practical-agile product owner workshop

Product Owner workshop by Practical Agile is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Agile Product Owner

WorkshopElad Sofer

Agile coach co-founder @ practical-agile

twitter: @eladsof email: [email protected]

blog: www.thescrumster.com

Ilan Kirschenbaum Agile coach

co-founder @ practical-agile twitter: @_kirschi

email: [email protected] blog: http://fostnope.com/


Connection before content


A-HA wall

Parking lot

Product Owner workshop by Practical Agile is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.!5

Product Owner workshop by Practical Agile is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.!6


Physical examination


Photos


Express your preferences


The product Owner


Define the product


Focus on business results


Communicate


Define standards


Define schedule


The captain of the boat


The painters game

Decide who are the Artists and Designers. Artists - please leave the room. Designers - choose the messenger Designers are not allowed to talk or gesture with

Artists When using documents only simple text is allowed.

(NO speaking, drawing, or gesturing.


Round 1 8 minutes


Round 2 8 minutes


OutputInput


Concept Change

Traditionally throws content over the fence no more!

Takes an active role throughout the development lifespan.

Needs to make decisions regarding ROI every sprint.

The single wringable neck.


Guiding principles for the PO

Talk directly and frequently with your customers

Talk directly and frequently with your development teams

Engage the development teams in creating value for your customers

Maintain your products quality and agility do not let technical debt accumulate


Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.

I dont much care where , said Alice.

Then it doesnt matter which way you go, said the Cat

![Lewis Carrol Alice in wonderland]


Create a lean canvas for your product

??????????


The marshmallow challenge


3 simple rules

Build the TallestFreestandingStructure

TheEntireMarshmallow Must be on Top

Use as Much or as Little of the Kit


The marshmallow Challenge

??????????


Size Matters


Building the wrong product

Wave


Building the right products


User personas


User persona template


Create your own personas exercise

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User Stories


CCC

Card

Conversation

Confirmation


User Stories

A recommended practice to write requirements

Are not use cases!

Describe requirements from the users POV

Suggested formats:a) As a . I would like to. [so that.] b) In order to {achieve something} a {persona/user} would like to {do something}

If you cant fit the story on an index card, get smaller cards!

Modelled for discussion, to overcome the communication gap


Investing in User Stories

Independent

Negotiable

Valuable

Estimate-able

Short/Simple

Testable


User Story Examples

As a customer I want to be able to check my current balance

As Margaret I would like to be able to see the overall balance of the customers

A report showing last week sales vs. current week

In order to stay connected, as Joe I want to get all my social-media notifications in one app

As a network admin, I want to see a visual map of faulty network elements, so I can analyze errors quickly


In order to work effectively with User Stories, as a Product Owner, I want to reserve space

for some meta data

SizePriority

Best Before End Epic

This is just an example


Functional vs. Non Functional

Functional - anything that the product is intended to do to serve its purpose

Non functional - anything else

What is non functional tends to be elusive


Examples for Non-Functional Requirements

Usability - e.g. number of clicks

User experience - e.g. scroll acceleration

Performance - e.g. latency and throughput

Sizing - e.g. period of transactions to keep

Scalability - e.g. multithreading/multiprocessing/multi-whatever-ing

Availability e.g. 3-9s/4-9s/5-9s

Also security, certifications, legal, and so on


Examples for Non-Functional Requirements

In order to compete in the market, 3,000 sales-agents should get a quote in less than 1 second, 24x7

Scroll acceleration in list boxes should feel like on iPhone

In order to avoid data-loss, the recording module must handle 1,000 concurrent calls

In order to reduce hardware costs, the system must meet 5-9s availability with 140% peak-time resources


Write Some User Stories for Your Product

?????????


