Agile Product Manager/Product Owner Dilemma (PMEC)
- 1. The Agile Product Manager / Product Owner DilemmaRich MironovCMO, Enthiosysrmironov@enthiosys.com
- 2. An Unapologetic Product GuyAgile product management mentor/consultantCMO at EnthiosysBusiness models, pricing, customer needsInterim executiveRepeat offender at software/SaaS start-upsFounded P-CampChaired Agile 2009 PM/PO track“The Art of Product Management”
- 3. AgendaConfusion around context, terminologyDevelopment POV or outbound organization?Portfolio strategy vs. product backlog“Business value” isn’t quarterly revenue goalProduct managers and product ownersWhat does a product manager do? How does this map to product owners? Recommendations
- 4. My BiasesMy focus is on commercial softwareRevenue-drivenMarket share mattersAgile development as part of business agilityMost product failures are market failuresStrategy happens before development startsGood product managers have first-hand experience marketing/selling/supporting100111011001 $$$
- 5. Disjoint CommunitiesProduct ManagersAgile CommunityNearly empty, very lonely
- 6. Product Owner? Product Manager?Most Agilists think narrowly about product ownersCore member of agile teamPhysically present most of the timeDriving user stories and sub-iteration decisionsShowcase provides primary customer inputMost product managers are not yet AgilistsMajority of product work happens outside EngineeringMarkets and customers must be experienced directlyServicing multiple inbound and outbound queues
- 7. ProductManagementExecutivesDevelopmentWhat Does Product Management Do?strategy, forecasts, commitments, roadmaps,competitive intelligencebudgets, staff,targetsmarket information, priorities,requirements, roadmaps, MRDs,personas, user stories…Field input,Market feedbackMktg & SalesMarkets & CustomerssoftwareSegmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing, qualification, demos…
- 8. many yearsExecStrategyyearsPortfoliomany monsPMProduct2-9 monReleaseDevTeamSprint2 wkDailyProduct Management Planning Horizons
- 9. Pragmatic Marketing® FrameworkLess TechnicalBusinessPlanMarketingPlanPositioningPricingMarket ProblemsCustomer AcquisitionBuyingProcessMarket DefinitionBuy, Build or PartnerWin/Loss AnalysisCustomer RetentionBuyer PersonasDistribution StrategyProduct ProfitabilityDistinctive CompetenceProgram EffectivenessUserPersonasProduct PortfolioTacticalStrategicBusinessMarketProgramsPlanningStrategySupportReadinessBusinessMarketProgramsPlanningStrategySupportReadinessInnovationCompetitive LandscapeLaunchPlanRequire- mentsProduct RoadmapPresentations & DemosSalesProcessTechnology AssessmentThought LeadershipUseScenarios“Special”CallsCollateralLead GenerationStatus DashboardEventSupportSalesToolsReferrals & ReferencesChannelSupportChannel TrainingMore Technical© 1993-2009 Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved
- 10. Pragmatic Marketing® FrameworkDir, Prod StrategyProd Mktg MgrTech Prod MgrBusinessPlanMarketingPlanPositioningPricingMarket ProblemsCustomer AcquisitionBuyingProcessMarket DefinitionBuy, Build or PartnerWin/Loss AnalysisCustomer RetentionBuyer PersonasDistribution StrategyProduct ProfitabilityDistinctive CompetenceProgram EffectivenessUserPersonasProduct PortfolioBusinessMarketProgramsPlanningStrategySupportReadinessBusinessMarketProgramsPlanningStrategySupportReadinessInnovationCompetitive LandscapeLaunchPlanRequire- mentsProduct RoadmapPresentations & DemosSalesProcessTechnology AssessmentThought LeadershipUseScenarios“Special”CallsCollateralLead GenerationStatus DashboardEventSupportSalesToolsReferrals & ReferencesChannelSupportChannel Training© 1993-2009 Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved
- 12. What Does a Product Owner Do?“In Scrum, a single person must have final authority representing the customer's interest in backlog prioritization and requirements questions. This person must be available to the team at any time, especially during the sprint planning meeting and the sprint review meeting.”Responsible forDefining featuresPrioritizing features according to market valueDeciding release dates and contentAccepting or rejecting work resultsProfitability of the product (ROI?)How developers define product management
- 13. Ideal Product Owner Must Be…Omniscient, telepathicRepresent true market needs without spending a lot of time “in the field”Manage complexities ofdetailed stories andmarketplace tradeoffsVery difficult to do “solo”IMHO nearly impossible without some product management experience
- 14. Product Owner’s CalendarBorrowed from Catherine Connor, Rally
- 15. Two Sizes of Product Owner“small p” product ownerFocus on iterations (up through releases)User story elaboration, backlog managementAvailable to dev team hour by hour Customer showcase (rather than primary market research)Internal recruit, often limited product management experience“Big P” Product Owner, aka Chief Product OwnerStrategic view of customers, profitability, marketsSets broad direction, owns resource allocation“Big P” Product Owners call themselves:VP/GM of Business UnitVP Product ManagementVP Engineering
- 16. PO/PM Organizational MapGM - VP PM - VP Eng/CTOProduct Management Organizationproduct ownersmore technicalmore market-focused
- 17. productownerExecutivesMarketing/SalesCustomerscustomer information, priorities,requirements, roadmaps,personas, user stories…Development“small p” product ownersoftware
- 18. BusinessPlanMarketingPlanPositioningPricingMarket ProblemsCustomer AcquisitionBuyingProcessMarket DefinitionBuy, Build or PartnerWin/Loss AnalysisCustomer RetentionBuyer PersonasDistribution StrategyProduct ProfitabilityDistinctive CompetenceProgram EffectivenessUserPersonasProduct PortfolioBusinessMarketProgramsPlanningStrategySupportReadinessBusinessMarketProgramsPlanningStrategySupportReadinessInnovationCompetitive LandscapeLaunchPlanRequire mentsProduct RoadmapPresentations & DemosSalesProcessbacklog,accept workTechnology AssessmentThought LeadershipUseScenarios“Special”CallsCollateralstoriesLead GenerationStatus DashboardEventSupportSalesToolsburn down/upproduct ownerReferrals & ReferencesChannelSupportChannel TrainingAdapted Pragmatic Marketing® Framework© 1993-2009 Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved
- 19. Much More to DoIMO, Product Owner role adds 40-60% work for waterfall product managersPM likely to be already overcommittedToo many constituents, queues, rolesPM capacity planning is hardNatural for PMs to ignorehow stretched they areAgile makes this worse
- 20. Product Manager Failure ModesSolo Product Manager fails the agile team if…Part-timer, not fully engaged with teamLack of detail on stories, acceptance testsStale items in backlogHandwaving and blusterBest of intentions, but pulled in too many directions“Build what I meant”
- 21. Product Owner Failure ModesSolo Product Owner fails the market if…Weak on actual economic value: pricing, packaging, upgrade barriers,professional service models,discounting, competitive dynamicsDisconnected from cross-functional teams that turn software into products (Marketing, Sales, Support…)Trading off company-wide product strategy in favor of product-level featuresSubstituting showcases for broad market input
- 22. Scalable PM/PO ModelsSmall product, co-located teamAgile product manager is the product ownerComplex productPM covers strategic/outbound, PO (TPM) for inboundReport up through same PM management chainDistributed teamsOne or more PMs at main Eng locationEvery remote team has a PO (or PM)Frequent, intense collaboration among all PMs/POsPool of PM/PO talent with strategic leadershipLarger departments, enough resources to allocatePair up, mix and match, share, share, share
- 23. Context and Solo ModelsA seasoned Agile Product Manager can also be a Product OwnerCover both roles for one moderately complex productA seasoned Product Owner can not also be a Product ManagerOutbound coordination and Sales/Marketing/Field role don’t fit into scheduleBest: Single organization for both PMs and POsBest: Collocated PMs and POs/TPMs (40% / 60%)Tough: HQ PM, remote PO with each dev team
- 24. Take-AwaysPM/PO: One of the reasons Agile delivers better softwareAgile makes Product Manager job harderMarket demands and first-hand interactions don’t go awayWithout deep and complex market input, Product Owner can’t represent users/customers/marketsStaffing and trainingissuesSkills mix, geo-distribution
- 25. Plan to ask for (and then demand!) more PM/PO staff and team training
- 26. The Agile Product Manager / Product Owner DilemmaRich MironovCMO, Enthiosysrmironov@enthiosys.com
Editor's Notes
- #5: Most product failures are market failures, not development failuresProduct line strategies should be built before dev teams are formedGood product managers have first-hand experience marketing/selling/supporting