Archive for the ‘Product Owner’ tag
Short Answers #1: When Stories Are Larger Than Planned
I’m experimenting with video for what is likely become a new series here. In these “Short Answers” posts, I’ll answer an agile question in about a minute. Use the comments to suggest questions you’d like to see in future Short Answers.
In this post, I answer the question, “What should I do when I discover in the middle of a sprint that a story is larger than we planned?” Several people have asked me this, and the answer is not, “Suck it up and work 80 hours to get everything done.”
Are the Product Owner and ScrumMaster’s Interests Opposed?
The Chief Engineer role in the Toyota Product Development System combines parts of the Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and senior technical team member roles from Scrum. In addition to leading the technical design of a new product and facilitating the work of the other engineers, the CE must deeply understand and care about what the customer values—he has ultimate responsibility for delivering value to the customer and for the resulting commercial success or failure of the product.
CEs have gone to amazing lengths to gain that deep understanding of the customer’s needs.
Motivated Individuals
As agile approaches the mainstream, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the core principles, especially this one:
Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
If agile is to apply broadly, we can’t reserve it just for those projects that start with motivated individuals. We need to learn how to cultivate them.
Free Agile Product Management Seminar - Nov 11, Denver
I’m hosting a free seminar on Tuesday, November 11 from 1:00-2:30 PM in the Denver Tech Center area. Please join me there and spread the word to others who might be interested.
Here’s a brief description:
