What is it about measurements that cause so much grief? There's a great number of things that we should be measuring in our product, our teams, and our companies that would benefit us to look at. Product Owners need to be in a position to help see, understand, and explain all the different things that are being measured. If important things are not being measured, find some way to start. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - Dougla...
Jul 21, 2021•27 min•Season 7Ep. 10
A common anti-pattern is when Product Owners are too focused on doing things only in the current iteration. Maarten Dalmijn has written a lot about teams and PO's that find themselves stuck in their sprint bubble and joins this episode to discuss some signs that you're stuck, some ideas to break out, and ways to make sure sure you don't find yourself there again. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - Maarten Dalmijn - on twitter - ...
Jul 07, 2021•57 min•Season 7Ep. 9
In this episode, you can hear a chat with Vitalik Demin the Chief of Product at Gossip, a voice-based social network app about how he became involved in the startup and how they are approaching all things product there. It's a great chance to hear how small start-ups get their initial product experiments and learnings done quickly, and what issues life throws at you as you try and get your product delivered to customers. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: P...
Jun 23, 2021•51 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Product Owners will have the most success working with well-formed and happy teams. Creating those teams requires a lot of people working together and figuring out how best to enable them to succeed. Teams and the thinking around them have evolved in the last few years so in this episode there's some new information, some common challenges, and suggestions for how to look at teams now. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - Team Top...
Jun 09, 2021•26 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Occasionally as a Product Owner, we'll get stuck trying to decide something. How to write a story, come up with a goal, or see when things need to happen. We are stuck trying to look forward into an unknown future. One way to change the outlook on something is to reverse it and start at the end. The reasons why you might want to do that and what you might want to do it on, are covered in this episode. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: PO Coaching and Consu...
May 26, 2021•20 min•Season 7Ep. 6
So often the amount of success that Product Owners will have is dependent upon the organization they work in. How they are built, what they value, how they lead and treat their teams and individuals. In this episode, the amazing author of "Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Result" Marty Cagan joins the show to discuss some of the ideas in the book, what he sees as trends in the industry, what is a higher purpose than any agile practice, and why he sees two different worlds of product out...
May 12, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Such a simple and fundamental question. What do customers want? How much time and energy do we spend on this most important of topics. Tony Ulwick has been thinking about that very thing for a long time, and written several books about it. In this episode Tony joins to show to talk a bit about how deretmining what those customers needs are is the key to so many things that make the Product Owners job of delivering value a bit easier. If you don't start with those needs, how difficult it is to fi...
Apr 28, 2021•57 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Making decisions as a Product Owner is hard sometimes, mainly because each decision involves a trade-off. That makes people uncomfortable and hesitant since trade-offs are difficult to work through. You can't make everyone happy, and because you picked an option, that means the other choices won't happen. Such is life. In this episode, we'll go through that process of trade-offs, how to recognize them, make them better, and learn from them. PO's need to help your teams and organizations deal wit...
Apr 14, 2021•24 min•Season 7Ep. 3
When your organization isn't pointed in the same direction, it's really hard for a Product Owner to work effectively. You can end up in pointless discussions, working on the wrong thing, and lacking a focus on real customer value. How can we help our teams and others get aligned with the same goals and visions of the company? In this episode, Janna Bastow of Mind the Product and ProdPad joins the show to discuss some of her thoughts and experience with helping achieve an organization become more...
Mar 31, 2021•53 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Kicking off Season 7 with a look at the updated Scrum Guide that launched in November of 2020. What's new, changed, or removed that Product Owners need to be aware of. If you are following scrum that is. If not, maybe there's an idea or two to use in your own process. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - seek taiju Scrum Guide 2020 - https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html Dave West - Agile for Humans - Roman Pichler - Nat Green ...
