Robin Dymond is a managing partner at Innovel LLC who has 21 years of software development experience, including 9 years using Scrum and XP and 5 years applying Lean principles. As an Agile program coach, Dymond has trained over 2,000 people in Scrum and has clients in the US, Europe, Canada and Brazil. The document provides guidance on how to establish an effective product owner role through selecting the right person, defining their process and using tools like kanban boards to manage their work.

2. Who am I?
 Robin Dymond, CST
 Managing Partner Innovel LLC
 21 years in software development
 9 yrs doing Scrum + XP, 5 yrs applying Lean
 Agile Program Coach in the largest Agile
transition in Banking
 Trained 2000+ people in Scrum
 Clients in US, Europe, Canada, Brazil
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3. Just read this…
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4. They asked me to work with you…
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5. … hello….?
….hello….?
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6. What can you do about this?
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7. How to Boot up Your
Product Owner
 People
 Process
 Tools
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8. Do you have the right
person as PO?
People over process
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9. Get the right person for
the job
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10. Key Product Owner
Attributes
 A subject matter expert
 Knowledgeable about the business
 Has decision making authority
 Has lots of time for the team
 Good communicator
 Uses the system being developed
 Facilitates stakeholder input
 Listens to the team
 Understands the key role of a Product Owner in Scrum
 Helps the team improve
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11. Set your relationship up
for success
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12. Establish expectations
with both sides
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13. Don’t expect perfection
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14. Buy them some books

15. Send them to Product Owner
training
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16. Process:
Managing Product Owner work
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17. Relationships,
Requirements, Results
Stakeholders What we are Business
and Team building results
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18. Relationships
Stake‐ • Customers
holders • Politics
Scrum • System health
Team • Motivation
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19. Pulling features from
the Backlog
Ready for Priority
next iteration
Team
Next 2‐3 Iterations,
Less defined
Epic Story
A group of stories that
Comprise a capability
Epic Story
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20. Just In Time Backlog Grooming
Priority
PO and Team
PO and Team or Analyst
PO and other POs
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21. Add regular stakeholder and
team PBL review meetings
Product Backlog
Product
Backlog
Stakeholder Backlog Team Backlog NO SURPRISES
Review meeting Review meeting
Sprint planning
or Sprint review
Sprint 1
Backlog
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Repeat
Sprint Daily Sprint Review,
Planning Standup Retrospective
meeting
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22. Define a “ready to develop”
state for User stories to enter
sprint planning.
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23. Reduce the PO Work in
Progress (WIP)
 How much stuff is the P.O. working on?
 What other projects do they have?
 Whay other jobs do they have?
 What does sales and marketing demand from
them? Road maps? New plans, priorities?
 How often do they meet with stakeholders?
 How often do they work with the team?
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24. Visualize their work
Write Product Meet with
Whitepaper Photoshoot stakeholders
Customer 2012 Marketing Trade show
meeting planning planning
Meet with
Update Product Regulatory
other Product
Road map update
managers
Review
Prepare for Review test
completed User
next iteration plan with QA
stories
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25. Reduce work in process
Product Owner Personal Kanban
Work CUE Next WIP 2 Done
Customer
Bla bla Customer More stuff
stuff
stuff
Blabla PBL work
Blabla Sales stuff Fun work
Sales stuff
stuff Boring work
More stuff Blabla
work
Fun work
Boring work
Blabla
Other work
Bbsit sales
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Focus group

26. Visualize Backlog Prep
Kanban for Backlog Preparation
Product Ready for Ready for
Backlog Next Epics 2 User Stories team review 5 sprint planning
Bla bla Epic 3 Story 2.1 Story 1.3 Story 1.1
Epic 1
Blabla Epic 4 Story 2.2
Story 1.4 Story 1.2
Blabla Epic 5 Epic 2
stuff Story 2.3
Story 2.4
More stuff
Story 2.5
work
Fun work
Boring work
Limited Work In Progress
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27. Online kanban for off
site P.O.
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28. Product Ownership: scope
creation or scope management?
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29. Ensuring what gets built
delivers value
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30. Product Management with Fast
Feedback
Revise product
direction based
on market feedback
Plan product Release every Sprint Check
increments, Market
Market tests response
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31. Is what we built being used?
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32. Automate market feedback,
make it transparent
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33. Your Product Owner needs
a process too
 Scrum is silent on how product owners should
manage their work
 Product Owners feed the rest of the
development system and are a constraint
 Find ways to build and support effective work
processes for your POs.
 Define what “Ready for development” means
for user stories
 Use Lean and just in time ideas to eliminate
overworked POs
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34. Perfection is a journey…
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35. Thanks Steve.
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36. Questions?
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37. Innovel LLC
Training and Consulting in
Scrum XP Agile Lean Kanban
Robin Dymond, CST
rdymond@innovel.net
www.innovel.net
www.scrumtraining.com
Americas: (804) 239‐4329
Europe: +32 489 674 366