Robert Galen has written a very good book on Agile: Scrum Product Ownership: Balancing Value from the Inside Out that I feel would be a great valuable to you.
One of the least discussed and most challenging roles in the Agile methodology is that of the product owner. This role is usually selected from the ranks of product managers or business analysts and often forced into the role without any training or preparation. The typical product owner usually has very little if any experience working with Agile teams that expect significant amounts of time working on the project while still performing their regular job. Often the business analyst will assume the role of product owner if the business person can't find the time and then report back to the real product owner as deemed necessary. This substitution can lead to confusion since the business analyst is very often not the most knowledgeable about the business and obviously is not the decision maker.
With many years of experience, Robert Galen takes a comprehensive look at this very important role of the Scrum Product Owner identifying what is expected of them while upholding agile principles. The role of the product owner should be played by the single person who is the decision maker. The product owner is the person who drives the agile team and if you have many drivers or many owners, then the team may be driven in different directions. My experience with strong product owners is that they know what they want and can definitely define the product.
Robert Galen has defined the role of a great product owner and has segmented it into four sections:
Part Product Manager
*Deep and broad understanding of the business needs for their particular product,
*Talking to customers and gathering information about their wants and needs,
*Communicating outward regarding team, product and project state to stakeholders,
*Creating a shared vision for where the market is going and how to leverage the opportunity,
*Translate the vision into the features and dynamics for a product and mapping it into sprints.
Part Project manager
*Guide the iterative work as it relates to the forecast versus team velocity and release tempo,
*Build a plan towards market release timing,
*Create a series of steps leading to a sound release point.
Part Leader
*Serve as a focal point within the team,
*Motivate team members by providing compelling goals and objectives,
*Make hard choices on priorities and business value,
*Guiding and listening to the team in finding creative ways to deliver more value with less effort,
*Understand the teams strengths and weaknesses and leveraging them.
Part Business Analyst
*Assist in writing the requirements, use cases, user stories, etc.,
*Define acceptance test and measurements,
*Foster collaboration between architects, developers, and testers.
I really enjoyed reading this book and comparing it to my experiences! It is packed with very useful information especially in the appendix. Bob's advice is very practical and useful and I found many useful tips based on what he has found really work. Of particular interest to me were the final chapters on applying the "Scrum of Scrum" concept to large, complex projects from a product owner viewpoint. I recommend this book to everyone who is looking for an overview of the Scrum framework from a product owner's perspective.
If you are working on a scrum effort where the product owner is relatively inexperienced or does not know exactly what the expectations of a product owner are, then I strongly urge you to purchase a copy of this book and give it to him or her. You may also want to a buy this book for the whole team so they have a better understanding of the product owner's role.
The chapters in the book are as follows:
1.Introduction
2.Role of the Product Owner
3.Basics of the Role
4.View of the Product Backlog
5.Creating the Product Backlog
6.Writing User Stories
7.Managing User Stories
8.Grooming the Product Backlog
9.Goal Setting at Many Levels
10.Sprint Planning
11.Sprint Execution
12.Sprint Review
13.Product Owner as a Leader
14.Understanding How Your Role Influences Quality
15.Release Planning and Forecasting
16.Interactions in the Scrum of Scrums
17.Organizational Dynamics of Scaling
18.Wrapping Up
Appendix
A.10 Product Owner Myths
B.Project Chartering as a mean of Starting Scrum Projects
C.Quick Diversion into Lean Software Development
D.References