Mar 17, 2021•27 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Finishing up Season 6 with a Q&A session. Any/all questions on PO, Product, Agile, Podcast, anything really. Thank you everyone who stuck with the show through this crazy season with all the changes going on in your life and work. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - [email protected] Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - Douglas Squirrel and Jeffery Fredrick - Joshua Kerievshy -
Oct 28, 2020•30 min•Season 6Ep. 18
EP117 [117] - Speaking in Percentages? When Product Owners start asking questions or talking about an activity, what type of questions do we ask? Are they open-ended, exploratory or curious ones, or are they binary quick answers with little to no requests for information? In this episode, we'll explore a small section of David Marquet's latest book and the implications it might have on how the PO's can change the way we search for better connections and data with our teams, customers, and produc...
Oct 14, 2020•29 min•Season 6Ep. 17
It's time for an updated look at a PO Maturity index. In this episode, Bob Galen returns to review the recent changes he made to his Agile Journey Index Maturity Model" and discuss why some of those changes happened. There's some feedback, some challenges, and some learning that we discuss along the way. Grab a sufficiently mature whisky and follow along. Maybe you and your organization can learn a thing or two about Product Ownership. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - deliveritcast@gma...
Sep 30, 2020•59 min•Season 6Ep. 16
How much time do you, as a Product Owner, spend thinking about your user's core problem? How much time does the rest of the team spend exploring ideas and different approaches to solving them? Why don't you spend more time doing that? In this episode, we talk with Ant Murphy about some of the reasons that we need to spend more time, effort, and energy on the depth of our problem-solving. What would it look like if PO's and companies did go deep on understanding, iterating, and experimenting more...
Sep 16, 2020•58 min•Season 6Ep. 15
The Product Owner's brain is a complicated thing. Some of the practices and patterns that we try to make it easier, can also cause us to miss some key elements or information. These Cognitive Biases show up in our shortcuts or established ways of thinking every day. It's important to understand, acknowledge, and find ways to counter those biases when needed. In this episode there are some of the main ones PO's might have themselves, see in others, and deal with during your work. Have one that yo...
Sep 02, 2020•26 min•Season 6Ep. 14
A common career path when companies start to become more agile is Business Analysts looking to become Product Owners. Sometimes that's by choice and sometimes that is how the organization and teams first move towards using agile methods and practices. In this episode, we welcome Lisa Williams to the show to talk about how she went through that transition and how she has worked with teams and companies to move other BA's into the PO role. There might still be some places where BA's can work on ag...
Aug 19, 2020•50 min•Season 6Ep. 13
A lot of PO's, teams, and organizations struggle with the principles of the agile manifesto. One in particular causes so many issues, that of simplicity. Adding instead of removing, more instead of less, trivial many over the essential few. In our products, systems, and structures you've seen the added parts that build more and more complexity and complications. Why do we collectively do that? What can you do to help simplify some of those items or start with a simple item to begin with. In this...
Aug 05, 2020•32 min•Season 6Ep. 12
Another technical topic that PO's either get drafted into or need to know more about, is Security. In all its various forms, needs, and issues, Product Owners need more information about how to work with the team, organization, and users on having a solid baseline and making improvements. In this episode, Coveros CEO Jeff Payne joins to talk about how he has seen the PO help and hurt security efforts, some things to think about during planning and daily activities, and who to partner with to get...
Jul 22, 2020•56 min•Season 6Ep. 11
Even though you as a Product Owner are surrounded by teams, customers, and stakeholders, sometimes things can happen that leave you feeling like your all alone. It's a nasty feeling and not knowing who to turn to, who can help, and what to do next. A situation of isolation is something that POs can find themselves in for one reason or another. Todd Miller is back on this episode to share his stories and examples of when he was Lonely as a PO and what he did to find his way through that. We also ...
Jul 08, 2020•50 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Looking back at the scrum guide is a good idea for a Product Owner. One of the foundational elements of scrum is the philosophy that it is built on, that being empirical process controls. What is empiricism and how can POs and others benefit from it? In this episode, some of the ideas around empiricism are explored and why they are important. Also some of the related and competing concepts are recognized for thought. If you have any favorite stories or empirical examples please share so we can c...
