Roles of Product Owner in Agile Teams Product Owner in a Nutshell Superpowers of a Product Owner Challenges of a Product Owner How to be the Unbreakable Product Owner

1. ROLES OF
PRODUCT OWNERS
IN AGILE TEAMS

2. An empowered individual who liaise
between the business and the
development team ensuring the
successful release of a high-value
product based on the defined vision.
PRODUCT OWNER
IN A NUTSHELL

3. image source: https://unbreakablepo.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/cropped-heropo-banner12.png
PRODUCT OWNERS ARE MADE, NOT BORN.

4. SUPER POWERS
OF A
PRODUCT OWNER

5. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Super Strength
• Leadership and ownership;
facilitates product related
decisions.
• Lift the team; motivate and give
morale boost.
• Passion for the product, make
sure that the team understands
the goal/vision of the product.

6. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Bullet Proof
• Address impediments, resolves
conflicts/issues.
• Taking full accountability on the
product.
• Facing consequences on the
decisions made.

7. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Super Hearing
(communication)
• Assist client/stakeholders on
creating concrete user stories.
• Maintain feedback loop; ensure
active engagement of clients/
stakeholders and dev teams.
• Realistic expectation
management (no lying).
• Scope and forecast negotiation.

8. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Super Speed
(adaptive)
• Market-driven product.
• Innovation-driven product.
• Responsive to change, can even
terminate a sprint if determined
a drastic change in direction.
• Learn from what is getting
delivered to every iteration

9. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
X-Ray Vision
(focus)
• Understand the product details.
• Understand for whom and why
we need to create the product.
• Keep the balance on whether to:
- Build the right thing
- Build things right
- Build fast

10. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Foresight
• Predict possible features that
can give value to the product.
• Ensuring that product creates
value for it’s clients as well as
the company.
• Identify and prevent possible
risks (Business, Social,
Technology, Cost and Schedule).

11. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Flying
(birds-eye view)
• Create and prioritize product
backlogs according to ROI.
• Monitor and inspect product
progress.

12. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
SUPER POWERS OF A PRODUCT OWNER
Shrinking
(backlog grooming)
• Reject or say “no” to
unnecessary features.
• Splitting stories to smaller sizes.
• Simplify, prevent product from
getting bloated.

13. CHALLENGES
OF A
PRODUCT OWNER

14. image source: https://www.theredheadriter.com/2015/01/your-plan-vs-reality-graphic-it-might-not-be-easy-but-it-will-be-worth-it-or-will-it-be-worth-it/
EXPECTATION
REALITY

15. NOT ALL AGILE TEAMS EXIST WITHIN
AN AGILE ORGANIZATION
image source: https://www.cio.com/article/2920900/agile-development/4-warning-signs-that-your-team-is-not-agile.html

16. NOT ALL PRODUCT OWNERS
“OWN” THE PRODUCT
image source: https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/puppet

17. HIGH VALUE FOR OTHERS BUT NOT
SO IMPORTANT FOR THE REST
image source: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/balance-scale

18. YOU CAN SAY “NO”
…SOMETIMES.
image source: https://productcoalition.com/who-are-product-managers-and-why-you-should-never-hire-a-good-product-manager-for-your-company-221c8dc27929

19. NOT ALL ARE INTO AGILE
image source: https://2itesting.com/media/blog/you-think-youre-agile-but-you-re-not/

20. image source: https://unbreakablepo.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/cropped-heropo-banner12.png
HOW TO BE
THE UNBREAKABLE PRODUCT OWNER

21. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
HOW TO BE THE UNBREAKABLE PRODUCT OWNER
image source: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/coach
Sustain Agile mind-set
• Establish culture
• Manage trust
• Empower
• Master conversation
• Coach

22. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
HOW TO BE THE UNBREAKABLE PRODUCT OWNER
image source: https://www.lynda.com/Leadership-Management-tutorials/Creating-Culture-Strategy-Execution/592487-2.html
Redefine Roles and
Responsibilities

23. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
HOW TO BE THE UNBREAKABLE PRODUCT OWNER
image source: https://www.freepik.es/vector-premium/empresarios-mano-shake-diseno-plano-ilustracion_1320346.htm
Build relationships
• Establish good
relationship with
everyone
• Get the right
management sponsor
• Define clear roles and
responsibilities

24. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
HOW TO BE THE UNBREAKABLE PRODUCT OWNER
I INDEPENDENT
N NEGOTIABLE
V VALUABLE
E ESTIMABLE
S SMALL
T TESTABLE
Create good User Stories
• Set regular meeting with
stakeholders
• Hear our all the
requirements
• Follow INVEST guidelines
for good user stories

25. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
HOW TO BE THE UNBREAKABLE PRODUCT OWNER
Set parameters
• DoD: set properly the
Definition of Done
• Set acceptance criteria
of the product.

26. “ PRODUCT OWNERSHIP DOES NOT
NEED HEROIC INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS. IT
IS RATHER AN ORGANIZATIONAL
CAPABILITY… “
Mike Leber
ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS

27. QUESTIONS?

28. THANK YOU!

29. AARON MEDINA
RareJob Philippines, Inc.
Manager
Service Development Department
IT Infrastructure Department
aaron.medina@rarejob.net
aaronmedina30@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aamedina/

30. ROLES OF PRODUCT OWNERS IN AGILE TEAMS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• Agile Deep Dive Conference - Manila May 2018
• Mastering the Product Owner Challenges and Dealing with the
Common Product Owner Anti-Patterns by Teofilo Ted Flores II, CSPO
• https://unbreakablepo.com/2010/06/03/super-power-1-be-
bulletproof/
• https://www.productmanagement.com.br/agile-product-ownership-
in-a-nutshell/
• https://medium.com/@michael_leber/product-owner-anti-
patterns-384e9c46e865