October 17, 2021
Today, we feature an essay titled, So I Asked What Is Agile. A simple question that yields interesting answers. One interesting outcome was that answers fit into three categories. We explore the process and people-oriented groups this week. I will come back to the rant category later this month.
(more…)February 27, 2020
We continue to explore how prioritization techniques can change over the life cycle of a product. Using a simple product life cycle it is easy to recognize the different strategies embraced by product managers and owners. When a product is new, the goal is to establish a competitive advantage and to develop distance from its rivals. Prioritization methods such as, cost of delay and weighted shortest job first can be used to identify features that can get to market quickly, matching the product strategy. In the growth and maturity phases, models such as Kano expose the distinction between features that excite and those that satisfy. The feature mix is a function of which strategy is being pursued. For example, overweighting new features during growth will be useful, however as the product matures more and more legacy functionality needs to be maintained. Maintenance costs increase as more and more legacy functionality is accumulated leading to an inevitable decline. Prioritization, at this stage, leverages impact on crucial clients and/or cash flow to determine what to fix. This why ticketing systems exist and become the primary source of requirements for older products. As products decline revitalization projects/programs are often undertaken in an attempt to resurrect the product — a true cycle akin to rivers in the natural world. So-called next-generation products attempt to shift a product back into the growth phase which requires prioritization techniques again. (more…)
February 2, 2020
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SPaMCAST 584, the first interview of our 14th year of the SPaMCAST, features our interview with Allan Kelly. We discussed his new book, The Art of Agile Product Ownership: A Guide for Product Managers, Business Analysts, and Entrepreneurs. The role of a product owner is hard and often misunderstood. Allan offers practical advice on sorting the role out. (more…)
August 19, 2018
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SPaMCAST 508 features our interview with Vasco Duarte! Vasco and I discuss vision and product owners. The product owner role is crucial. To be effective, the product owner must be able to articulate a vision for the product they champion.
Vasco Duarte’s Bio in his own words:
I want to transform product development organizations into product business organizations. I do that by focusing the work of the product development teams on the end-to-end life-cycle of their products. From Concept to Cash and Back!
Currently a Managing Partner at Oikosofy.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I’ve taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I’ve worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.
I was one of the leaders and catalysts of Agile methods and Agile culture adoption at Avira, Nokia, and F-Secure.
I host a daily podcast where I interview Scrum Masters about their daily challenges and insights: https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/
You can read more from me at my blog: http://SoftwareDevelopmentToday.com
You can join me on twitter: @duarte_vasco
Re-Read Saturday News
In week 4 of re-read of The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (use the link and buy a copy so you can read along) we tackle Chapter 3, The End Of The Master Builder. In Chapter 3 Gawande identifies the scenarios in which checklists have an impact. Checklists provide value even in the most complicated scenarios.
Current Installment:
Week 4 – The End Of The Master Builder – https://bit.ly/2BmIGBc (more…)
June 29, 2017
Map of the Fredrick Half-Marathon
A product roadmap is a powerful tool. Roadmaps help link products and services to the strategy, objectives and key results. Roadmaps are directional, answer the question of where we are going and why. Roadmaps are powerful – unless they are messed up! There are four common mistakes that will reduce the value of a roadmap. (more…)
June 27, 2017
Product roadmaps come in many sizes and flavors and depending on size and flavor answer a myriad of questions. There are several common threads through all product roadmaps. The common threads are:
June 20, 2017
A Roadmap Provides Direction
Product roadmaps are a tool used to visually present an approach to translating a business strategy into the real world. The visualization of the impact of a strategy on a product allows all relevant constituencies to grasp how a product and its enablers are intended to evolve.
In order to create and use product roadmaps, there are several key concepts and components that need to be agreed upon. (more…)
June 18, 2017
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SPaMCAST 447 features our interview with Angela Wick on the role of the Product Owner and Business Analyst in Agile efforts. These two roles are critically important for delivering value in an Agile environment. Angela provides a fresh take on the Product Owner role and the Product Owner’s relationship to other roles Agile teams.
Angela is the founder of BA-Squared, LLC, a training and consulting practice. She is passionate about modernizing requirements practices and helping organizations collaborate on a Product Vision aligned to strategy and guiding them to a meaningful backlog and iterations that keep the customer and organizational value top of mind.
She trains, coaches and teaches organizations on Product Ownership and Agile BA!
Email: Angela@BA-Squared.Com
Web: http://www.ba-squared.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelawickcbap
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WickAng
This is not first time the SPaMCAST has featured essays and conversations on the role of product owners ( for exampleSPaMCAST 430 and SPaMCAST 325).
Re-Read Saturday News
Chapter 9 continues the third section of Holacracy, Evolution Installed: Living Holacracy. Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World by Brian J. Robertson was published by Henry Holt and Company in 2015. This week’s chapter is titled If You’re Not Ready To Adopt: Moving Toward Holacracy. In this chapter Robertson softens his if-you-can’t-do-it-all-don’t-do-anything approach. (more…)
May 28, 2017
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This week’s Software Process and Measurement Cast features our essay revisiting the product owner role. The product owner role is hard, often messed up and a great opportunity for improvement.
The second column features the return of Steve Tendon talking about Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban published J Ross (buy a copy here). We tackle Chapter 17 which is titled Challenges of Work-State Work in Process Limits. WIP limits have their plusses and minuses when discussing hyper-productivity.
Our third column this week is from Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy discusses how to show the value of QA and why knowing and showing value is important! Jeremy blogs at https://jberria.wordpress.com/
Re-Read Saturday News
This week we tackle Chapter 6 of Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World by Brian J. Robertson published by Henry Holt and Company in 2015. Chapter 6, Facilitating Governance, puts the ideas and processes defined in governance to work. (more…)
May 11, 2017
Control!
The product owner (PO) role is incredibly important in any Agile effort. The product owner leads, manages and prioritizes the backlog and networks with stakeholders, customers, and developers of all stripes. All sorts of problems can beset the role. However, most of those problems are either self-inflicted or a result of poor organizational design. A laundry list of problems based on observation and responses from other product owners include:
The next set of difficulties are: (more…)
