11. What is a Product Owner?
The Product Owner is the sole person responsible
for managing the Product Backlog.
Product Backlog management includes:
 Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
 Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and
missions;
 Optimizing the value of the work the Development Team performs;
 Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear
to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next; and,
 Ensuring the Development Team understands items in the Product
Backlog to the level needed.

12. Product Owner Success
1. For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire
organization must respect his or her decisions.
2. The Product Owner’s decisions are visible in the
content and ordering of the Product Backlog.
3. No one is allowed to tell the Development Team to
work from a different set of requirements, and the
Development Team isn’t allowed to act on what
anyone else says.

13. Product Owner is a BIG Job!
• Product Manager… vision and direction
• Project Manager… sequence and status
• Business Analyst… elaborating requirements
• Quality Assurance… inspecting outcomes
• Management… terminating and changing
• User Experience… usability
• Team Member… participates with the team

14. The downside of Agile (including Scrum)
is the same thing that makes it great
Last 10 years have been team focused
Next 10 years must be enterprise focused

15. How do we scale Scrum and the
Product Owner role?

16. Analysts
Testers
Developers
Product Owner
Scrum Master
SME’s
Clarity
(Scope)
User Story
Accountability
(Structure & Governance)
Measurable Progress
(Deliverables & Metrics)
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
Screen Updates
Databases Updates
Reports

17. Clarity
Different Scope for
Different Timelines

18. Scope
• Epics ( < 1 release)
• Features ( < 1 sprint)
• User Stories (3-5 days)
• Tasks (< 8hrs)

19. Accountability (Structure)
Different Teams for
Different Jobs

20. Team
Portfolio Teams – These teams govern the
portfolio and make sure that work is moving
through the system.
Programs Teams – These teams define
requirements, set technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
Product Teams – These teams integrate services
and write customer facing features. This is the
proto-typical Scrum team.
Services Teams – These teams support common
services across product lines. These teams
support the needs of the product teams.
PO
Team
Team
Team

21. Team
Team
PO
Team
Team
Portfolio Teams – These teams
govern the portfolio and make
sure that work is moving
through the system.
Programs Teams – These teams define
requirements, set technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
Product Teams – These teams integrate services
and write customer facing features. This is the
proto-typical Scrum team.
Services Teams – These teams support common
services across product lines. These teams
support the needs of the product teams.

22. Team
PO
Team
Team
PO
Team
Team Team
PO
Team
Team
Team Team Team Team
Product &
Services
Teams
Program
Teams
Portfolio
Teams
Scrum
Kanban
Kanban

23. Accountability (Governance)
Roles and Responsibilities
Inputs and Outputs

24. Portfolio Teams - Epics
Inception Elaboration Construction Transition
Program Teams - Features
Analysis and Design Build Integrate Stage
Product & Services - Stories
Ready DoneIn Progress
Sprint(s)
Release
Release
Sprint(s)
Portfolio Planning
Release Planning
Sprint Planning
Daily Planning

25. Measurable Progress (Deliverables)
Epics, Features, Stories

26. Portfolio Teams - Epics
Inception Elaboration Construction Transition
Program Teams - Features
Analysis and Design Build Integrate Stage
Product & Services - Stories
Ready DoneIn Progress
Sprint(s)
Release
Release
Sprint(s)
Epics
Features
Stories

27. Measurable Progress (Metrics)
Structure, Adoption, Governance

28. Structure
Governance
Metrics
Adoption

29. To be successful in the next 10
years, do you still think one person can
do all this?