Deliver It Cast

Episode 17 - Picking Product people

There are several skills a Product Owner needs and a good number of them are shared with Product Managers. There are many different opinions on how the two relate or interact with few areas that people agree on.  Cory and Kim dive into the similarities and differences between the two, talk about which they prefer, and some strategies for working together.

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

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Links:

Co-host Post - http://bit.ly/1OWzZN0

Open Space - http://www.mindviewinc.com/Conferences/OpenSpaces

Product Owner vs Product Manager

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/42629-6039027449730256900

PO to PM Mapping

https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2014/february/mapping-of-the-product-manager-role-to-prod

uct-own

Bob Galen - 4 Quadrants of Product Ownership

http://rgalen.com/s/BA-Times-Article-4-Quadrants-of-Product-Ownership-v1-1.pdf

Episode 16 - Walk this wall

Understanding the larger picture of your product and how your users will accomplish their goals is often difficult to pull together. A great technique is to use a Story Map to visualize, explore, and communicate the context around your application. Product Owners can socialize and collaborate with the team and stakeholders with the Story Map so everyone can have the same picture.  Cory and Kim talk about some the other benefits, the fun around creating one, and why it’s a great starting point before deep story writing begins.

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Jason Fried

https://medium.com/@jasonfried/give-it-five-minutes-b8115d6f2361?utm_content=bufferfb8e8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

David Hussman

https://vimeo.com/70214001

Jeff Patton Interview

http://theagilerevolution.com/2015/09/15/episode-95-user-story-mapping-something-something-with-jeff-patton/

User Story Mapping - Book

http://www.amazon.com/User-Story-Mapping-Building-Products/dp/1491904909/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402052861&sr=8-1&keywords=jeff+patton

Episode 15 - Getting Technical

After reading a challenging article, having a listener suggest it, and hearing from various people the problem of technical debt and technical stories, Cory and Kim look at how a Product Owner should approach them.  There was lots of great reference material to choose from when it comes to defining these terms.  No matter what you want to call them, this is work that needs to be done to deliver great products.  You need to make sure it happens, find the balance and value.

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

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Links:

Jocelyn Goldfein

http://firstround.com/review/the-right-way-to-ship-software/

Technical Debt/Stories Reading Material

Isaac Sacolick

http://blogs.starcio.com/2015/08/get-agile-product-owner-to-pay-technical-debt.html

Bob  Galen http://www.velocitypartners.net/blog/2014/04/03/refactoring-and-technical-debt-its-not-a-choice-its-a-responsibility-part-2/

Henrik Kniberg

http://blog.crisp.se/2013/07/12/henrikkniberg/the-solution-to-technical-debt

Jeremy Jarrell

http://www.infoq.com/articles/tech-debt-repayment

Episode 14 - Interview with the PO

Thanks to a listener's suggestion, we moved up the topic of Product Owner interviews. We talk about some things to look for ( and look out for ) if you are interviewing as a PO.  We also reverse it and talk about things that you should look for if you need to hire a PO.  There are some things that apply to both situations to cover the basics.  Grab some wine and relax, you’d earned it!

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Building the Netflix Brand

http://firstround.com/review/the-three-tools-netflix-used-to-build-its-world-class-brand/

Wine

https://pelsertales.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/being-a-po-is-hard-and-i-need-some-wine/

Ty Ahmad-Taylor

https://medium.com/@tyahma/how-to-hire-product-people-aab926e077c8

Johanna Rothman

http://www.slideshare.net/johannarothman/agile-hiring-its-a-team-sport

Episode 13 - Horse Trading is allowed

Many times in story discovery there are trade-offs, negotiations, and alternatives that have to be talked through.  The intent is always to have a better outcome for the customers, and the back and forth communication is vital for success. In this episode, Cory and Kim discuss the different times that Product Owners need to do this and how to keep at it until there’s a shared understanding for the team, customers and other PO's. 

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Mike Cohn

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/estimates-on-split-stories-do-not-need-to-equal-the-original

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/system/asset/file/259/User-Stories-Applied-Mike-Cohn.pdf

Malcolm Gladwell

http://www.amazon.com/Blink-The-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316010669

Design

http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2015/08/4-design-skills-every-product-manager-should-have/

Episode 12 - Having fun yet?

