Pursue Agile mind-set to survive crises

Many mid-level software firms and financial institutions have seen two of the worst crisis in the past decade: dotcom crisis and sub-mortgage crisis. Before the crisis, people were so optimistic that big long term project plans were prepared packaging in as much features as possible, running up to 3-4 years. Interest rates were affordably low, and market dynamics was such that there was huge demand for each and every product and service.   Extravagant meetings were held at plush hotels, everyone got a big pay check and everyone was provided a smart phone with immediate access to emails. Also, what happened was that people went overboard on ensuring that we were compliant with a formal project management to ensure process compliance with project management templates. SEPG and similar groups mushroomed who were dedicated towards implementing processes at any cost, even if process overhead reduced project benefits, as focus was on long term goals. Project managers worked in silos without any direct correlation with the business team. They were located in PMO, which were in many scenarios not in the physical vicinity of the business teams.
Then, these crises came and everything came to a standstill. The smart phones started to disappear. Groups were formed to simplify the processes. The goal was to remove hierarchy and make the process more lean and adaptable. Many companies disbanded many of the project-management offices and asked the project managers to coordinate directly with the business teams so they could be closer to the customers. Also, the focus shifted from mega benefits 3 years down the line to immediate customer priorities. The aim was to provide customers exceptional value consistently, by capturing their requirements sprint by sprint and taking constant feedback.
This shows that in times of crises, transitioning to an Agile mind-set helps a company survive. It helps to cut costs drastically by reducing inefficiency and redundancy. It helps retain customers by providing exceptional value to them, which helps thwart competition. Agile also improves working relationship among all the team members, as it promotes collaboration and flat structure. Agile creates a sense of urgency that is essential to save a sinking ship. Many companies who could not pursue the Agile mentality had to unfortunately shut down, and those who survived realized the importance and value of transitioning into an Agile mind-set so as to avoid / manage similar crises better next time.

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Being an effective Product Owner

Before we read about how to be an effective product owner, let us first understand who a product owner is and what he/she does.  A product owner is not a separate title but is a role that can be performed by a business analyst or even a representative of an end user.

A product owner is a stakeholder who acts as an interface between the business representatives and the project team. A product owner understands the business requirements and communicates it to the team for development on behalf of the customer. A product owner is responsible for creating a priority list of backlogs, attending daily sprint meetings, and steering the development process successfully to meet the customer’s requirements. The product owner communicates the progress of the team and continuously refines product requirements. It is also important that a product owner have a good business sense which is important while prioritizing user stories based on cost and functionality.

A product owner must be actively involved-
The test of an effective product leader is how well he/she balances the expectations of business representatives and capability of the team to deliver. There are several ways a product can be more effective. A common mistake product owners make is not committing enough time to be involved with the team. Product owners should be as hands-on as possible and schedule sufficient time to holding estimation workshops, planning sprints, and providing feedback for the team.

An empowered product owner nurtures an empowered team-
Customers most often expect more value to be delivered than the team’s throughput or might suggest several changes that can slowdown the speed of the development team. A product owner supports his team by managing customer’s expectations so that workflow is not affected due to unreasonable expectations. A product owner allows the team to estimate the time required to complete the backlog identified for a particular sprint. At the same time, a product owner motivates the team to deliver the backlog of a sprint on time.

Technical knowledge is essential-
It is also important that product owners have some technical knowledge, though he/she does not necessarily have to be a developer themselves. Since, they will be interacting with the team on a regular basis, having a technical background can serve well while resolving issues. Technical knowledge can also help a product owner bridge the gap between the technical and business aspects of a project while liaising with developers and business representatives.

A product owner is similar to the role played by a Chief Engineer in Toyota. The Chief Engineer collects requirements and executes them during production, even taking some decisions on their own.

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