Pragmatic marketing says be market-driven. They advocate for using objective research and analysis of data to build features based on true needs. The opposite is saying doing something because your boss thinks it's a good idea, or a key stakeholder called and asked for a feature. How do you make sure your product is market driven? I …
Superpower #14 – I am Groot (Story Writing)
I am Groot ...but we'll get back to that. Today we're talking about CREATION…of stories. You might have read my post on the Zealot Tree, so you know I lean toward a practical "do what works" agile, though I think the Agile Manifesto is something you should try to follow. HOWEVER, I love standards and …
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Superpower #13 – Wisdom
Efficient and Useless Product owners are responsible for much of what gets done on an agile team - from defining to prioritize the order of stories, we have "great power"...and you know what that means...yes, Spiderman, "great responsibility". In Charles Duhigg's new bestseller "Smarter, Faster, Better," he talks about how the corporate world's famed SMART …
Superpower #12 – Focus
The decision It's decided - we are using a vendor to replace four of our bespoke software systems. They do much of what we need, and now we just need to make sure we can still do all the other bits they CAN'T do. So, we were clear on the goal. We were clear on …
Superpower #11 – Climbing Down
Agile Values As you probably know, the agile manifesto is purposely short on details and long on spirit. In fact, it is so short on details it fits very easily in a blog post: Manifesto for Agile Software Development We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through …
Super Power #10 – Controlling the Tides
Part of your work as a PO means controlling the tides, or rather, controlling the waves. You need three waves to get your users' attention... Picture your sponsors laying on their metaphorical beach and casually considering the features you completed in the last sprint. Are they really engaged or do they just want to get …
Super Power #9 – Leadership
So you'll have to forgive this unabashedly America-centric theme, but I recently saw an ad for the new Captain America movie, and wondered how that might fit our growing list of PO powers. Then it hit me -- he doesn't actually have any super powers, but according to the super hero database he is, "...[A]n …
Real story mapping!
Ok so this is just a quick note to say I am excited about a story mapping session coming this week. Normally I don't broadcast thoughts like this but (a) I wanted to let you know I'm still alive and (b) this is significant in my organization. My users are executive level and we have …
Super Power #8 – Quick Draw
So about that survey last week...it was um, really successful...to the one of you who took it...so uh, if that one person is reading this? Just remember what you entered, k? And I’m just gonna let that slip away and NOT put up another survey...maybe ever. Sorry ‘bout that. THIS week though, we’re doin’ a …
Super Power #7 – Taking Blind Leaps
Mistakes are inevitable. As a product owner, you need to be decisive and use all the knowledge and resources at your disposal. In the end though, you sometimes need to just be a daredevil and make decisions with incomplete information so the team can build something. With that comes a 100% possibility that you will …
The Unbreakable Product Owner 