Product Owner Team:Leading Agile Program Management

Product Owner Team – Why?

Improve and Accelerate your Agile Transformation

and Product DeliveryProvide support, guidance

and coaching to Agile Teamsto get the job done

Team

Database

Report

Screen

Clarity Accountability Measureable Progress

Agile TeamsKeys to Success

Stories

Product Owner TeamKey Goals

• Provide Clarity through a well defined Feature Backlog

• Hold Agile Teams Accountable to make and meet commitments

• Demonstrate Measurable Progress by facilitating demonstration of integrated features

• Provide timely information to Portfolio Management for investment decisions

Product Owner Team

Agile Team

Feature

PortfolioManagement

Portfolio ManagementKey Investment Questions

Strategic Alignment• Will this Epic drive business

results identified in Investment Themes?

• Is this Epic ordered relative to the other Epics? Is this prioritization reflected on the Epic Backlog?

• Are we meeting allocation by channel in alignment with our agreements? Is this reflected in the Epic Backlog?

Demand Planning• How big is this Epic? Should be

less than 3 months so we can plan and “see” progress.

• Do we need all the Features to meet the business goal? Start thinking MVP.

• Is the forecasted date acceptable? Should we reprioritize?

• Start thinking Cost of Delay

Detailed Planning• Which Epics go into the next

release? Establish release objectives.

• Are the Epics ready for Release Planning?

• Have Epic owners considered MVP?

• What is the confidence in the release plan?

• Do we have credible release plans documented?

Execution Governance• Is the software demoed? • Have we solved the

business problem identified in the Epic Brief?

• Should we stop building and get market feedback to validate our assumptions?

• Are we making progress on the epics?

• Are the stories ordered by cost of delay?

PortfolioManagement

Product Owner Team Roles

Product Owner Team Roles Brief Description

Product Manager (PROD) Support the valuable solution and ensure features are ordered considering epic priorities; usually the leader of the PO Team

Solution Architect (SA) Support the technically viable solution; provide support and guidance to Tech Leads and other technology personnel

Release Manager (RM) Support an achievable solution ensuring demand is balanced with capacity and dependencies; facilitate release planning and protect the release plans

QA Management (QA) Provide support and guidance for the quality of the solution; ensure quality is considered and coordinated early

Project Manager (PM) Foster effective collaboration of the PO Team to shepherd Features through the Kanban and ensure effective communication with the portfolio team; AKA Scrum Master of the PO Team

Product Owner (PO) Serves as Product Owner on a team; often a Business Analyst

Enterprise Agile Delivery Approach

PortfolioTeam

Product Owner Teams

DeliveryTeams

Improve QualityReduce Rework

Maximize Strategic AlignmentIncrease Transparency

Increase PredictabilityReduce Time to ROI

Minimize Delivery Risk

Team

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ratio

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Impr

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Product/Strategy

Portfolio Team

Production Ready Release

Production Ready Release

Story Refinement

Story Refinement

Release PlanningRelease Planning

Solution Vision

Solution Vision

Integration Integration Developand TestDevelopand Test

Production ReadyRelease

BuildReady To Build

Release Viability

Release Targeting

Investment Validation

DeliveryTeams

Product OwnerTeam

SprintDone

SprintDoneStory DoneStory DoneDaily ReviewDaily ReviewWork In ProcessWork In ProcessSprint PlanSprint Plan

Detailed Planning(Clarity)

Execution Governance(Accountability)

Accountability

Demand PlanningStrategicAlignment

Investment Prioritization

Investment Alignment

Thre

e Ti

er M

odel

Epic Intake

Strategic Alignment

Purpos

e

• Strategic alignment and prioritization of Epics• Shared understanding and agreement with portfolio

stakeholders

Activities

• Describe Value and Features• Consider constraints

Artifact

• Epic Brief• Strategically aligned Epics in Portfolio Backlog

StrategicAlignment

Investment Prioritization

Investment Alignment

Epic Intake

Epic Brief

• Epic Title/ Product Manager• Investment Theme (and Capability if known)• Value StatementDescription

• Features/Benefits• PersonasScope

• Dependencies• Risks• AssumptionsConstraints

• Opportunity CasePlanning

PROD articulates the Description & ScopePROD and SA identify ConstraintsPortfolio Management validates alignment to strategy and priority

