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Product Managers, Product Owners,
and Scalable Models for
Agile Product Teams
© 2014. This presentation and all derivative works copyright Rich Mironov | mironov.com
About Rich Mironov
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•  Veteran product manager/exec/strategist
•  Business models, agile, organizing product teams
•  6 startups as “product guy” or CEO
•  Ran first Product Camp, first agile
product manager/owner tracks
Agenda
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1.  Product Managers ≠ Product Owners
2.  Failure Modes
3.  Small and Large
Organizational Maps
Organizational Context
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• 
• 
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“Product manager” is a job title
“Product owner” is an agile team role
Overlapping, but very different scope and skills
“One-per-scrum-team” does not match complexity of
large-scale commercial software
•  Work has to get done, regardless of title
What Does a Product Manager Do?
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For revenue software…
•  Drives delivery and market
acceptance of whole products
•  Targets market segments, not
individual customers
What Does a Product Manager Do?
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budgets, staff,
targets
Executives
market information, priorities,
requirements, roadmaps, epics,
user stories, backlogs,
personas, MRDs…
strategy, forecasts,
commitments, roadmaps,
competitive intelligence…
field input,
market feedback
Product
Management
Development
product
bits
Marketing&
Sales
Markets &
Customers
segmentation, messages,
benefits/features, pricing,
qualification, demos…
Product Management: Inherently Political
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•  Logic and facts are not sufficient
•  Sales teams get paid for
closing individual deals
•  Regional and vertical groups
focus on their narrow needs
•  HIPPO
•  Responsibility without authority
•  Keep the process moving
What PM Hiring Managers Want
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Tech product manager job postings
•  76% want 3+ years PM experience
•  93% want excellent verbal and
written communication skills
•  93% want a BS (68% prefer CS/EE)
•  32% want MBAs
•  88% want experience in their segment
Agile Methodology with Scrum
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Product
Backlog
Release
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Features &
User Stories
Features &
User Stories
User Stories
Accepted
story
(“DONE”)
Potentially
releasable
software
Software
release
1 day
Sprint: 1 to 3 weeks
N sprints
No changes in duration or goal
Charter
Release
planning
Sprint
planning
Daily
Standup
Review
Retrospective
Demo,
feedback
Process
improvement
Release
Retrospective
Process
improvement
What does a Product Owner Do?
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•  “…represents the customer’s interest in backlog
prioritization and requirements questions... available to
the team at any time.”
•  Provides intense sprint-level focus: stories, backlog,
prioritization, acceptance
•  One product owner per team, not per product
•  Wins development admiration and inclusion
•  Feeds the hungry agile beast
Feeding the Agile Beast
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Steam engine “fireman”
needs to constantly shovel
coal, otherwise the train
will stop
‘small p’ Product Owner
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Executives
backlog, priorities,
epics, user stories,
personas, demo feedback
Development
Product
Owner
Marketing&
Sales
Markets &
Customers
showcase
customers
PO/PM Scope
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Product
Backlog
Release
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Features &
User Stories
Features &
User Stories
User Stories
Accepted
story
(“DONE”)
Potentially
releasable
software
Software
release
1 day
Sprint: 1 to 3 weeks
N sprints
No changes in duration or goal
Charter
Release
planning
Sprint
planning
Daily
Standup
Review
Retrospective
Demo,
feedback
Process
improvement
Release
Retrospective
Process
improvement
Product Manager Has More Levers
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•  Engineering Output
•  Product features
•  Order of delivery
Product
owner
•  Product / Market / Business Model
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Pricing
Competitive positioning
Partners and Channels
Services and Support
Fit with corporate strategy
Product split, merge or EOL
