The Agile Manifesto lays out sound principles for developing software. I mean, who could argue with valuing individuals and interactions over process and tools (from http://agilemanifesto.org/ )? It makes sense, and many engineers tell me that an agile approach is a more natural fit to the way they work.
There are lurking pitfalls, however. One of the principles of the agile manifesto, as stated at http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html, is:
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Let’s think about the intent behind this principle. It makes sense that Development needs to understand the business end – they need to get good information to help design great solutions.
Now, consider the way this is being interpreted. There are companies out there who will say that if your team is Agile, Product Management has to pick up additional tasks. They’ll say that the Product Manager needs to be the “business people” who is involved DAILY.
Theoretically, if we added more Product Management resources, we could cover daily interactions with Development and still gather fresh business information to drive into the development process. Theoretically, we could double staff – have one Product Manager out in the market, and the other working with Development.
Rather than focusing on turf wars between Marketing or Product Management and Development, let’s take a step back and think about the tasks involved in this daily interaction. Maybe there is a question about how to break down a user story into sprints. Perhaps there is a clarification needed about how the user will rely on a particular area. Certainly there are lots of activities involved in defining the user interface, in designing the solution.
Now, think about the best Product Managers. The best of the bunch are people who understand how to interview the market, how to tease out market problems worth solving and present them in a way that helps the organization understand the potential opportunities and risks. The best Product Managers spend most of their time interacting with the market. They are market experts.
They rely on teams of designers and engineers to be the technology and product experts. They rely on project management skills to break stuff down into sprints, and put it back together again.
If we take one of these folks and have them work internally, translating market requirements into sprints and helping design the user interaction, they are no longer a Product Manager! At that point, they are doing design.
Want to develop awesome products that excite your customers and cause them to recommend you to everyone they know? Hire skilled designers to do that work, and leave the Product Managers focused on the business. After all, design is a skill and an art – and so is Product Management.
There are lurking pitfalls, however. One of the principles of the agile manifesto, as stated at http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html, is:
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Let’s think about the intent behind this principle. It makes sense that Development needs to understand the business end – they need to get good information to help design great solutions.
Now, consider the way this is being interpreted. There are companies out there who will say that if your team is Agile, Product Management has to pick up additional tasks. They’ll say that the Product Manager needs to be the “business people” who is involved DAILY.
Theoretically, if we added more Product Management resources, we could cover daily interactions with Development and still gather fresh business information to drive into the development process. Theoretically, we could double staff – have one Product Manager out in the market, and the other working with Development.
Rather than focusing on turf wars between Marketing or Product Management and Development, let’s take a step back and think about the tasks involved in this daily interaction. Maybe there is a question about how to break down a user story into sprints. Perhaps there is a clarification needed about how the user will rely on a particular area. Certainly there are lots of activities involved in defining the user interface, in designing the solution.
Now, think about the best Product Managers. The best of the bunch are people who understand how to interview the market, how to tease out market problems worth solving and present them in a way that helps the organization understand the potential opportunities and risks. The best Product Managers spend most of their time interacting with the market. They are market experts.
They rely on teams of designers and engineers to be the technology and product experts. They rely on project management skills to break stuff down into sprints, and put it back together again.
If we take one of these folks and have them work internally, translating market requirements into sprints and helping design the user interaction, they are no longer a Product Manager! At that point, they are doing design.
Want to develop awesome products that excite your customers and cause them to recommend you to everyone they know? Hire skilled designers to do that work, and leave the Product Managers focused on the business. After all, design is a skill and an art – and so is Product Management.
No comments:
Post a Comment