Demand Planning

Purpos

e

• Validate Investment and Roadmap • Provide Clarity through a well defined Feature Backlog

Activities

• Define and validate Features• Initial planning for risks and dependencies • Balance demand to demonstrated capacity

Artifact

s

• Epic Brief Refined• Epic Roadmap and Timeline• Epic Risk Report

Solution Vision

Solution Vision

Release Targeting

Investment Validation

Demand Planning(Clarity)

Epic RoadmapPO Team defines FeaturesPO Team explores planning options RM forecasts Epics on the Epic RoadmapPortfolio Management validates Roadmap

Epic Risk ReportPM leads PO Team to assess risksPO Team works to address and mitigate significant risks Epics start at red; PO Team and Agile Team earns greenPortfolio Team validates responsible planning

Detailed Planning

Purpos

e

• Explore and identify “steel thread”, MVP and other options• Provide clarity by supporting backlog refinement and planning

Activities

• Story Writing and Mapping• Release Planning Event• Backlog Refinement

Artifact

s

• Story Map with release options• Release Plans• Story Backlog

Story Refinement

Story Refinement

Release PlanningRelease Planning

Ready To Build

Release Viability

Detailed Planning(Clarity)

Release PlansAgile Teams write and estimate storiesPO Team facilitates Release Planning EventPO Team provides support and guidanceAgile Teams refine the backlog

• Test Approach• Technical Approach • Environments & coordination Technical

• Release Management Impacts• Production Services Impacts• Security Impacts• Dependency Coordination

Logistics

• Features & Stories Planned• Go to Market PlanBusiness

Execution Governance

Purpos

e

• Provide support and guidance to Agile Teams to build and test Stories

• Deliver integrated Features that solve the business problems

Activities

• Release Coordination Meeting• Hold Agile Teams accountable to make and meet commitments• Measurable Progress by facilitating demo of integrated Features

Artifact

s

• Integrated Features

Production Ready Release

Production Ready Release

Integration Testing

Integration Testing

Developand TestDevelopand Test

Build

Execution Governance(Accountability)

Execution Governance Strategies• Facilitate coordination of cross team

concerns

• Cultivate and consider options

• Make continue, change, kill decisions

• Provide support, coaching and guidance to Agile Teams

Product Owner TeamQuestions?

• Provide Clarity through a well defined Feature Backlog

• Hold Agile Teams Accountable to make and meet commitments

• Demonstrate Measurable Progress by facilitating demonstration of integrated features

• Provide timely information to Portfolio Management for investment decisions

Product Owner Team

Agile Team

Feature

PortfolioManagement

DETAILED GUIDE

Strategic AlignmentState Leads Activity APM Tool Artifact

Epic Intake PROD Completes the Description section of the Epic Brief and finds a Portfolio Team member to sponsor the Epic

Creates Epic Initiate Epic Brief

Investment Alignment

PORT Validates alignment with Portfolio Roadmap and Investment Themes

Facilitator updates Epic state

Investment Prioritization

PROD Completes and validates the Features & Benefits section Create Features Epic Brief

Investment Prioritization

PROD& SA

Completes the Constraints section; action to address any significant blockers (Requires high level modeling of candidate architecture)

Create Spikes as needed

Epic Brief

Investment Prioritization

PO Team

Figures Priority Score Record

Investment Prioritization

PORT Prioritizes Epic in Epic Backlog for Investment Validation Facilitator updates Epic State

StrategicAlignment

Investment Prioritization

Investment Alignment

Epic Intake

Demand PlanningState Leads Activity APM Tool Artifact

Investment Validation

PROD Validate features leveraging visual specification and prototypes

Visual Specification

Solution Vision

PO Team

Define Features (Feature Acceptance Criteria, Visual Specification, NFR)

Update Features

Solution Vision

PROD Update Capability Catalog to identify and align new features to current capabilities

Capability Catalog

Solution Vision

PO Team

Identify and initiate planning for risks and dependencies (Look Ahead Planning)

Risk Dashboard

Solution Vision

RM & SA

Identify Agile Teams to own Features Update Feature Owner

Release Targeting

RM With PROD and SA, size features and mock plan into Sprints Record Refined Estimate for Feature

