What is Your Product?

What is Your Product?
Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) in NYC
10 March 202
© 2020 by EBG Consulting, Inc.
Ellen Gottesdiener
www.ebgconsulting.com
www.DiscoverToDeliver.com
@ellengott
ellen@ebgconsulting.com

Ellen Gottesdiener
CPO, Founder, CSM, CSPO, CPF
Ellen helps product and development communities create valuable outcomes
through product agility. She is known in the agile community as an instigator
and innovator for collaborative practices for agile product discovery using
skilled facilitation to enable healthy teamwork and organizational learning.
twitter: @ellengott
blog: ebgconsulting.com/blog
linkedIn: ellengottesdiener
tips newsletter: www.ebgconsulting.com
EBG is a global leader in agile product management and ownership and collaborative practices
for technology products. EBG helps organizations amplify discovery to accelerate delivery.
Volunteer:
Agile Product Open ~ Boston (Co-Founder, Producer)
Agile Product Management Initiative (Director,Agile Alliance)

props & appreciations to Andy Repton
[ @reptonandy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyrepton/ ]
for collaborating with me on an earlier workshop version
of this presentation

© 2020 by EBG Consulting | @ellengott
www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com 5

www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com
so…
what is your product?
6

My product’s
customers are:
a) internal
b) external
c) both
d) not sure
7

My product is…
a) software
b) hardware
c) software+hardware
d) service
e) combination
8

Does my product provide a primary
source of revenue for my org?
a) yes, commercially sold
b) no, used for internal use only
c) both a source of revenue AND
we use it for internal operations
9

“a software
application, system,
device, service, or
combination that
provides value to
customers and
business partners”
Gottesdiener and Gorman, Discover to Deliver
10
product

why does it matter?
11

backlog
customers
metrics that matter
strategy and roadmap
org design, team alignment
decision making
PMs or POs
impact

criteria for defining “product”
customer’s view
short lived
spans customer journey
includes services and components
defined as narrowly as possible
can have multiple product backlogs
TRUE or FALSE?
13

principles
for defining your product
14

principle #1
15

www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com 2004 16

Pick one, go deep - product canvas

© 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy 21

We understand our
customers’ pains, gains,
and jobs to be done:
a: yes! we are deeply connected
b: somewhat 
c: er…not really
1
22

outside-in
23

principle #2
24

product lifecycle

Introduction Growth Maturity Decline
Time
Profit
Sales
Based on: Kotler & Keller, Marketing Management, 2012
product lifecycle

look out for
new ‘products’ being defined that are
actually innovations for existing capability

the art of the long view
31

principle #3
32

what is the effect of how
narrowly or broadly
you define your product?

The product backlog
tends to have more
technical items:
narrow or broad ?

Shared components are
worked on by multiple
cross-functional teams:
narrow or broad ?

There is often a need for
coordinator roles:
narrow or broad ?

Prioritization is simpler
narrow or broad ?

Features tend to get
duplicated:
narrow or broad ?

Dependency resolution
is easier:
narrow or broad ?

External
Entity:
person
(role),
system or
device
Interface
(giving or
getting)
The area
of study
or the
product
41

features
vs.
components

as broad as possible
45

principle #4
46

Source: Bonkers World
47

“…organizations which design systems
…. are constrained to produce designs
which are copies of the communication
structure of these organization.”
Melvin Conway, 1968. Paper available at: www.melconway.com
conway’s law

“How Misconceptions About the Scrum Product Owner Role HarmYour Organization and What To Do About It”
~ Michael James (MJ) onYouTube
50

local vs. system optimization

Larman's 5th Law
of Organizational Behavior
Culture follows structure.
http://www.craiglarman.com/wiki/index.php?title=Larman%27s_Laws_of_Organizational_Behavior

structure follows product
53

principle #5
54

Experiments from inside a ‘Product thinking’ workshop
IMAGE: big workshop photo
DAY 1
What is Product
Initial definition
DAY 2
Product deep dives
Naming and refinement
Org implications
DAY 3+
Product deep dives
Product Discovery
experiments from product thinking workshops
size: 15-20
makeup: execs running org of 500 to 1K people
3-4 days recommended
facilitators design agenda
participants have accountability for outcomes
55

product thinking meta pattern
WTF?
kahoot
glossary is/is
not/??
feature vs
component
unconscious
incompetence
conscious
incompetence
conscious
competence
customer
interviews
role
maps
product
canvas
context
diagrams name the
product
umm!
got it!
sh*t now
gets real !
DtD
exercise
team
structure
oh ok
<shrug>
whatever
!
56

the glossary is gold dust
write it
use it
refine it

WTF?
kahoot
glossary is/is
not/??
feature vs
component
unconscious
incompetence
conscious
incompetence
conscious
competence
customer
interviews
role
maps
product
canvas
context
diagrams name the
product
umm!
got it!
sh*t now
gets real !
DtD
exercise
team
structure
oh ok
<shrug>
whatever
!
58

is | is not | ?
59
simple sorting exercise
use existing
components, features
and solutions

WTF?
kahoot
glossary is/is
not/??
feature vs
component
unconscious
incompetence
conscious
incompetence
conscious
competence
customer
interviews
role
maps
product
canvas
context
diagrams name the
product
umm!
got it!
sh*t now
gets real !
DtD
exercise
team
structure
oh ok
<shrug>
whatever
!
60

prep with it
walkthrough it
refine it
product canvas
61

Read more: Gottesdiener “Decide How to Decide: Empowering Product Ownership” (EBG blog)
introduce decision making

Experiments from inside a ‘Product thinking’ workshop
IMAGE: big workshop photo
DAY 1
What is Product
Initial definition
DAY 2
Product deep dives
Org implications
DAY 3+
Product deep dives
Product Discovery
after the workshop
product canvas +
improvement backlog
organizational realignment
training
liftoffs
coaching
discovery sessions
63

collaborate 64

principles for
defining your product
65

outside-in
the art of the long view
as broad as possible
structure follows product
collaborate 66

www.ebgconsulting.com
Events, course outlines, services, resources
Tips newsletter: http://bit.ly/ebgNews
www.ebgconsulting.com/blog
www.DiscoverToDeliver.com
DtoD resources, Discovery Board, Visual Language for download
Twitter @ellengott | LinkedIn linkedIn
YouTube EBGConsulting
SlideShare ellengott
stay connected!
68

https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/what-is-your-product/
some readings
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/using-the-product-canvas-to-define-your-products-core-requirements/
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/using-product-canvas-define-product-getting-started/
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/right-things-not-everything-product-management-ownership/
What is your Product?
Using the Product Canvas to DefineYour Product: Getting Started
Using the Product Canvas to DefineYour Product’s Core Requirements
Do the Right Things, Not Everything: Product Management & Ownership

What is Your Product?

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