About the Book
The First Guide to Scrum-Based Agile Product Management
In Agile Product Management with Scrum, leading Scrum consultant Roman Pichler uses real-world examples to demonstrate how product owners can create successful products with Scrum. He describes a broad range of agile product management practices, including making agile product discovery work, taking advantage of emergent requirements, creating the minimal marketable product, leveraging early customer feedback, and working closely with the development team.
Benefitting from Pichler’s extensive experience, you’ll learn how Scrum product ownership differs from traditional product management and how to avoid and overcome the common challenges that Scrum product owners face.
Coverage includes
Understanding the product owner’s role: what product owners do, how they do it, and the surprising implications
Envisioning the product: creating a compelling product vision to galvanize and guide the team and stakeholders
Grooming the product backlog: managing the product backlog effectively even for the most complex products
Planning the release: bringing clarity to scheduling, budgeting, and functionality decisions
Collaborating in sprint meetings: understanding the product owner’s role in sprint meetings, including the dos and don’ts
Transitioning into product ownership: succeeding as a product owner and establishing the role in the enterprise
This book is an indispensable resource for anyone who works as a product owner, or expects to do so, as well as executives and coaches interested in establishing agile product management.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Jeff Sutherland xv
Foreword by Brett Queener xvii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxiii
About the Author xxv
Chapter 1: Understanding the Product Owner Role 1
The Product Owner Role 2
Desirable Characteristics of a Product Owner 3
Working with the Team 7
Collaborating with the ScrumMaster 9
Working with Customers, Users, and Other Stakeholders 10
Scaling the Product Owner Role 12
Common Mistakes 16
Reflection 20
Chapter 2: Envisioning the Product 23
The Product Vision 24
Desirable Qualities of the Vision 25
The Minimal Marketable Product 27
Simplicity 31
Customer Needs and Product Attributes 33
The Birth of the Vision 35
Techniques for Creating the Vision 37
Visioning and the Product Road Map 41
Minimal Products and Product Variants 42
Common Mistakes 43
Reflection 46
Chapter 3: Working with the Product Backlog 47
The DEEP Qualities of the Product Backlog 48
Grooming the Product Backlog 49
Discovering and Describing Items 51
Prioritizing the Product Backlog 54
Getting Ready for Sprint Planning 59
Sizing Items 64
Dealing with Nonfunctional Requirements 68
Scaling the Product Backlog 70
Common Mistakes 71
Reflection 74
Chapter 4: Planning the Release 75
Time, Cost, and Functionality 76
Quality Is Frozen 78
Early and Frequent Releases 79
Quarterly Cycles 81
Velocity 82
The Release Burndown 83
The Release Plan 87
Release Planning on Large Projects 91
Common Mistakes 94
Reflection 96
Chapter 5: Collaborating in the Sprint Meetings 97
Sprint Planning 98
Definition of Done 99
Daily Scrum 100
Sprint Backlog and Sprint Burndown 101
Sprint Review 101
Sprint Retrospective 103
Sprint Meetings on Large Projects 104
Common Mistakes 107
Reflection 109
Chapter 6: Transitioning into the Product Owner Role 111
Becoming a Great Product Owner 111
Developing Great Product Owners 115
Reflection 118
References 119
Index 125
About the Author :
Roman Pichler is a leading Scrum and agile product management expert. He has a long track record in teaching and coaching product owners and in helping companies apply effective product management practices. In addition to this book, he is the bestselling author of Scrum–Agiles Projektmanagement erfolgreich einsetzen (Scrum–Applying Agile Project Management Successfully) (dpunkt.verlag, 2008). As a Certified Scrum Trainer, he led the Scrum Alliance effort to develop a curriculum for the Certified Scrum Product Owner training. Find out more at romanpichler.com.
