Product Owner / Product Manager - SAFe Certification (v 5.1)
Product Managers and Product Owners collaboratively lead the train
At scale, a single person cannot handle product and market strategy while also being dedicated to an Agile team Customer has 1 Product Manager who works with 2-4 product owners. 1 Product owner works with 1-2 Agile teams Both oversee the vision and the roadmap
What is a value stream?
Represents the series of steps an organization undertakes to deliver a product or service to a Customer Persists for as long as customers continue to derive value Contains the systems, the people who do the work, and the flow of information and materials
PO & PM Collaboration with other ART roles
Release Train Engineer (RTE) - Acts as the chief Scrum Master for the train System Architect-Engineering - Provides architectural guidance and technical enablement to the teams on the train System Team - Provides processes and tools to integrate, and evaluates assets early and often Business Owners - Serve as the key stakeholders on the train
What is a Solution?
A Solution is a product, service, or system delivered to the customer, whether internal or external, to the Enterprise. Each development value stream produces one or more Solutions that enable the operational value stream.
Agile Manifesto Principles
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. 2. Welcome changing requirements , even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. 3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference for the shorter timescale
SAFe Lean-Agile Principles
1. Take an economic view 2. Apply systems thinking 3. Assume variability; preserve options 4. Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles 5. Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems 6. Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes and manage queue lengths 7. Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning 8. Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers 9. Decentralize decision-making
Agile Manifest, values 10 - 12
10. Simplicity-the art of maximizing the amount of work not done-is essential. 11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. 12. At regular intervals , the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Agile Manifesto, values 4 - 6
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. 5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. 6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Agile Manifesto, values 7 - 9
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress. 8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors , developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. 9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
What is Pl Planning?
A cadence-based event that serves as the heartbeat of the ART, aligning all teams on the ART to a shared mission and Vision. ► For every Pl: - Two days for in-person - Three to four days for virtual ► Everyone plans together ► Product Management owns Feature priorities ► Development teams own Story planning and high-level estimates ► Architect/Engineering and UX work as intermediaries for governance, interfaces, and dependencies
What is a Product/Solution Vision?
A description of the future state of the product or Solution ► Where are we headed with this product or Solution? ► What problem does it solve? ► What Features and benefit hypotheses do we think it provides? ► For whom does it provide benefit? ► What nonfunctional requirements (NFRs), such as performance, reliability, platforms, and so on, does the Solution deliver? Common formats Rolling wave briefings Vision document Preliminary data sheet Draft press release
Express the future state as a Vision
A long view: ► How will our portfolio of future Solutions solve the larger customer problems? ► How will these Solutions differentiate us? ► What is the future context within which our Solutions will operate? ► What is our current business context, and how must we evolve to meet this future state? Vision: A postcard from the future ► Aspirational, yet realistic and achievable ► Motivational enough to engage others on the journey Result: Everyone starts thinking about how to apply their strengths in order to get there.
What is a Program Increment (Pl)?
A timebox during which an Agile Release Train (ART) delivers incremental value in the form of working, tested software and systems. ►Typically, 8-12 weeks that consists of development iterations and an Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration. ► A timebox for planning, building, and validating a full system increment, demonstration value, and receiving fast feedback.
Relative estimating
Agile Teams use Story points and relative estimating to quickly arrive at size estimates for Stories ► Product Managers can use historical data to quickly estimate the size of Features in Story points as well ► Feature estimates can then be rolled up into Epic estimates in the Portfolio Backlog ► Portfolio Managers and other planners can use their ART's capacity allocation to estimate how long a portfolio Epic might take under various scenarios
Enabler
An Enabler supports the activities needed to extend the Architectural Runway to provide future business functionality. These include exploration, architecture, infrastructure, and compliance. Enablers are captured in the various backlogs and occur throughout the Framework
PO Responsibilities - weekly & daily
Attends the team's daily stand-up meeting to understand the team's progress and impediments toward the Iteration goals. Capture customer requirements and ideas by writing (or helping others write) stories and Enablers. Continuously accepts or rejects completed stories and Enablers. Is available to the team each day to answer questions and clarify stories. Works with the System Architect to ensure Enablers are properly prioritized so as not to mortgage the future of the architecture. Verifies that stories are in the proper format, contain valid confirmation (aka acceptance criteria), and are in line with the Program vision and scope. This includes any necessary design details, business rules, NFRs, etc. Ensures that the team is aligned to the PI Objectives, and Iteration goals are clearly defined and communicated. Helps remove or escalate obstacles to Product Management. Makes sure that the Agile team has a direct connection with the business through story development and the Iteration review. Meets regularly with Product Management (e.g. PO Sync) to keep stakeholders informed on how much incremental value has been generated.
