Agile Product Management with Scrum

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.

Autorentext

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 .

Inhalt

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