Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner

I am VERY happy to be able to share that I am now offering Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner classes.  If you are a CSPO and are looking for a way to raise your game or demonstrate an advanced level of proficiency in your craft, Advanced CSPO is a great way to do that. The course is two full days of highly interactive group work that will help you raise your PO game to a new level.

You can find my upcoming A-CSPO classes here.

And you can find ALL my upcoming classes and workshops here.

Creating Outcome Focused User Stories with Scott Sehlhorst

Scott Sehlhorst joins me for this interview that builds on his recent blog post “How to Make Your Product Special” (https://bit.ly/3AciBBK). We dig into product positioning, why understanding the desired outcome the product is supposed to provide is often the thing fail to understand, and how to start creating User Stories that are focused on those outcomes instead of the output-driven stories most people write.

You can find the interview here: https://bit.ly/3ODw3D1

Assumptions Mapping with David Bland

Assumptions are often the Achilles heel of any development effort. These are the things we’ve unintentionally decided are true and unfortunately, far too often, our assumptions are wrong. If you’ve based the success of the work you are doing on incorrect assumptions… VERYBADTHINGS.

In this episode Founder David Bland has joined me to talk about why we need to pay attention to assumptions and how to use Assumptions Mapping to determine which of our assumptions present the biggest threat and need to be addressed first. During the interview, we review how to use the Assumptions Mapping approach that is included in Testing Business Ideas, the book David co-wrote with Alexander Osterwalder.

You can find the interview here: https://bit.ly/3DhlVcR

When Your Team Members Also Report to Other Teams w Dan Eberle

In this episode of the podcast, Agile Coach Dan Eberle is back to help me respond to a student question that is complicated, confusing, and more common than it should be…

Ivan (not the person’s real name) explained the situation like this… 

Six Product Owners/Developers oversee 20 reports within the org. Each of the reports has a specialized role. They are broken up into teams that range in size from 1-5 people, and the team size tends to fluctuate. Some of the Product Owners/Developers oversee teams and are also the people managers of the individuals on the team. Some of the team members report to people managers who are Product Owner/Developers of other teams, team members of other teams, or people completely outside the grouping of 6 + 20. There is competition for the attention/efforts of team members who are allocated to more than one project and/or reporting to a people manager who has different priorities than the PO/Dev they are assigned to work with. 

You can find the interview here.

Understanding the Product Goal with Don McGreal

In my continuing quest to get sorted on the Product Goal I reached out to Don McGreal. Don is the VP of Learning Solutions at Improving, the co-Author of The Professional Product Owner book, the co-founder of TastyCupcakes.org, and a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer. 

The was one of the most impactful conversations I have had about Product Goal and it left me with not only a much deeper understanding of why it exists and how it can help, but how it is going to reshape the way I think about, and work with, the Product Backlog.

You can find the interview here.

The Product Goal with Dave West

This interview with Scrum.org CEO, Dave West, is one in a series of podcasts I am going to post on the topic. Dave not only helped me get a better understanding of the concept, but he challenged me with something towards the end of the interview that helped me shake off my dogmatic blues and re-embrace the idea of Scrum being a framework that is meant to be adapted. 

I've raised my concerns about the Product Goal in a few other interviews recently, but I got to a point where I knew I needed help getting my head around it. So I reached out and I am deeply indebted to the folks from Scrum.org who were kind enough to share their time and wisdom with me.

You can find the podcast here.

The Product Goal with Ryan Ripley

Agile for Human co-host and Fixing Your Scrum co-author, Ryan Ripley joins me to try and sort out the Product Goal and how it fits in with the other ways we talk about the Product Backlog. 

You can find the interview here.

Multiple Product Owners with Competing Priorities w/ Jeff Howey

In this LeadingAgile podcast, Jeff Howey and I take on a question from a student about what to do when you have multiple POs working on one product, shared resources, and all the PO's have competing priorities. 

You can find the podcast here.

Making Your Non-Agile Experience Count w/ Merchi Reyes

Q: How do I get a job as a Project Manager, Product Owner, or ScrumMaster if I have no experience?

or more specifically....

Q: How do you go from Event Promoter to DJay to Tree Services worker to working at a consulting agency as a ScrumMaster/Product Owner?

Answer... listen to this fascinating interview with Merchi Reyes to find out.