Areas of focus for Agile Teams
Builds Quality-In, evolves Agile architecture Owns estimates Evolves the Continuous Delivery Pipeline
There are two types of Epics
Business Epics directly deliver business value Enabler Epics support the Architectural Runway and future business functionality
What is an Agile Release Train (ART)?
Consists of a virtual organization of 5 to 12 teams (50 to 125 individuals) ► Has all the capabilities-software, hardware, firmware, and other assets needed to define, implement, test, and deploy new system functionality ► Operates with the goal of achieving continuous flow of value ► Synchronizes on common cadence (Pl) ► Aligns to a common mission through the Program Backlog
Scrum Master Functions
Coaches the Agile Team in self-management Helps the team focus on creating increments of value each iteration Facilitates the removal of impediments to the team's progress Ensures that all team events take place, are productive and kept within the timebox
Product Management and Product Owner focus - shared areas of concern
Continuous Delivery Pipeline (Continuous Innovation, Continuous Exploration, Continuous Deployment) Release on Demand Stories Enablers Features System Demos IP Iteration PI Planning (then cycle again) Underneath it all is the architectural runway - that goes through all iterations
The Program Kanban facilitates flow through the CD Pipeline
Continuous Exploration > Continuous Integration >Continuous Deployment > Release on Demand Funnel > Analyzing > Backlog > Implementing> Validating on staging > Deploying to production > Releasing > Done
Product Owner functions
Contributes to the Vision and Roadmap Acts as the Customer for team questions Creates, clearly communicates and accepts Stories Prioritizes the Team Backlog
Product Owners and Product Managers are essential to Pl execution. During PI Planning preparation, they
Create/update Vision and Roadmaps Socialize the Top 10 Features to set expectations for the Pl Planning event
Focus of Product Managers and Product Owners
Customer Centric > Design Thinking Develop on Cadence > Release on Demand DevOps and the continuous delivery pipeline
Design Thinking tools support PMs and POs in creating Features
Customer Journey Maps Personas Whole-Product Thinking
Two-Day PI Planning - Day 1 Agenda
Day 1: Business context Product/Solution Vision Architecture Vision and development practices Planning context and lunch Team breakouts Draft plan review Management review and problem solving
The benefits of Pl Planning
Establishes personal communication across all team members and stakeholders ► Aligns development to business goals with the business context, Vision, and Team/Program Pl Objectives ► Identifies dependencies and fostering cross-team and cross-ART collaboration ► Provides the opportunity for just the right amount of architecture and Lean User Experience (UX) guidance ► Matches demand to capacity and eliminates excess work in process (WIP) ► Enables fast decision making
Pl Roadmaps are shorter-term with more fidelity
Examples: Annual Automotive suppliers' event So - develop: Selection of mapping software Front camera Radar components Install communications on mule -Uncommitted Objectives - Send real-time status
Development Value Stream picture
Feature Request - then Define, Build, Validate, Release - continuous loop - ends in New increment of value
Analysis and refinement ensure Features are ready for implementation
Features may start as a one sentence overview with more details added in Pl Planning and backlog refinement meetings
PO & PM Governance - Content Authority PM - Program backlog
Has Program Backlog content authority. Works with the System Architect and Team to prioritize Enablers. Has content authority for Vision and Roadmap. Helps drive Pl Objectives. Establishes Features and acceptance criteria.
