The PSPO course teaches students how to be an Agile program, product or IT development manager in a complex environment. Traditional Scrum courses take a myopic view of the Product Owner role, ignoring large aspects of product management. This course looks much more broadly than that, at the creation and retention of value. Through this lens, it then teaches students specific tactics and strategies for maximizing the flexibility and responsiveness of software product creation. Organizations need to be "Agile;" it is no longer an option. They must be able to deliver new or enhanced products and systems as dictated by customers, competition, and business pressures. As the environment they operate within changes, they need to be flexible while adhering to their purpose. As they flex, they need to be both predictable and efficient, while controlling risk. If Product Management were simple, there would be no need for this course. However, product managers are responsible for juggling competing priorities of customers, the marketplace, and their business, all while managing risk within a state of constant change. Additionally they must organize and prioritize the competing needs and interests of their own company, from systems architecture to financial performance and strategic alignment. These responsibilities are very difficult in large, global organizations that develop and market interrelated products and product families. But they are also difficult in smaller companies whose customers require continuous improvement in real-time. This course teaches techniques for fulfilling these responsibilities. In the course, we address how to optimize the value of current systems. Students learn how to progressively order requirements and work to become more Agile. The goal will be releasing products as fast as needed and no faster than customers can absorb. The steps to reach this end point will be addressed in detail.

Module

Learning Objective

Introduction

Introduce the instructor, the class, complexity, and Scrum.

Value Driven Development

The primary job of a product manager is to increase the value created by the product for which he or she is responsible. This section covers value drivers, and strategies for measuring them.

Product
Management

Agile product management is different than traditional approaches. This section explores those differences, as well as how the Product Owner works in an Agile environment to deliver a product.

Managing Requirements 

The Product Backlog is the fuel that feeds the development team, and managing it is one of the primary roles of the Scrum Product Owner. Here you will learn about User Stories, ordering and organization strategies, and Product Backlog grooming.

 Planning Releases

What does a good release look like? Why are releases done? What impact can a bad release have on you and your customer? This section explores release strategies and how to optimize the delivery of value with them.

Lean Planning

A release is often the first step to realizing value. What better way to learn how to plan a release than to do it? Here students cover the basics of identifying a release goal and requirements, backlog ordering, estimation, adjustment, and baseline planning.

Managing Products

Understanding Total Cost of Ownership is fundamental to successfully managing a product. How do you balance between optimizing the value of a release and maximizing the value of the product or system as an asset for the organization? How does that fit into your product roadmap, and why is your Development Team's "Definition of Done" so fundamental to everything that you do?