Being a Product Owner takes a lot of effort and energy. With so many things to do, it’s easy to forget that we should be enjoying and having fun with the work, teams, customers, and product.  Cory and Kim offer some suggestions and share their experience with ways to keep yourself and the teams upbeat and engaged.  

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

State of Scrum report

https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/state-of-scrum-report

Peter Green - Reducing the load on the Product Owner

http://www.agileforall.com/2015/07/reducing-the-load-on-the-product-owner/

As Cory says: “Do NOT skip this meeting”. The purpose of the iteration planning meeting is for the entire team to understand and commit to a set of stories to complete within the iteration/sprint. This session is typically facilitated by a Coach or ScrumMaster, but the focus is on the team. You’re not off the hook though - the Product Owner also plays a significant role in this session. Listen closely to find out exactly what is expected of you and why it’s imperative that you join in on the fun.

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Executive Sponsor Articles

http://blogs.versionone.com/agile_management/2015/07/02/6-awesome-resources-to-help-you-be-a-better-executive-sponsor/

https://hbr.org/2013/01/how-to-innovate-with-an-execut

Leading Agile - Sprint Planning

http://www.leadingagile.com/2012/08/simple-cheat-sheet-to-sprint-planning-meeting/

Episode 10 - Velvet or Volatile Velocity

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines velocity as "quickness of motion". In agile, velocity is the sum of the size of all completed stories within a sprint. Essentially, this is the "motion" of the team. Velocity is a measurement, a tool used to track history and ultimately, predict the future. 

Are your team's stories being estimated in Zoo animals? That's okay! Listen to learn how to convert your Elephants/Lions/Mice into velocity. Kim and Cory focus on understanding the importance of velocity, how to track velocity and how to use it to your advantage. 

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Wayne Chang - How six people built the number two most popular mobile analytics tool in just a few months. 

http://waynechang.com/how-six-people-built-the-2-mobile-analytics-tool-in-just-a-few-months-full-article/

Mike Cohn - Velocity Range Calculator

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/tools/velocity-range-calculator

EP9 - We're on the road to somewhere

What exactly is a product roadmap and why does it matter to me? How much detail should I provide when creating one? How deep do I go? Who is my audience and why do they care about it? 

Channeling Roman Pichler, Kim and Cory discuss (at length) what makes a useful product roadmap, how to create one and what to include. They promote simple (and free!) Roadmap creation tools and ways to make the Roadmap visible, to the team and to the stakeholders. 

Lastly, in this episode, the hosts discuss their 3 favorite apps (games?) and the reasons why they love them so much. 

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Kathy Sierra - Badass: Making users awesome

http://www.amazon.com/Badass-Making-Awesome-Kathy-Sierra/dp/1491919019

Daniel Pink - The Puzzle of Motivation

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation?language=en

Roman Pichler

http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/goal-oriented-agile-product-roadmap/

Free Powerpoint Tools

http://www.free-power-point-templates.com/articles/free-editable-agile-roadmap-powerpoint-template/

EP8 - Really Ready? 

How do you know when a story is ready for the backlog… or for grooming… or for the sprint? 

What makes a story "Ready Ready"? 

Kim and Cory describe what 'ready' really means, how it is determined and why it's important to label stories as such. Since this is such a light and quick topic, they also discuss and reiterate some favorable and not so favorable qualities of a Product Owner - in order to serve as a reminder to those who may have forgotten. 

Feedback:

twitter - @deliveritcast

email - [email protected]

Links:

Peter Thiel - Zero to One

http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296

http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/09/peter-thiel-is-wrong-about-lean-startups/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2014/10/15/peter-thiel-seven-surprising-keys-to-market-creating-innovation/

Good List

https://www.unboxedconsulting.com/blog/10-attributes-that-make-a-great-product-owner

Bad List

http://lmsgoncalves.com/2014/09/29/product-owner-anti-patterns/

Serge Beaumont - http://blog.xebia.com/2009/06/19/the-definition-of-ready/

Roman Pichler - http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/the-definition-of-ready/