Product Management and Product Owner focus - collaboration
Healthy Collaboration - Their place in the team (Product owner on their agile team & Product Manager on their ART team with Release Train Engineers, System Architects and the Agile teams
Capacity allocation
Helps balance functionality with Architectural Runway 1. Determine how much capacity is to be allocated to each type 2. Establish policies to determine how much work is performed for each type
Prioritization anti-patterns
HiPPo -The highest paid person makes the decision. Squeaky Wheel - The person who yells the loudest or makes the biggest promise of revenue ROI -The decision is made based exclusively on profit without considering other factors
Prioritize Features for optimal ROI
In a flow system, job sequencing is the key to improving economic outcomes. To prioritize based on Lean economics, we need to know two things: ► The cost of delay in delivering value ► What is the cost to implement the valuable thing?
General case: Any cost of delay and duration
In the general case, give preference to jobs with shorter duration and higher cost of delay, using WSJF
Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan
What is an Agile Team
Is a cross-functional, self-organizing team of 5 to 11 people that define, build, test, and deliver Solution functionality ► Uses Scrum and Kanban for team Agility ► Applies Built-in Quality practices for Technical Agility ► Delivers value every Iteration ► Functions as the basic building block of the SAFe Enterprise
Market dynamics influence Solution and Pl Roadmaps
Market Rhythms and Market Events Influence Solution Roadmaps & PI Roadmaps
Two-Day PI Planning - Day 2 Agenda
Planning adjustments Team breakouts Final plan review and lunch Program risks Pl confidence vote Plan rework if necessary Planning retrospective and moving forward
Product Managers are essential to Pl execution. During PI Planning they:
Negotiate scope and contribute to business value score
Create alignment with Pl Objectives
Objectives are business summaries of what each team intends to deliver in the upcoming Pl. ► Objectives often directly relate to intended Features in the backlog. ► Other examples of objectives: -Aggregation of a set of Features -A Milestone like a trade show -An Enabler Feature supporting the implementation -A major refactoring
Estimating cost
Once the Feature has been estimated in Story points, a cost estimate for the Feature can be quickly derived. ► Calculate the burdened cost for a team in an Iteration length ► Divide that by their Pl velocity to get average cost per Story point
Development Value Streams support:
Operational Value Streams
Areas of focus for Product Manager
Owns Program Backlog Defines Features, Pls and Releases Owns Vision, Roadmap, pricing, licensing, ROI Collaborates on Enablers
Areas of focus for Product Owner
Owns Team Backlog(s) Defines Iterations and Stories Contributes to Vision, Roadmap, ROI Accepts Iteration increments
Product Owners Responsibilities on a cadence
Participate in the Iteration retrospective event. Present the stories and Enablers during Iteration Planning. Meet with the team each week to refine the Team Backlog. Work with the team to decompose stories and Enablers into small increments. Ideally something that can be completed every two to three days. Prioritize and update the Team Backlog. Work with the team to create and commit to Iteration goals. Collaborate with team members to form PI Objectives. Help identify dependencies with other teams during PI Planning. Meet with Product Management and stakeholders regularly to field questions and inform them of any updates or changes to scope. Conduct the Iteration review with the team and participate in the System Demo to demonstrate the incremental functionality to the Agile Release Train and stakeholders.
How much architecture?
Product Management collaborates with System Architects to balance business Features and Enablers and to ensure investment in just enough Architectural Runway. Product and Solution Management - Our focus is on the capabilities and features that our customers need System and Solution Architect / Engineering - Our focus is on robust technology solutions that meet near and long-term goals
Product Management creates the Vision for the ART
Product Management creates the Vision, which evolves from Customer feedback and learnings of the ART Vision Guides the Train Feedback evolves the Vision
PO & PM Governance - Content Authority PO - Team backlog
Product Owner: Has team backlog content authority. Works with system architect to prioritize enablers Drives Iteration Goals and content via prioritized Stories. Establishes Story acceptance criteria. Has authority for accepting Stories and Team increments. Helps drive Pl Objectives at the Team Level.