Tools for generating requirement


Based on personas


Story mapping


Examine the timeline


Story Mapping Example

TimeA website for freelancers to find customers

Register Post offering get leads Close deals Get paidCreate account

Edit account

Register company

Delete account

Invite friends

Forgot password

Offer service

Offer package

Discount codes

Affiliates

In-site ads

Tagging

Contact via mail

Contact form

Page visitors

Analytics

Search leads

Update site with deal details

In-site contract templates

Get behaviour analytics per

customer

In-site mail system

Publish free content

Update offline payment

Secure credit card

Paypal support

Automatic invoice

Customize invoice


Create a story map for your product

??????????


Why Prioritize?

Deciding what will be developed in each iteration/release

Reacting to

Requirements / needs (market)

Actual development capability (size)

Technology / Feasibility (risk)


How to Prioritize?

If it is not hard, it is probably not good enough!

Several methods exists:

Survey users to understand value (e.g Kano)

Focus on ROI (e.g. MoSCoW)

Risk analysis


MoSCoW

Introduced with early concepts of agility (DSDM, RAD)

Intended to quickly analyze desired scope for the short time-boxes ahead


MoSCoW

Must have Must have at least one Must

Should have As important as Must, but not necessarily time critical

Can have Maybe some low hanging fruit, for example

Wont haveEither dropped, or not now. Not necessarily not important


Simple ROI analysis

Put chart from NSN PPT

0 20 40 60 80 100 1200

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

A

BC

D

E

F

G

H

K

L

M

N

Cost

Value

WontMust Should Could


High Risk Low Value

High Risk High Value

Low Risk Low Value

Low Risk High Value

ValueLow

High

Low

High

Risk

1

3 2

x

Risk-Driven: The objective is to start with the most important and riskiest features better early than late. Tackling hard, problematic issues early is difficult and painful

Simple Risk analysis


Kano Model

A model to understand and classify users needs

Classify to Mandatory, Linear, Exciters, Neutral, Indifferent

Mandatory - Must haves, cant sell without them

Linear - The more the better

Exciters - Great if there, no problem if not

Reverse - May satisfy some users, but dissatisfy others

Indifferent - Most users dont care


Classification Example

Mandatory - Can make phone-calls

Linear - Memory size, Battery performance

Exciters - Holographic display

Reverse - Automatic Facebook check-in

Indifferent - Built-in IDE


Kano Diagram

(Exciters)(Linear)

(Mandatory)


Kano Survey

For each feature ask participants two questions:

What if the feature will be there?

What if the feature will not be there?


Kano Survey - Example

Question

How would you feel if your phone featured a compass?

If your phone did not have a compass, would you like it?

I disl

ike it

Its O

K

Im N

eutra

l

It mus

t be

I Like

it


Analyzing a Single Requirement

Question

Q E E E L

R I I I M

R I I I M

R I I I M

R R R R QI d

islike

it

Its O

K

Im N

eutra

l

It mus

t be

I Like

it

I dislike it

Its OK

Im Neutral

It must be

I Like it

M Mandatory

L Linear

E Exciter

I Indifferent

R Reverse (can be either way)

Q Questionable


Analyzing Results - Medial

Requirement M L E I R Q Result

Requirement 1 50 35 7 8 0 0 M

Requirement 2 42 55 1 2 0 0 L

Requirement 3 20 25 45 8 2 0 E

12 15 11 62 0 0 I

M Mandatory

L Linear

E Exciter

I Indifferent


Q Questionable


Analyzing Results - Average

Question

Q E E E L

R I I I M

R I I I M

R I I I M

R R R R QI d

islike

it

Its O

K

Im N

eutra

l

It mus

t be

I Like

it

I dislike it

Its OK

Im Neutral

It must be

I Like it

1 2 3 4 5

12345


Prioritize using the kano model

??????????


Kano Categorization Table

Question

Q E E E L

R I I I M

R I I I M

R I I I M

R R R R QI d

islike

it

Its O

K

Im N

eutra

l

It mus

t be

I Like

it

I dislike it

Its OK

Im Neutral

It must be

I Like it

M Mandatory

L Linear

E Exciter

I Indifferent


Q Questionable


Sizing User Stories User stories become more granular over

time.

Usually the stories starts as very big items (Epics) and are split into smaller sized items.

Optional size - 2 stories per team per week.


