SAFe® Product Owner/ Product Manager (POPM) Training

The PO has a significant role in maximizing the value produced by the team and ensuring Stories meet the user’s needs and comply with the Definition of Done. For most enterprises moving to Agile, this is a new and critical role, typically translating into a full-time job, requiring one PO to support each Agile team (or, at most, two teams).

• Describe SAFe for Lean enterprises
• Explain Value Streams
• Describe Lean-Agile Mindset decision making
• Describe Product Owner/Product Manager responsibilities

As a member of the extended Product Management team, the PO is heavily involved in program backlog refinement and prep for Program Increment (PI) planning and also plays a significant role in the planning event itself. Before the planning event, the PO updates the team backlog and typically reviews and contributes to the program vision, Roadmap, and content presentations.

• Describe the Program Increment
• Describe the Vision
• Forecast work through Roadmaps
• Create beneficial Features
• Manage the Program Backlog and Kanban

PO is involved with story definition, providing the clarifications necessary to assist the team with their story estimates and sequencing. The entire Agile team, which includes the PO, also work together to determine their team PI objectives for the upcoming PI.

• Communicate the Vision
• Establish PI Objectives
• Manage dependencies
• Manage risks

PO reviews and reprioritizes the backlog as part of the prep work for Iteration Planning, including coordination of dependencies with other POs. During the iteration planning event, the PO communicates story detail and priorities and ensures the team aligns and agrees on a final iteration plan.

• Apply User Stories
• Plan the Iterations
• Manage flow with the Team KANBAN
• Continuously refine the backlog
• Participate in the Iteration Review and Retrospective
• Support DevOps and Release on Demand

Iterations and Agile teams serve a larger purpose; the frequent, reliable, and continuous release of value-added solutions. During each PI, the PO coordinates dependencies with other POs. This often occurs in weekly PO sync events (see the PI article for more information). The PO also has an instrumental role in producing the System Demo for program and Value Stream stakeholders.

• Participate in the PO sync
• Participate in the System Demo
• Innovate throughout the PI
• Inspect and Adapt