Practical Product Ownership: balancing strategy and development
Download session PDFThe distinction of Scrum is the product owner; a keystone that is supported by the pillars of the team and strategic management. Whilst it offers opportunity for radical change, my observations have shown that there is a literal application of rules, unsustainable practices, and ineffective attitude towards product ownership, inclusive of the team. The end is nothing less than product owner burnout. I will share practices that I have learned from experience, that deviate from the norm, but leads to product ownership that tries to restore a balance of strategy, tactics and product development.
The prefered room layout is banquet style seating with 4 to 6 people at each table. I have projector and flip chart(s) at my disposal.
I use the first 20 to 30 minutes to introduce my experiences, contrasting it with theory by way of sharing my experiences of working with teams as coach or team member. I highlight the areas of product ownership that have been ineffective and lay out the changes that I have made, some successful and others less so.
Thereafter, I present a set of 5 thought experiments designed to challenge my ideas. These experiments are shared amongst the groups. If the group is small, then I work through the experiments sequentially. I ask each group to reflect on practical situations from their workplace and conduct these thought experiments within those contexts. The experiments themselves are simple statements of a situation followed by an exploration of possible consequences. I ask that they then explore whether the consequences are positive or negative. If needed, they propose practical solutions to deal with the consequences. Each team has access to flip chart paper and marker pens for recording their findings.
The time limit for the experiments is determined by whether the experiments are shared, worked through sequentially and the number of groups. I adjust the time accordingly. Each group then presents their findings which are stuck up around the room. I then present my personal findings, some of which will be discovered by the group, contradicted by the group or new to the group. At this time, we are in open dialogue which I facilitate.
At the end of the experiments, I recap and summarise the prominent discussion points, highlighting the practical things that people may attempt when they get back to their place of work.
The material in this talk was first presented for the Software Development Times’ Leaders of Agile Webinar series, hosted by Kent Beck (http://www.sdtimes.com/content/resourcesignup.aspx?ResourceID=458 and - registration may be needed). In these webinars, I presented for 20 minutes followed by 20 minutes discussion with Kent Beck. The other invited guest was Henrik Kniberg, and we rounded it off with facilitated panel Q&A session with the audience.
I also presented it as a 90 minute session at the South African Scrum Gathering in Johannesburg in September 2011 which mostly followed the process above.
- Product ownership is a shared responsibility that is tactical in nature, governed by strategy, and not a person on a team.
- Product management has many feedback loops, of which only one or two are with the software development team.
- How to write deliberately ambiguous stories that stimulate deliberate discovery within the software development team.
- How to facilitate backlog grooming sessions that gets the team to think of options, instead of one single solution.
- How to encourage the team to start thinking test-first, TDD style, as early as in backlog grooming.
- How to visualise a product roadmap based on the degree of shared knowledge.
- To understand that each organisation, context and information channel requires unique feedback loops to be defined, and in many cases, specifically designed.
- To find ways to bridge the agile and non-agile shearing points within the organisation.
