Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)®

Introductions &  Ground Rules

We like to get to know our students, and have them get to know each other. Introductions are informal and voluntary. We follow the introductions with the Ground Rules for class. We value transparency, and want to provide an environment suitable to everyone. So, we ask that students turn their cameras on, be polite, be 100% dedicated to the class, speak up and participate.

Agile Manifesto

The establishing document "Agile Manifesto for Software Development" has four main Values stated up-front that everyone should be able to relate to. We explore how different people can interpret those Values. We then move to the 12 Agile Principles in the Manifesto. That help us understand how to begin to reach the goals that the Values create for us. The Principles take quite a bit of explaining for the uninitiated.

Product Goals &

Elevator Pitches

Using Roman Pichler's Product Goal board, we start with the Vision of a product and have the students define the Product Goal, Features that will make up that Product Goal, and finally state how they will measure if they are successful in meeting the Product Goal.  

Personas

Identifying with our customers is a key skill in succeeding as a Product Owner. We have our students brainstorm many different aspects of their customer's key personal attributes. We urge the students to explore their creative sides when defining their product's key persona, because it is only when we understand our customers, that we will be able to build the perfect product for them.

Defining Value

"Value is what the Product Owner says it is." - Ron Jeffries. While Mr. Jeffries is correct, defining Value may be one of the most difficult, and important, things a Product Owner will need to do. We explore questions Product Owners need to ask themselves, quantifiable concepts they need to consider measuring, and qualitative aspects that need to be quantified in order to understand the meaning of Value for their product.

Product Management vs Product Ownership

The roles of traditional product management and Product Ownership in Scrum are both quite similar, and yet different at the same time. While confusing to wrap your head around, we try to 'pull back the veil' of ideal Scrum, and expose our students to the real world answers they need about the topic.

The Simulation

We spend several hours in the Simulation. We expect to get at least 2 Sprints completed in each Simulation. It starts with a 5-minute Sprint Planning session where each team plans the Sprint Goal and the User Stories that will be worked on to complete that goal. We follow with a 20-minute collaboration period where the team works together to make the Sprint Goal a reality. In in-person classes, teams create physical products with whatever materials are in the room. In online/virtual classes, teams create virtual products using the virtual collaboration tools Miro or Mural. The final part of each Sprint in the Simulation is when the teams present their work to their Stakeholder and solicit feedback. Each team's Stakeholder gives the class a different experience. In this session, there are many lessons to be learned about Stakeholder Management. We pride ourselves in our almost unique ability to help students learn this valuable technique.

Ice Breaker

It's time for an ice-breaker exercise. We get to know a little more about what the big concerns of the students are, and we reassure them that we actually know what we are teaching.

Scrum Overview

Because most students in a Product Owner class are actually Scrum Masters, we only cover the Scrum Framework as an overview. We ask the students many fill-in-the-blank type questions about the framework, in order to see how familiar the class is with Scrum. In real time we assess how much remedial training each class will need. We move ahead accordingly.

Feature Roadmaps

Building on the Product Goal the students just defined, we have them create Feature Roadmaps. Because the students have not yet explored enough features that could go into the product as a whole, we give them extra time to develop a roadmap for the life of the product.

User Story Writing

We have a 2-part User Story Writing exercise (which can be expanded to an additional step if taught in-person) that we teach to our students. The purpose of this exercise is two-fold: 1) It helps create User Stories for each team's Product Backlog (which will be used during the Simulation to build the product); 2) It helps future Product Owners understand the benefits and drawbacks of working alone vs working collaboratively with the team.

Definition of Done

The Definition of Done (DoD) is widely misunderstood by many Scrum Teams world-wide. We try to help future Product Owners understand that getting the DoD correct on the first try is unrealistic. Equally unrealistic is to believe that the DoD will not evolve along with the Team's skills and the way they use Scrum. We show that there are many different levels of Quality that the DoD can help team commit to.

Product Backlog Refinement

Throughout the class, the students have been creating their team's Product Backlog. Now, before the Simulation, they need to refine it so that the User Stories are in the 'right' order, everyone on the team understands the User Stories that are of highest priority, and that there are few, if any, gaps in the backlog.