Product Owners, Product Managers, and distributed teams
Product Owners and Product Managers might not be co-located, which can create additional responsibilities. Guiding team has Product Manager, Product Owner & Remote team has Product Manager proxy Guiding team has Release Train Engineer & System Architect. Remote team has Scrum Master, team & System Architect proxy
Agile Teams have two speciality roles
Scrum Master & Product Owner
Features are implemented by Stories
Stories are small increments of value that can be developed in days and are relatively easy to estimate. ► Story form of user voice captures role, activity, and goal. ► Features fit in one Pl for one ART. ► Stories fit in one Iteration for one team
Influence of Strategic Themes
Strategic Themes influence the Product/Solution Vision Each Enterprise/Government has Strategic Themes. These themes output to: - Portfolio Vision - Portfolio Kanban and Portfolio Backlog ** - Vision for Solution, Program, and Team Backlogs ** - Value Stream Budgets - Lean Budget Guardrails - - Guardrails = - Investment Horizons - Capacity Allocation - Approve Significant Initiatives - Business Owner Engagement
Prepare for PI Planning
Supported by Product Owners, Product Managers take the lead in preparing for Pl Planning
PI Output is:
Team and Program Pl Objectives and Program Board
Features are managed through the Program Backlog
The Program Backlog is the holding area for upcoming Features that will address user needs and deliver business benefits for a single ART
Set quality expectations with the definition of done
The definition of done communicates the completeness for an increment of value and creates a shared understanding of what work was completed as part of an Increment.
Development Value Streams
The sequence of activities needed to convert a business hypothesis into a technology-enabled Solution that delivers Customer value Examples: designing and developing a medical device, developing and deploying a CRM system, and building an eCommerce web site
Solution Roadmaps provide a multi-year view
They contain Milestones as well as Epics & Capabilities Milestone example: Autonomous platform integration with vehicle Epic & Capabilities: GPS Follow Route Make Turns
Calculate WSJF with relative estimating
To calculate WSJF, teams need to estimate cost of delay and duration ► For duration, use job size as a quick proxy for duration ► Relative estimating is a quick technique to estimate job size and relative value ► WSJF stakeholders: Business Owners, Product Managers, Product Owners, and System Architects
How much preparation is enough?
Too much preparation and too little preparation can cause problems ► More preparation may be needed if creating entirely new Features or the Architectural Runway ► Too much preparation can inhibit exploration, interaction, and emergent designs/solutions during Pl Planning ► Ongoing socialization of Features and Enablers, as well as adequate backlog refinement, influence preparedness
Estimating Features
Typically involves a series of successive refinements
Maintain predictability with uncommitted objectives
Uncommitted objectives help improve the predictability of delivering business value. ► Uncommitted objectives are planned and aren't extra things teams do "just in case you have time" ► Uncommitted objectives are not included in the commitment, thereby making the commitment more reliable ► If a team has low confidence in meeting a Pl Objective, encourage the team to move the objective to uncommitted ► If an item has many unknowns, consider moving the item to uncommitted and put in early spikes ► Uncommitted objectives count when calculating load
Operational Value Streams
Used to deliver end customer value The sequence of activities needed to deliver a product or service to a Customer Examples: manufacturing a product, fulfilling an e-commerce order, admitting and treating a patient, providing a loan, and delivering a professional service
Components of cost of delay
User-business value - Relative value to the Customer or business • They prefer this over that • Revenue impact? • Potential penalty or other negative impact? Time criticality How user-business value decays over time • Is there a fixed deadline? • Will they wait for us or move to another Solution? • What is the current effect on Customer satisfaction? Risk reduction and opportunity enablement What else does this do for our business? Reduce the risk of this or future delivery? • Is there value in the information we will receive . Enable new business opportunities?
House of Lean
Value in the shortest sustainable lead time
WSJF
Weighted Shortest Job First
What POs and PMs do during Pl Planning - Day 1
What they do: Communicate: -The Vision -Top 10 Features ► Support team breakouts ► Collaborate to decompose Features into Stories ► Negotiate scope ► Review draft Pl plans and provide feed back ► Participate in management review of draft plans
Epics need
a Lean business case, the definition of a minimum viable product (MVP), an Epic Owner, and approval by LPM
Epic
a container for a significant Solution development initiative that captures the more substantial investments that occur within a portfolio.
