The Product Owner (PO) role is arguably the most crucial role within agile teams. Unfortunately, we often hear horror stories about PO’s who are going it alone—who aren’t available to their teams, who change their minds incessantly on business priorities, and who ignore quality requirements and technical debt. Even the best struggle to meet the many demands of the business while still providing sufficient team guidance.

Bob Galen shares real-world stories where he’s seen “effectively partnered” teams and Product Owners truly deliver balanced value for their business stakeholders. In this session he’ll show you how story mapping and release planning can truly set the stage for effective team workflow—establishing a “Big Picture” for everyone to shoot for. How establishing shared goals, both at the iteration and release levels, truly cements the partnership between team and Product Owner. And finally, how setting a tempo of regular, focused backlog grooming sessions establishes a mechanism for the team and Product Owner to explore well-nuanced and high value backlogs. 

If you are a team or PO struggling to effectively deliver results, you’ll leave with ideas for establishing an ecosystem where the Product Owner and the team drive continuously improving performance.

Bob Galen is a software engineer by trade and a technical leader by experience. Currently his focus is Agile methods coaching, training, evangelism and speaking. He has a track record of effectiveness in leading diverse technical teams towards project success in an energized and humane fashion utilizing Agile and Traditional methods. Bob is a member of the Agile Alliance, a Certified Scrum Master and Scrum Product Owner, and an experienced XP Coach.