When & How ?

Requirements grooming \ Refactoring meeting

Done by the PO with the team

Grooming = Splitting, clarifying & estimating


Splitting User stories Splitting across the data model.

Support only a subset of attributes Splitting across operations

CRUD \ parts of a protocol Splitting on results - Success and failure scenarios. Splitting cross-cutting concerns like Logging \

Security. Splitting functional & non-functional requirements Stubbing\mocking external dependencies


Choose the biggest user story you have and split it into smaller User stories

??????????


Acceptance Criteria


Acceptance Criteria

The terms and conditions to be met in order to accept a requirement as Done

Are not the Definition of Done

Acceptance Criteria are specific for a requirement Represents the contract the team accepts with each

Definition of Done is a set of standardsReflects the degree of engineering skills of the team


Acceptance Criteria

Are progressive towards a requirement being Done

Are SMART

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timely


Acceptance Criterion

Is a simple to follow condition

Reflects an incremental step within the requirement

Helps the team visualize what will it look like when it gets Done



Is not:

A set of instructions

A design document

A user-guide

A use-case



Recommended format GIVEN a pre-condition WHEN an action happens THEN an expected result occurs

Some people call it a test [And some others resent the notion of tests in requirements]

Can promote a test-first culture


Acceptance Criteria Examples

GIVEN login dialogWHEN user enters username=Mickey AND password=Mouse THEN result=Successful Login

GIVEN login dialogWHEN user enters username=Mickey AND password=TheMouse THEN result=Unsuccessful Login

GIVEN login dialogAND login_type=secure WHEN username=Mickey AND password=Wrong WHEN submit WHEN submit THEN result=User Blocked


Acceptance Criteria Examples

GIVEN order AND order_status=New AND number_of_items=1 AND WHEN Submit_order THEN Result=Order OK AND Workflow_status=bla bla" AND Processing_Time=500msAND


Acc. Criteria for Splitting Stories

Login with username + password

Failed login

Enter wrong password 3 times

Password expired

3-part login

Session timeout

Basic

Secu

rity

Adv

ance

d


Executable Specifications


Executable Specifications

Acceptance Criteria become actual tests

Actual tests activate code-to-be-written via fixtures

Code gets tested as soon as it gets written

GivenWhenThen

Test Framework Fixture

ActualCode


Specification Workshops



A practice to enhance and improve acceptance criteria

Increases team engagement

Increases business-domain knowledge

Good practice to eliminate Chinese Whispers



Performed as part of the backlog grooming

Discuss specific examples

Product owner contributes to understanding the business motivation

Programmers contribute to technical edge-cases

Testers contribute to behavioral edge-cases


Write acceptance criteria for your top priority items

??????????


MVP

MVP = Minimum Viable Product A way to test the business assumptions.

Does the product provide value? Will people pay for it? How long will it take to build the

complete solution?


MVP Examples


Come up with an MVP for your product

??????????


Defining the standards


Definition of DONE

Terms of satisfaction of the product owner.

Defined by the PO with the team.

Example:

Design, code, tested, installer ready, documented, less than 10 known bugs.

Identical for all items in the backlog.


Beware of undone work

Undone Undone Undone Undone

Stabilization sprint(s)

Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4

Undone = riskUndone = no visibility Can we release ?


Technical Debt

Time

Work left

20

10 12 14 16 18


So How

much will this MVP

cost?


S U I C I D EPlease consider it


There is no known way to accurately calculate the cost of a s/w project


Estimating cost (in advance) Once you have estimated the scope you may try

and put a price tag on it You have several methods:

Use past data to estimate progress Works better with same team, same

technology and same product Run a single cycle to try and get a rough

estimate on progress Educated guess


Educated guess (1)Estimate all User stories using story points

(Relative estimate) Take several stories which you have

relatively high confidence in. Without looking at the points, estimate

them in time units. Calculate average for a story point (A

range)


Educated guess (2)

Now you have the time effort estimate (range) for a single point.

Multiply the total points in your backlog with the time per point parameter.