When they ask you to be ScrumMaster AND Product Owner...

In every class I teach, there are people who tasked with being ScrumMaster AND Product Owner at the same time for one team working on one product. 

I have very strong feelings about this, and realizing that my responses to this situation are maybe not so flexible and not practical for everyone, I reached out on the Agile Uprising Discord channel if there were people who had succeeded in being SM and PO at the same time, AND if they would be willing to join me for a podcast and share some of their experiences around making the SM/PO gig work. 

This episode of the podcast features Andrew Leff, Chris Murman, and Mike Caddell. Over the course of the interview, we discuss the reasons why trying to be SM and PO at the same time is not advised, ways they found to survive it, and it some cases, actually make it work well.

You can find the podcast here.

Managing Up with Dhaval Panchal

Two similar common situations raised by students in class...

How can you be Product Owner when your boss keeps trying to do your job for you? How can you be ScrumMaster when the owner of the company keeps storming in demanding mid-sprint changes, additions, etc. And how do you manage the people who are higher up in the food chain than you are?

EvolveAgility Founder, Dhaval Panchal, joined me for a podcast to discuss these situations, how tricky they can be to navigate, and how you can "coach" your managers to behave in a way that helps, not hinders, your team's ability to deliver.

The podcast is here.

Product Ownership and Online Education with Braden Cundiff

Braden Cundiff  works in the International Division of McGraw-Hill Education serving in a Product Ownership role for international education products. His work involves creating tools and products that are used in collaborative, educational environments all across the globe. He also has a background that includes teaching, agile coaching, and transformation. This allows him to offer a unique perspective on how to create an effective online environment for your teams. 

We also spend time at the start of the interview discussing something which is asked about in every Certified Scrum Product Owner class  I teach:  how to say "No".

You can find the podcast here.

Getting Better at Saying No with Tim Wise

One of the hardest parts about being a good Product Owner is saying "No" all the time. No matter how much experience you have, or what your reasoning is, telling people you aren't going to give them what they want is never easy. 

My friend and colleague, Tim Wise, joined me for a podcast where talk all about how to get better at saying No to people.

You can find the interview here.

The Core Agile Product Development Lifecycle

Urs Reupke is a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile Coach who works for the Hamburg-based Agile Consultancy It-Agile. A lot of Urs’s time and attention is focused on the work he does coaching management and providing leadership consulting as they move towards adopting a more Agile approach to work.

One specific area Urs is passionate about is the Core Cycle of Agile Product Development. In this interview, Urs and I talk about what the Core Cycle of Agile Product Development is, why it is so critical to the success of your product, and why his desire to help others produce better products is what motivated him to move out of his development role and into a role where he could achieve that goal.

You can check out the interview by following this link to projectmanagement.com: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/55063/The-Core-Cycle-of-Agile-Product-Development-w--Urs-Reupke

Scrum Labs - An Interview with Howard Sublett from the 2019 North American Global Scrum Gathering

I had the chance to sit down with Scrum Alliance Chief Product Owner, Howard Sublett, at the 2019 North American Global Scrum Gathering. During the interview we discuss Dan Pink's keynote at the Gathering, the amazing work being done by volunteers to create a free library of agile coaching resources as part of the Scrum Alliance's Scrum Labs initiative, the Unscripted videos that Howard is making with Scrum Alliance Chief Scrum Master Melissa Boggs and, of course, The Wonder Twins.

The interview can be found here.

The Perfect Product Owner w/ Richard Cheng

My interview with Richard Cheng on his presentation "The Perfect Product Owner". Richard gave his presentation earlier this week at the 2019 North American Global Scrum Gathering.


https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/53427/The-Perfect-Product-Owner-w--Richard-Cheng

What is the worth of a good Product Owner? w/ Tim Wise

Tim Wise and I responded to a question from a student who worked in an org that saw no benefit from having Product Owners. Tim and I talk through the likely impact, how to cope with not having a PO, and why an engaged Product Owner is so critical to your team's ability to deliver.

You can find the podcast interview on LinkedIn.

An Interview with Scrum Alliance Chief Product Owner Howard Sublett

The Scrum Alliance recently made a very significant change in how the organization is run. After years of running with a traditional leadership model, the Scrum Alliance, whose mission is “Change the World of Work” has decided to shift to a model with a Chief Product Owner and a Chief Scrum Master. As you’ll hear in this podcast, it is a model that is already inspiring leaders from other organizations to make a similar change. 

