Pragmatic Software Article Sample

Habit 1 - Be Proactive
A Product Owner's goal in any software project is to ensure that the project produces the highest return on investment (ROI) in the shortest amount of time. Below are some ideas for being proactive on Agile software projects:

1. Communicate Sprint Rules to Management - Since the product owner is responsible for prioritizing the product backlog and is responsible for ROI, the product owner must communicate to his/her upper management that once the sprint begins, they can not push for new features in the sprint unless they are willing to abandon the sprint. Upper management sometimes tries to interfere with the sprint by introducing features not currently in the backlog and derailing team members with busy work that can cause the sprint to fall behind schedule. The product owner must communicate the rules to management and remind them if this behavior happens, the sprint must be aborted and a new sprint must be planned.

2. Meet Daily - It is important to participate in the Daily Scrum Meeting. This provide full transparency - if you review progress, status and impediments daily, you should never be surprised if tasks begin to slip and you can proactively resolve those to reduce slippage. When meeting daily, hold the meeting first thing in the morning and try to keep the meeting to 30 minutes or less.