Jun 24, 2020•27 min•Season 6Ep. 9
As Product Owners, we've helped to understand the customers' goals and found ways to collaborate with the team to build what is needed. One step that might have been overlooked is why would customers care? How do you let them know how amazing your product is for them? What you need is a great way to position your product in the market. That's where today's guest comes in, April Dunford has written an eye-opening and deep book on product positioning for you and your customers that PO's can greatl...
Jun 10, 2020•56 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Look at it, it's staring your poor Product Owner eyes down. It's relentless, unmoving, and completely in your way. You might be able to get around it some, but it's risky and could do something unexpected. That's right, it's another impediment. It's something that is stopping the team, the organization, or the customers from getting what they need to get done, done sooner, and without frustration. It's slowing you down so part of your needs, is to help remove it any way you can. In this episode,...
May 27, 2020•27 min•Season 6Ep. 7
As with most loops, things come back around. In this case, some of the research for an earlier episode led to the book called Loops by J Cornelius which is definitely something Product Owners need to crack open. J joins in this episode to discuss how his book can help POs and teams understand their customers needs better and ways to constantly research, prototype, and test for their ( and your ) benefit. If you want to understand how J measures business success then listen in, better yet go get ...
May 13, 2020•53 min•Season 6Ep. 6
When you think of all the things you need to do as a Product Owner, how do you structure your day, your systems, and your needs? For some POs, it's one of the harder aspects of the job. It's one of the things that you might need to look elsewhere for some tips and tricks to get and stay organized. The better you can organize yourself the better you can help with the team and organization. While it might be fun to go full Marie Kondo on your Product Backlog, start with something simple to help yo...
Apr 29, 2020•24 min•Season 6Ep. 5
What do you think of when someone asks about your Product? How do you describe it to any new members of the team, potential customers, or even relatives? Are there common themes to other products you bring out, or ways you speak about the products you own? In this episode, we get into how products are defined and what are some of the ways to think about approaching it. Todd Miller is back with us to add his thoughts and experience around how to define a product. Feedback: twitter - email - deliv...
Apr 15, 2020•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 4
Every so often the great debate, misunderstanding, or downright wrong theory is put forward about what do we have/call people, Product Owners or Product Managers. There's been a ton written and spoken to this particular topic and in this episode, I pulled together some of my favorites and explain my point of view as well. Sometimes the definitions and reasons are pretty simple, others, a bit more involved. No matter what your title or role may be, this show should help you think about how you ca...
Apr 01, 2020•27 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Sadly a lot of attempts at using agile or scrum fail. In many of those cases, there were things a Product Owner, Scrum Master, team, or company could have done to prevent it from failing. Thankfully, Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller have written a new book detailing some of the ways they have successfully worked with teams and people to solve those underlying problems. In this episode, they join the show to talk about areas of particular interest to the PO and things we can do ourselves, encourage in...
Mar 18, 2020•58 min•Season 6Ep. 2
From time to time it's good to reset where you are at and see how the basics are doing. It is that time again for the show to reevaluate the first steps new Product Owners can take and for others to see if they are missing anything. Also a good way for anyone new to the show or missed a few to see what the last 50 topics were to see if going back and hitting one that has a particular interest for you for the first or second time. Great to be back. Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - deliv...
Mar 04, 2020•25 min•Season 6Ep. 1
100 Episodes of Product Owner goodness are wrapping up with a retrospective and open questions. So much to be thankful for, so much amazing information shared this season with great guests and I want to thank all the PO and non-PO listeners for tuning in and helping make season 5 better than ever. The retrospective board will be open for feedback and ideas through the end of 2019, if you have anything you would like to share or suggest please drop by. Feedback: twitter - email - deliveritcast@gm...
Oct 30, 2019•36 min•Season 5Ep. 18
Something that Product Owners have likely seen a substantial amount of in the last few months is the idea of "ProductOps". It appears there is a big push and it's time to learn some more about what it is, how it could help, and understand how different companies are using the idea successfully. For that, we go to the Director of Product Operations at Pendo, Christine Itwaru. Listen in as she informs, educates, and helpfully answers questions about what this means for PO's. Feedback: twitter - em...
Oct 16, 2019•57 min•Season 5Ep. 17