Review :
"Product owners have had few places to turn to for advice, despite having the hardest role on an agile project. This book rectifies that. Roman Pichler's insights into the duties of the product owner are powerful and practical. Correctly applied, his advice will benefit any product owner and agile team." -Mike Cohn, Author of Succeeding with Agile, Agile Estimating and Planning, and User Stories Applied "Scrum is silent on how a product owner can maximize value. Most product managers and marketers don't know how to use the iterative, incremental nature of Scrum to do so. Roman has filled this hole nicely with his new book, Agile Product Management with Scrum." -Ken Schwaber, codeveloper of the Scrum process "With so little written on the intersections of agile methods and product management, Roman makes a significant contribution to the field. The book provides clear guidance and rich examples on how to become an agile product manager and a successful product owner, and, further, how to lead with a strong vision. This book is a must read for product managers new to Scrum, product owners new to product management, and any product manager who wants to get the most out of Agile." -Greg Cohen, Principal Consultant, 280 Group and Director, Silicon Valley Product Management Association "I'm always happy to hear what Roman is thinking. What I really like about this book is that he not only shares his experience ("Common Mistakes" is a great section), but he also brings in the wisdom of others in the field. This powerful combination allows him to see farther ahead and share that vision with us. Thanks, Roman!" -Linda Rising, Independent Consultant and coauthor of Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas "Roman Pichler's new and remarkable book focuses on the product and the product owner role, applying Scrum to the whole value chain. His experience as a coach leads to genuinely balanced, practical, and applicable solutions for every conceivable situation in the product lifecycle. This is the definitive reference guide to agile product management for all practitioners!" -Markus Andrezak, Manager, Outsourced Product Development, mobile.international GmbH "Roman Pichler's product owner book is an easy-to-read and comprehensive description of the important role of the product owner in Scrum. It points out the significance of vision and leadership, as well as minimal marketable products and short release cycles. It is a resource for new product owners to get into their job and gives management good advice on choosing the right person for that job." -Andrea Heck, Dipl-Inf (Univ.), Agile Transition Project Manager "The product owner is a vital role in Scrum, and Roman's new book is a welcome contribution to helping product owners succeed." -Craig Larman, coauthor of Scaling Lean & Agile Development and Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development "Roman's no-nonsense approach takes Scrum back to its roots, examining and building on the fundamental concepts behind product ownership. The focus on teamwork is a welcome antidote to process-centric views of Scrum, showing how the product owner role changes and challenges the status quo of the traditionally run project. Well researched, Roman leverages both his own experience as well as that of others, clearly showing how Scrum product ownership works to solve common problems, citing realworld examples of both success and failure. Scattered with practical tips, this book is for anybody who wants to manage or to be a Scrum product owner and release successful products using Scrum." -Simon Bennett, Global Competency Lead and Product Owner, EMC Consulting "Roman Pichler's Agile Product Management with Scrum is destined to be a vital reference for agile product managers, product owners, business analysts, and anybody wanting to be a great agile product manager. Roman shares practical tips and guidance on all aspects of agile planning, the care and feeding of your product backlog, and the essential activities of visioning, valuing, and collaborating. Agile Product Management with Scrum will raise your awareness of the complex, multifaceted discipline of agile product management. Better yet, all agile team members will benefit by reading this book, because on every successful agile team, we all think like product managers." -Ellen Gottesdiener, President/Founder, EBG Consulting, Inc. "Agile software development is about incrementally converting requirements into working software using short iterations. Agile Product Management with Scrum answers one of the most important questions in product organizations: "Are we building the right product?" Or, as Roman so passionately put it in his subtitle, Creating Products that Customers Love. Roman's book is the long-awaited link to turn a broad vision into meaningful and digestible requirements. It provides a thorough introduction to the Scrum framework for product managers and executives who are eager to reduce development costs and time-to-market delivery of exciting new software products." -Jochen Krebs, Incrementor and Author of Agile Portfolio Management "Roman delivers an agile product management book that clearly describes the importance, challenges, and pitfalls of the product owner role. Using practical examples, highlighting common mistakes, and supplying reflection questions at the end of each chapter, Roman makes the role of product owner easily accessible and doable. This is the book to read for any organization wishing to implement Scrum." -Jessica Hildrum, former CEO of Norway's premier Agile training company "At the core of every successful agile development team is a visionary, engaged, and empowered product manager. In Agile Product Management with Scrum, Roman Pichler gives us a simple, no-nonsense definition of the role that will lead any Scrum team to amazing results. For all of you that want to get under the covers of the most important role in agile development, this is the book for you. A must for every new product owner!" -Steve Greene, Vice President, Program Management & Agile Development, salesforce.com
