SSW Update - How do we make good Product Owners?

[the cutting edge ]

G'day Developers!

How do we make good Product Owners?
At my TechEd talks this month (Australia and New Zealand) I talked about Product Owners. After my session there was lots of discussion around the Product Owner Scrum role, and what makes a good one. I loved hearing the stories of dysfunction about Product Owners who have not done their job well.

The client is generally the Product Owner (PO). They should read the Scrum Guide, watch my new Product Owner video and communicate an understanding of their role. It is so important to the success of their project.

What does a good Product Owner need to do?

Be available for Sprint Reviews, Retrospectives and Sprint Planning meetings (approximately half a day for these 3 meetings, for each 2 week sprint).
Order the Product Backlog. The important things will be done first, in order to maximize the ROI as the budget will run out one day.
Be available, at least remotely, to unblock a developer if he has questions/impediments. A good PO has a feeling of urgency.
Ideally listen in on Daily Scrums. This is optional but means that the PO will have daily insight into the team’s progress.
Understand Product Backlog Items (PBIs) and be able to explain what they want using Acceptance Criteria. This is the main way that developers and POs sync their understanding of what needs to be done.
Agree on a Sprint Goal for each sprint.
Not influence (or anchor) developer estimates with comments like "this one will be easy" and allow the team to come up with converged estimates.
Respect the Sprint Goal. Understand that the team will only work on things in the Sprint Backlog and don't expect other things to be done as well. Most things can wait for the next sprint.

Who should be the Product Owner?
It's hard to give guidance on who in the company would make a good PO. The usual candidate is often extremely busy. It should be:

Someone with a personal stake in the success of the project.
Someone who is available
Someone with a clear vision of the product,
Someone who has authority with budget
e.g. They could authorise adding a designer to a sprint for a couple of days
Someone who has read the Scrum Guide and watched the Product Owner video and understands the role.

It's possible to outsource the role of PO to someone in the development consulting company, but this is not recommended. Don't put the fox in charge of the chickens.

During my session I said:

"Most dysfunction I see in Scrum teams is caused by a bad Product Owner"
Adam Cogan during Teched session.
Professional Scrum Trainer, Scrum.org

This statement is based on my experience. I wonder if it rings true of what *you* are seeing? Let me know in the comments...

-Adam Cogan, SSW

Got a comment for Adam?
Email Adam Cogan
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NEW SSW TV VIDEOS!

Scrum Guide - What Is A Product Owner?

In this SSW TV Special, we converted the ‘Product Owner’ definition from the 2013 Scrum Guide into cartoon form to illustrate the role of a Product Owner in a Scrum team.

(From the 2013 Scrum Guide)
The Product Owner

The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Development Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals.

The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog. Product Backlog management includes:

Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions;
Ensuring the value of the work the Development Team performs;
Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next; and,
Ensuring the Development Team understands items in the Product Backlog to the level needed.

What the video to learn more!

Watch more videos on SSW TV

ALM in a Day Training

Brings developers up-to-speed on the new features of VS and TFS 2013

Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra

Cost: $110 + GST half day or $190 + GST full day

This full day training course brings developers up-to-speed on the new features and benefits of Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013. With detailed insight into project management using Scrum and testing using the Microsoft Test Manager. Attendees will leave with a strong understanding of how to embrace TFS 2013 in their organization.

Course at a Glance:

Team Foundation Server 2013 (TFS) for Successful Project Management
Visual Studio Ultimate (formerly Visual Studio Team System (VSTS)) and Team Foundation Server (TFS) are the cornerstones of development on the Microsoft .NET platform. These are the best tools for a project manager to have successful projects and for the developers to have a focused and smooth software development process.

Visual Studio 2013 and TFS (formerly Team System) - An ALM Overview
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 ALM (formerly Team System) Team System is an integrated software development platform to build the mission-critical applications that businesses depend on. It extends Visual Studio's integrated and productive experience from the developer to the entire development team, by delivering powerful new role-based tools for software architects, developers, testers and project managers (or Scrum Masters if you are agile). In this session you will see an overview of these tools and how they can improve your software development cycle.

Find out more and Register

There's Still Time to Sign Up for the 3 Day Scrum Training!

Intensive Professional Scrum Developer Course

Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide

Cost: $2,995 + GST

Professional Scrum Developer courses teach students how to work in a team - using modern software engineering practices - to develop an increment of potentially releasable functionality using a specific technology platform.

Classes are exercise-driven, with students working in self-organizing teams to develop "done" increments from Product Backlog items.

Course at a Glance:

This 3-day Professional Scrum Developer .NET course is a mix of lecture, demonstration, group discussion, simulation, and hands-on software development. The bulk of the course will be spent working as a team on a case study application delivering increments of new functionality in mini-sprints. Here is the course at a glance:

Scrum

Note: Scrum fundamentals are not covered in this 3-day course. If you are not experienced with Scrum fundamentals, the 5 day course is still available.

