Professional Scrum Competency: Managing Products with Agility

Managing Products with Agility IconManaging Products with Agility results in products that provide valuable business outcomes, increased flexibility to respond to change, and greater transparency for investment decisions in product development. A clear and understandable Product Vision helps to align product development with the organization’s Business Strategy including strategic goals and/or business vision, while a focus on Product Value addresses the continuous improvements to the product to meet customer needs. Product Value includes considerations such as greater transparency in value-based decisions and organization-wide, value-driven approaches. Key tenets of this Focus Area include continuously defining value, measuring actual value realized, validating assumptions, and analyzing trends.
 
The process of aligning Product Vision with Product Value is iterative and incremental, and it is managed through continuous refinement of the Product Backlog. Effective Product Backlog Management requires input and collaboration from a variety of Stakeholders and Customers - including the Scrum Team - and requires evolving techniques to ensure appropriate levels of transparency based on the needs of stakeholders. Similarly, Forecasting and Planning uses an iterative and incremental approach to manage complexity, change, and the realities of business obligations. Attention to these Focus Areas results in development and delivery of valuable product increments within 30 days or less. Additional features and benefits of these approaches include increased transparency to progress, more realistic and evolving forecasts to manage stakeholder expectations, and applying appropriate release, sales, contracting, and partnering strategies.
 
The Product Owner is typically focused on Managing Products with Agility, however, proficiency in this competency is required by all Scrum Team members, Agile Leaders, and organizational stakeholders to ensure that the full value of using the Scrum framework and an empirical process is achieved.

Key Focus Areas

This competency has the following key focus areas: 

Learning Series
Scrum Team can use forecasting and release planning as a guide for delivering a product through small incremental and frequent releases rather than big bang product launches.
Learning Series
The Product Vision describes the purpose of a Product. A good Product Vision expresses the value the Product should deliver and to whom that value is delivered.
Learning Series
The objective of a Scrum Team is to deliver value to customers and stakeholders. Product Value actively drives customer satisfaction, loyalty, brand reputation, and the longevity of a business by providing customers with benefits that satisfy their needs.

 

Learning Series
Product Backlog Management is the act of adjusting and ordering items on the Product Backlog so that the Scrum Team can deliver the most valuable product possible. This learning series explores Product Backlog Management.
Learning Series
Business strategy is informed by the company’s mission and vision, and in turn informs individual product visions. An organization inspects and adapts its business strategy based on feedback gathered from delivering product Increments.
Learning Series
Scrum encourages frequent collaboration with stakeholders, and customers in particular. Understanding how to identify and learn about the challenges that key stakeholders face will help the Scrum Team better deliver the value they are seeking.

 

 

Back to Overview