Feature
a service that fulfills a stakeholder need. Each Feature includes a name, a benefit hypothesis, and acceptance criteria. A Feature is sized or split, as necessary, to be delivered by an ART in a Pl.
An ART is
fully cross-functional
Market events
are ad-hoc and often unpredictable Time: When is this projected? What is the precision & accuracy of our projection?
Market rhythms
are cyclical and predictable Time: When should we release?
Stories
are short descriptions of a small piece of desired functionality. Stories are written from the perspective of the user.
Portfolio Epics
are typically cross-cutting, typically spanning multiple value streams and PIs
Estimating Epics
can be challenging but enables informed decision-making ► Epic costs are initially estimated using T-shirt sizes (S, M, L, XL, XXL) and refined during implementation ► Epic duration is estimated using a combination of the following - The Epic's estimated story point size - The historical velocity of the affected ARTs - The capacity the ARTs have allocated to the Epic
SAFe
knowledge base of proven, integrated principles, practices, and competencies for achieving Business Agility by implementing Lean, Agile, and DevOps at scale
Enablers
support the activities needed to extend the Architectural Runway to provide future business functionality. Enablers are captured in various backlogs throughout SAFe.
Definitions of done in release
• All capabilities done and meet acceptance criteria • End-to-end integration and the verification and validation of the Solution is done • Regression testing done • NFRs met • No must-fix defects • Release documentation complete • All standards met • Approved by Solution and Release Management
Definitions of done in the Solution increment
• Capabilities completed by all trains and meet acceptance criteria • Deployed/installed in the staging environment • NFRs met • System end-to-end integration verification, and validation done • No must-fix defects • Included in build definition and deployment/ transition process • Documentation updated • Solution demonstrated; feedback achieved • Accepted by Solution Management
Definitions of done in the system increment
• Stories completed by all teams in the ART and integrated • Completed features meet acceptance criteria • NFRs met • No must-fix defects • Verification and validation of key scenarios • Included in build definition and deployment process • Increment demonstrated; feedback achieved • Acceptance by Product Management
Definitions of done in the team increment
• Stories satisfy acceptance criteria • Acceptance tests passed (automated where practical) • Unit and component tests coded, passed, and included in business verification testing • Cumulative unit tests passed • Assets are under version control • Engineering standards followed • NFRs met • No must-fix defects • Stories acceptance by Product Owner
General responsibilities of the Agile Team
► Create and refine Stories and acceptance criteria ► Define, build, test, and deliver Stories ► Develop and commit to team Pl Objectives and Iteration plans
Communicate the Vision
► Present to the ART how the Vision aligns with Strategic Themes ► Prepare materials so that each team can see the Vision ► Provide user personas to illustrate how the Vision improves the lives of your Customers ► Explain the purpose of any nonfunctional requirements ► Map Vision to Strategic Themes and Solution Context
Communicate the Pl Roadmap
► Show how the Pl Roadmap in this Pl helps fulfill the Vision ► Communicate the Pl Roadmap as part of your Vision to assist in Pl Planning activities ► Highlight Program Epics and Milestones
Partner with System Architect/Engineering
► Support Enabler items that provide sufficient Architectural Runway ► Work with System Architect/Engineering team to sequence technical infrastructures that will enable delivery of new business functionality Enabler is implemented now - to support future features
Kanban summarized
► Visual tool for monitoring and managing workflow ► Columns represent steps in the work process ► Work items (Features, Enablers, Stories, Epics, and Capabilities) flow across the board as capacity allows ► Explicit process policies define how and when a work item moves across the board ► Work-in-process (WIP) promotes flow and the continuous delivery of value - items flow but are not pushed
The definition of done has distinct areas of concern
►Definitions of done ensure functionality is delivered in accordance with internal rules and policies ► Acceptance criteria ensure functionality behaves as expected