Adelaide 08 OCT 2013		Melbourne 22 OCT 2013
Sydney 14 OCT 2013		Perth 04 NOV 2013
Canberra 10 DEC 2013

Find out more and Register

SSW live-streamed webinar

Lessons Learned Writing Mobile Sites - presented by Dino Esposito

Thursday 10th October 2013
11.00am - 12.00pm
Cost: No Charge

Too many web sites are neither optimized nor adapted to render well on mobile devices and too many developers think it only needs some CSS.

Responsive Web Design (RWD) delivers multi-device views without extra costs, but what if you have workflows to implement or different use-cases? The session discusses a few real examples where RWD is not enough and server-side detection is necessary.

About the presenter:

Dino Esposito

A long-time trainer and consultant, Dino Esposito is the author of many popular books for Microsoft Press for .NET developers, including "Architecting Mobile Solutions for the Enterprise" and Programming ASP.NET MVC, as well as CTO of Crionet, a firm specializing in Web-based and mobile solutions for sport events across Europe. At the moment Dino is also technical evangelist for JetBrains, where he focuses on Android and Kotlin development, and member of the team that manages WURFL — the database of mobile devices used by organizations such as Google and Facebook.

Follow Dino through his blog at software2cents.wordpress.com or at twitter.com/despos

Sydney .NET User Group

The best place to learn .NET for free in Sydney

User Group

Sydney .NET User Group
Wednesday 18th September 2013
6:00pm - 8:00pm
SSW Office
Gateway Court, Suite 13
81-91 Military Road, Neutral Bay NSW 2089

"What’s New for ALM in Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013" - Adam Cogan

The latest versions of Visual Studio and TFS bring some great new features for developers, Product Owners, testers, and even the crusty old stakeholders. More than ever, TFS integrates the whole ALM story to help you deliver your project on time and on budget.

In this session, we’ll quickly recap the best features of TFS 2012 and then look at the great new features in TFS 2013. Adam Cogan will show you the new ALM features that make TFS perfect for Product Owners and company Stakeholders, and how developers work with TFS more effectively than ever, right from Visual Studio. The session will finish off with an awesome story for testers.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Adam Cogan is the Chief Architect at SSW, a Microsoft Gold Partner specializing in custom .NET, SharePoint and CRM solutions (with a splash of Business Intelligence). At SSW, Adam has been developing custom solutions for businesses across a range of industries such as Government, engineering, banking, insurance and manufacturing since 1990 for clients such as Microsoft, Worley Parsons and Aurecon.

At SSW, Adam enjoys working with the teams, improving their usage of Scrum and TFS, reviewing the architecture of large .NET projects, while also taking an active interest in the overall User Experience (UX).

To see more details and RSVP, please visit our Facebook .NET Group, our LinkedIn .NET Group or our Meetup Group.

SSW and Telerik NerdDinner

Where nerds meet and eat

NerdDinner - Where geeks eat
Wednesday 18th September 2013
8:10pm - 9:30pm
The Oaks Hotel
118 Military Road, Neutral Bay

SSW and Telerik invite you to join us for pizza at The Oaks. A fantastic opportunity for networking with peers and sharing thoughts after the Sydney .NET User Group presentation.

Sydney .Net User Group and NerdDinner proudly sponsored by:

Canberra .NET User Group

The best place to learn .NET for free in Canberra

Canberra .NET User Group
Monday 16th September 2013
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Microsoft Canberra Branch
Walter Turnbull Building
Level 2, 44 Sydney Ave
Canberra, Australia

"What’s New for ALM in Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013" - Adam Cogan

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Adam Cogan is the Chief Architect at SSW, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner specializing in custom .NET, SharePoint and CRM solutions (with a splash of Business Intelligence). At SSW, Adam has been developing custom solutions for businesses across a range of industries such as Government, engineering, banking, insurance and manufacturing since 1990 for clients such as Microsoft, Worley Parsons and Aurecon.

To see more details and RSVP, please visit our Facebook .NET Group, our LinkedIn .NET Group or our Meetup Group.

Canberra .Net User Group proudly sponsored by:

Advertise with SSW

If you would like to advertise your product or service with SSW or would like to find out more about various advertising opportunities, please email your enquiry to info@ssw.com.au or call: +61 2 9953 3000.

September 2013

Employment

SharePoint 2013 Developer

Are you looking to establish a career working with the latest software technology for a large range of great organisations? Do you enjoy managing your own clients in a fun, fast-paced and dynamic environment?
SSW has been the leading Microsoft technology company in Sydney for 21 years. We require an enthusiastic SharePoint developer to start ASAP.