Release Targeting

RM Updates Epic Roadmap and summarize in Epic Timeline Epic Roadmap

Release Targeting

PM Moves feature through to Epic Breakdown done Update Feature state

Release Targeting

RM Identifies Release Objectives for the next Release. Communicates and validates with PORT & PO Team

Create or update Release

Release Objectives

Release Targeting

PORT Decides whether to authorizes Epic for further investment for Agile Teams to perform Detailed Planning

Facilitator updates Epic State

Solution Vision

Solution Vision

Release Targetin

g

Investment Validation

Demand Planning

Detailed PlanningState Leads Activity APM Tool Artifact

Release Planning

PO Team

Introduce Epic to Agile Teams who own the Features; generally a kick off presenting Epic Brief, candidate architecture, UI mocks, and other feature modeling

Meeting Agenda

Release Planning

Agile Team

Assesses whether Features are Ready for Detailed Planning; pulls into Story Mapping when ready

Update Feature state

Release Planning

Agile Team

Write Stories and build the story map Create stories Story Map

Release Planning

Agile Team

Collaborating with PROD, elicit acceptance criteria Update stories

Release Planning

Agile Team

Sufficient technical design and estimate stories Update stories with estimates

Technical Spikes

Release Planning

Agile Team

Identify the “steel thread”, thin slice that follows happy path from end to end. Determine scope options for MMF, MVP and candidate functional releases.

Story Map

Release Planning

PO Team

Supports Release Planning preparation and provides guidance on scope options

Story Map

Release Planning

Agile Team

Mock plan the next Release Horizon by moving stories into iterations

Add to iterations

Story Refinement

Story Refinement

Release PlanningRelease Planning

Ready To Build

Release Viability

Detailed Planning(Clarity)

Detailed PlanningState Leads Activity APM Tool Artifact

RP Event RM Prepares Agenda and follow up to communicates preparation and participation for Release Planning event

Agenda

RP Event Agile Teams

Plans User Stories for the Release, plan dependencies; organize team risk reporting

Update Release, PTD, Iteration, story dependencies

Initiate Risk Reporting

RP Event RM Captures release scope plans; prepares Release Reports Validates Features and Stories in Release Plan

Release Plan Template

RP Event Build Eng.

Lead source code branching strategies and planning; communicate plans

Branching Plan

RP Event QA Mgr.

Lead Test Planning including Integration and Verification of features; communicate plans

Test Plan Template

RP Event Security Lead security planning; communicate plans Security Plan

RP Event SA Define Technical Spikes Create Spikes

RP Event RM & PM

Reports on release planning; Updates Epic Timeline, Epic Roadmap and Portfolio Dashboard

Release Plans

Release Viability

PORT Validates viable release plans to meet release objectives Facilitator updates Epic State

Story Refinement

Agile Team

Begins story refinement Updates stories Specification

Story Refinement

Story Refinement

Release PlanningRelease Planning

Ready To Build

Release Viability

Detailed Planning(Clarity)

Execution GovernanceState Leads Activity APM Tool Artifact

Story Refinement

Agile Teams

Leads Story Refinement Updates stories Specification

Develop & Test

PO Team

Provide Agile Teams the environment and support they need to get the job done, support Agile Team activities

Develop & Test

Agile Teams

Build, Test and Demo stories Working Software

Integration RM Coordinates stories to build end to end functionality as identified in Story Mapping; prepares PTD list

Export PTD list Story Map

Integration Build Eng.

Assembles Release Components; Builds Integration environment; Builds Staging & Production environments

Integration QA Mgr.

Leads Integration testing for Features

Feature Complete

PROD Reviews and accepts Features

Feature Complete

PO Team

Reviews and accepts release

Production Ready Release

Production Ready Release

Integration Testing

Integration Testing

Developand TestDevelopand Test

Build

Execution Governance(Accountability)

Execution GovernanceState Leads Activity APM Tool Artifact

Execution Governance

RM Monitor, coordinate and report on Release Progress. Updates Epic Timeline and Epic Roadmap

Release Burndown, Release Risk,

Release Status Report

Execution Governance

PM Monitor and report on Epic or Milestone Progress. Updates Portfolio Dashboard.

Milestone CFD, Metrics, Operations Review

Epic Status Report; Operations Review

Execution Governance

PORT Monitors key information to support teams, generate options and make investment decisions

Status Reports

Execution Governance

PM Post Launch Hyper-care management; transition to Operations

Launch Plans