This podcast features an interview with the new Scrum Alliance Chief Product Owner Howard Sublett. Howard is a dynamic an inspiring servant leader who was involved with the Scrum Alliance early on before moving into Agile consulting. He joined the Scrum Alliance Board of Directors several months ago and will now be helping to shape and define the role of Chief Product Owner. During the conversation Howard and I talk about the significance of the role, what it involves, how it has inspired others, what the Scrum Alliance is looking for in a Chief Scrum Master and some of the recent changes to the SA Board of Directors that came about as a result of him taking on his new gig. 

Contacting Howard

Email: hsublett@scrumalliance.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/howardsublett

Product Innovation with Dhaval Panchal - from Agile 2018

Dhaval Panchal led a workshop at Agile 2018 called Worm Holes to Product Innovation: Fold your Edges
http://sched.co/EU9k

The workshop introduced a new way of uncovering product ideas by starting with edge cases and using that to guide you towards something that can be appealing to a larger audience. Dhaval has a very creative approach to problem solving and his metaphors are always entertaining and insightful.


To Contact Dhaval
Web: https://evolveagility.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dhavalpanchal

Certified Agile Leadership Training with Olaf Lewitz

The Trust Artist, Olaf Lewitz, along with his partner, Christine Neidhardt, are gearing ready for their upcoming TrustTemenos Certified Agile Leadership trainings. Certified Agile Leadership trainings are a new, advanced level of training classes being offered through the Scrum Alliance. In this interview Olaf and I discuss the reason for his TrustTemenos CAL class, how it can help people become better Agile leaders, and the value of Certified Agile Leadership.

Safety is a very hot topic in the Agile space right now. During our conversation about safety, Olaf shared one of the most powerful things I have heard during an interview this year:

“When you talk to people about trust, it rises. When you talk to people about safety, they get scared.”

Every conversation I have with Olaf leaves me more aware and (I hope) a bit smarter than I was when it began. I hope you will get as much value from listening to this as I did from recording the conversation.

And you can find links to Olaf’s upcoming classes and events, as well as his contact info, below the show notes.

Show Notes

• 00:07 Podcast Intro
• 01:27 Begins
• 01:57 An overview of Agile Leadership Training
• 04:48 A skeptical response to the idea of Agile Leadership Training and Olaf’s response
• 07:16 Developing a thinking model to understand what we need and how that drives our actions
• 09:11 The power of metaphor in leadership and Dave’s aversion to boats
• 11:03 Giving people tools to grow their awareness of how they show up
• 11:34 These classes cover advanced leadership topics - not the basics
• 12:16 “If you trust in yourself… you will still get beaten by people”
• 13:05 Skepticism is an important part of any class and any transition
• 13:32 It’s about being intentional and aware
• 15:23 There is a specific type of learning that involves being uncomfortable because what you believe is challenged
• 15:57 Extending the question of leadership beyond work and helping them understand more about their awareness and intention
• 17:00 Olaf shares a story about his first experience working as a boss
• 21:29 The advice Olaf about give his 29 year-old self about being a boss for the firs time
• 22:23 It’s okay to ask for help
• 24:05 A question about safety and what it means to create a safe space
• 25:42 When you talk to people about trust, it rises, when you talk to people about safety, they get scared
• 27:22 What is Certified Agile Leadership Training? What level of knowledge experience do you need to attend?
• 28:08 What will CAL training do for a leader/manager in an Agile organization?
• 29:28 Where to learn more about Olaf’s upcoming classes, where you can see him speak and how to get in touch with him if you have questions.

Links from the Podcast

• Showing Up - the book written by Olaf and Christine https://leanpub.com/showingup
• TrustTemenos Leadership Academy: https://trusttemenos.de
• Upcoming CAL Trainings - https://trusttemenos.de/certified-agile-leadership-cal1/
• Olaf’s session at the 2017 Scrum Gathering San Diego is called: Product Owner: Mapping Dramas and Dreams and it will be held in the Harbor Island 1 room on Monday, April 10 from 1 PM until 2:15 PM For more info on the Scrum Gathering: https://www.scrumalliance.org/sgcal

Contacting Olaf

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olaflewitz/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/OlafLewitz
• Website: http://trustartist.com