Reactionary Product Ownership

If you are a Product Owner in a SAFe® ART, are you having to adjust and adapt on the fly to team questions, stakeholder questions and Product Manager questions?  Are you struggling to find answers to team questions?  Are you finding it difficult to represent the value opportunities, and struggle to prioritize stories for the team?  If so, you may be a Reactionary Product Owner.  The Reactionary PO suffers from these all too common symptoms, which is very often caused by lack of a Product Vision and an accompanying Product Roadmap.

Avoid 'Reactionary' Product Ownership with a Product Vision

Many PO’s I work with are surprised by the reality that they need to have a documented vision in place.  The common thinking tends to be “Doesn’t the Product Manager(s) vision cover my team?”  The short answer is no.  Every product owner needs to have a vision of what their team is going to do to contribute to the ARTs success.  As part of a Team of Teams within an ART, the vision should closely align with the ART’s vision, but should add more detail and narrow the scope to the team level.  Without a vision the team is left with no clear direction, and the frantic Product Owner has to jump from issue to issue, providing on the fly answers.  With a healthy vision, the team can answer many questions on their own by simply determining which of the options would best target and work to fulfill the vision.  With a vision to guide their decisions, prioritization of both the team and iteration backlogs becomes much easier.  
Note that many ART teams focus on slices of a Value Stream, rather than a 'Product', but the above still applies.  Whether Product or Value Stream based, a vision answers the team question “What part do we play in making this Team of Teams successful?”

Product Vision

A vision should clearly state the purpose and direction for the team.  It should finish the statement “We exist as a team to deliver/solve/provide <X>”.  Roman Pichler does a great job of defining a vision with this statement: “The product vision is the overarching goal you are aiming for, the reason for creating the product. It provides a continued purpose in an ever-changing world, acts as the product's true north, provides motivation when the going gets tough, and facilitates effective collaboration”.  But what does a good vision look like?

Every successful vision has a few key elements.  

Roman uses 8 steps that are extremely valuable, but I'd like to highlight a few key steps:

Describe the Motivation behind the Product – Why is it important to achieve this vision?  How is the world better when we get there?

Employ a Shared Vision – If the vision is created in a vacuum and kept in a desk drawer it adds no value.  Share it with your team members, with your Product Manager, with your Stakeholders and others that can help to refine and achieve this vision.

Choose an Inspiring Vision – Does your team feel motivated when they read the vision?  Do your Stakeholders get excited when they read the vision?  Does it get you up in the morning with a smile on your face as you realize the importance of your vision?

Keep your Vision Short and Sweet – Your vision should be something you can put on a poster in the team space (and read without a magnifying glass).  If you have to write War and Peace to state your vision then it will be hard to convey to others.

And I will add my own step, Your vision should be Unique - Your vision statement should not be so generic that you could take it down to the local sandwich shop and see the same vision.  Avoid the generic statements such as “we want to be the biggest/best/fastest at what we do”.  Make it measurable and unique to you and your dream of a better future for your customers.

Here are two examples of good vision statements.

SpaceX

"SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars."  (Authors note: Notice how they were specific with “enable human life on Mars”?)

Ikea

“At Ikea, our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”  (Authors note: Notice the specific reference to well-designed, functional and affordable)

Creating a Vision

Start by listing some simple things, like what you like about your job, what makes you feel good about what you do, and what you would tell others about what you do.  Then think about your customers, both internal and external.  How are you trying to make their life better.  What specific things about your product or service do you want to brag about to others.  Build on that by stating why these things are important.  How are you trying to change the world by creating these products?

Now, create your first rough draft.  If you are like most, it will be lame, ambiguous, and uninspiring.  That’s ok, this is a process.  Circle the parts you like about your vision, and underline the parts you don’t.  Do you see the passion, the energy, the motivation in this version that you want to convey?  If not, rewrite it and focus on this energy and passion.  Now take a closer look at this version.  Is it specific?  Is it measurable?  Would it provide guidance and direction for your team?  Would it show how you are aligned with the ART vision?  If not, refactor it.

Once you have something you are reasonably pleased with, show it to your team.  Don’t ask them if they like it, instead ask them to identify parts that inform them, that get them engaged, that inspire them, that help show how they are aligned to the ART goals.  Ask for and demand honesty, and their help in iterating on the vision.  You will find that this will become a really important team building exercise, as all of you will take part in creating the vision for the team.

The last guidance is this: don’t save it off in a corner and ignore it.  Print it in large font and post on your team wall.  Make notes on it as you learn new things about the vision.  Point to it when you or your team has questions about direction.  If you can’t find at least high-level guidance from the vision, go through it again.  Print a new version on a regular basis as it matures and evolves.  Visions are dynamic, living things that need usage and attention to be successful.

Roadmap

Once have your vision in place, now it’s time to determine what steps you have to take to achieve this vision.  Roadmaps are essentially statements that are based on what we know today but are easily adjustable as needed to apply new knowledge and shifts in markets to still achieve the vision.  A roadmap is saying “See our vision?  Here are the near-term steps we believe we need to accomplish to achieve that vision”.  In SAFe®, the Program Roadmap is documented in a healthy Program Kanban board, where we can see near term (“Implementing”), projected (“Analysis”) and potential (“Idea Funnel”).  At the team level, the roadmap is refreshed each PI through PI Planning.

Create your vision with the teams help.  Iterate on it as you learn more and move towards the vision.  Establish a roadmap for your team that aligns (as needed) with the ART roadmap.  Then, the next time you face a tough question from a team member on direction, you can be 

this cat   instead of this cat.