Agile Product Management with Scrum / Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn) (PDF)

The First Guide to Scrum-Based Agile Project Ownership and Management

In Scrum projects, product owners play a pivotal role, but few have been trained in the unique skills, techniques, and attitudes needed to succeed in this role. Agile Product Management with Scrum offers the start-to-finish guidance and practical insights you need to become an outstanding product ownerand to deliver profitable software that customers love.

Using many real-world examples, top Scrum consultant Roman Pichler demonstrates how product owners can help their teams succeed with a broad range of agile practices, including product vision, exploration, user stories, use cases, "planning poker," sprints, release planning, and portfolio management.

Drawing on his extensive experience, Pichler introduces specific practices that maximize savings, accelerate delivery, encourage innovation, and improve both quality and agility. You'll learn exactly how Scrum product ownership differs from traditional product managementand how to avoid or overcome the pitfalls that Scrum product owners face. Coverage includes

• Understanding your role: what product owners do, how they do it, and the surprising implications
• Envisioning your product: creating a compelling product vision to galvanize and guide your team throughout development
• Managing and grooming the product backlog: using product backlogs to "discover" functionality in even the largest, most complex projects
• Planning the release: bringing clarity and transparency to scheduling, budgeting, and functionality decisions
• Collaborating in sprint planning meetings: helping teams plan their work and commit to sprint goals
• Transitioning into product ownership: understanding your strengths, shoring up your weaknesses, finding help, and growing into the role

This book is an indispensable resource for everyone who serves as Scrum product owner, or expects to do so, as well as all stakeholders who interact with product ownersin other words, the entire project team.