Product
manager
After: Greg Cohen
Agenda
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1.  Product Managers ≠ Product Owners
2.  Failure Modes
3.  Small and Large
Organizational Maps
Product Management: Oversubscribed,
Overcommitted, Burning Out
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•  Most product management teams
are already understaffed
•  Product ownership adds
40-60% more critical work
•  Urgency of stories, backlog
grooming, sprint planning,
standups, acceptance
•  One product manager can “do it all” for a single team
•  But typical Dev:PM ratio is 35:1, not 10:1
How Development Organizations
Typically Pick Product Owners
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•  SMEs with technical chops,
story writing experience,
“already know” the market
•  Rarely demand market-side
experience
•  Undervalue organizational
blocking skills
•  Belief in rational/unemotional/technical customers
•  Slant toward smartest users
Product Management Failure Mode
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Product Manager fails agile team when…
•  Part-timer, not engaged with team
•  Lack of detail on stories
•  Stale backlog
•  Handwaving and bluster
•  Best of intentions, but pulled in
too many directions
•  “Build what I meant”
Product Owner Failure Modes
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Product Owner fails markets when…
•  Weak on market realities: pricing,
packaging, selling cycle, upgrades,
discounting, competitive dynamics
•  Disconnected from Marketing,
Sales, Support
•  Trades off company strategy for
product features
•  Sees showcase customers as typical
Agenda
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1.  Product Managers ≠ Product Owners
2.  Failure Modes
3.  Small and Large
Organizational Maps
Minimal PM/PO “Organization”
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VP or Founders
“management”
more technical
Heroic Single
Product Manager/Owner
more market-focused
Dysfunctional PO/PM Organization
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“management”
VP Eng
VP Marketing
Product
Owners
Product
Managers
more technical
more market-focused
PM/PO Product Peers
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GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
“management”
more technical
PM Director/
Product Strategist
more market-focused
PM/PO: Market Mentoring
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GM / VP Eng / VP Products / CPO
“management”
more technical
t
Senior Produc
nager
a
M
t
c
u
d
Pro
Owner
more market-focused
90 Person Project (1 Product, 8 Teams)
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Product
Manager
SM
TEAM
PO
TEAM
PO
SM
PO
PO
TEAM
TEAM
SM
SM
PO
PO
TEAM
SM
PO
TEAM
SM
PO
TEAM
TEAM
SM
SM
What Does Each Team Do?
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HEADLINE FEATURES
SM
TEAM
PERFORMANCE
RE-ARCH
PO
Product
Manager
TEAM
PO
SM
PO
PO
TEAM
TEAM
SM
SM
PO
PO
TEAM
SM
UX/UI
PO
PO
TEAM
SM
TEAM
TEAM
DRIVERS &
CONNECTORS
SM
SM
Right Product Owners?
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HEADLINE FEATURES
SM
PERFORMANCE
RE-ARCH
Lead Prod
Manager
TEAM
TEAM
Two
Performance
Architects?
Product
Mgr?
TEAM
SM
TEAM
SM
SM
UX
Lead?
TEAM
SM
UX/UI
TEAM
TME?
TEAM
SM
TEAM
DRIVERS &
CONNECTORS
SM
SM
Wrong Product Owners!
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HEADLINE FEATURES
SM
PERFORMANCE
RE-ARCH
Lead Prod
Manager
TEAM
TEAM
SM
UX
Lead
Product Mgr
TEAM
TEAM
SM
SM
TME
TEAM
SM
UX/UI
Perf
Arch
TEAM
SM
TEAM
TEAM
DRIVERS &
CONNECTORS
SM
SM
Delegating Product Ownership
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•  No cookie-cutter solution, no magic formula
•  Varies with scope, teams, technical depth, skills…
•  What is this team working on? Who brings right talent mix?
•  Full-time product owners, not borrowed 10%
•  Solid or strong dotted line to product management
•  Vigorous daily discussion among product team
•  Product management keeps whole-product responsibility
Takeaways
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1.  Must fully staff product owner roles
•  Not a sideline, not an add-on, not an afterthought
2.  On large projects, product managers are not default
product owners for every team
3.  Need to thoughtfully select/hire/train POs and PMs
4.  IMHO, cookie-cutter assignments endanger products
Rich Mironov
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Mironov Consulting
233 Franklin Street, Suite 308
San Francisco, CA 94102
+1-650-315-7394
[email protected]
/in/RichMironov
@RichMironov