Send the price quote to your manager. Pray.


Educated guess (Example)

Now you have the time effort estimate (range) for a single point.

Multiply the total points in your backlog with the time per point parameter.

Send the price quote to your manager. Pray.



We need to estimate cost for 500 points. We choose 3 stories - A(8),B(13) & C(5) A is estimated at 20 MD = 2.5 md/p B is estimated at 40 MD => 3.07md/p C is estimated at 10 MD => 2 md/p



1 point = 2md 3.07md

Totals backlog is 500 points.

The estimate is calculated : 2mdx500 3.07mdx500

Estimate is 1000md 1535md


Reacting to Changes


Tracking progress To guess progress, you need the following

combination: Average completion rate (aka Velocity,

yesterdays weather) Total remaining work Definition of Done being followed

You can ask how much time left? Total unfinished / avg. Velocity Time and cost derive from the previous one


Visualising the data

Visualizing the data should provide answers stakeholders are looking for:

Content status What is complete and what is not

Progress status

How are we progressing according to original estimates?

When do we expect to be done?

When will feature X be ready for review?


Burndown chart analysis

Just by looking at the Product\Release burndown, we can smell issues

Combining the standard BD chart with other, more advanced data can really teach us a lot about our product


0

35

70

105

140

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Effort leftTotal stories

Aha!

May apear that there is no progress


Earned Value Management (EVM)

A simple way to visualize

Scope

Schedule

Cost


EVM

Scope

Accumulated value of done things

If estimating value is hard, use relative value

If estimating relative value is hard, try using size (it may be better than no number at all)

Alternatively use number of known stories

Schedule

Plotting iterations (or other cadence) on the X-axis


EVM

Cost

If obtaining cost is hard, use other abstract representation

Team/s allocation is usually simple enough

Avoid using cumulative micro data (e.g. timesheet reports)


We would rather be wrong than uncertain

Dan North


Earned Value Monitoring

0

23

45

68

90

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Earned ValueBudget

Typical S Curve


S Curve

Explore - maximize discovery

Stabilize - maximize variance

Commoditize - maximize efficiency and a good sign to move to the next thing


EVM - Exercise

0

25

50

75

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415

Earned ValueBudgetBudget Forecast


Decide what to do now?????????


Long term"

Sometimes the org \ market requires you to plan ahead several releases.

Ways to do that is:

Story mapping (Focuses on scope)

Velocity based (Focused on time)

EVM (Focuses on budget)

Dont! Focus on continuous delivery of business goals


Story Mapping Revisited

Time

A website for freelancers to find customers

Register Post offering get leads Close deals Get paidCreate account

Edit account

Register company

Delete account

Invite friends

Forgot password

Offer service

Offer package

Discount codes

Affiliates

In-site ads

Tagging

Contact via mail

Contact form

Page visitors

Analytics

Search leads

Update site with deal details

In-site contract templates

Get behaviour analytics per

customer

In-site mail system

Publish free content

Update offline payment

Secure credit card

Paypal support

Automatic invoice

Customize invoice

Release 1 Release 2 Release 3


BDC Revisited

0

25

50

75

100

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5

Effort leftAdded Effort


EVM & Forecasting

0

25

50

75

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415

Earned ValueBudgetBudget Forecast

R1

R2

R4

R3


Dont! Focus on business goals. How?


Impact mapping


Impact mapping

Business Goal

Who can help achieve the

goalHow can they help

What can i do to

encourage them to do it?

Who

Who

How

How

How

What

What

What

User Story

How could i do it?

User Story

User Story


We want 1000 more freelancers

registered

Registered freelancers

Unregistered freelancers

Other site owners

Friends

Family

Invite friends

Posting about the site

Give bonus for invites

As a freelancer i would like to get 1 month free when i invite a friend

As site admin i would like to freelancers that

have more than 5 invited promoted on

search results


Choose a goal (You can use the key metrics in your lean canvas)

And Create an impact map

??????????


Questions? "Parking lot


FeedbackCan we quote you?

Can we use your name?