Course Description
Summary
2 days
The Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) course teaches people how to maximize the delivery of value through software products and systems. Agile Product Ownership today requires more than knowledge of how to write a User Story or manage a Product Backlog. Professional Product Owners need to have a concrete understanding of everything that drives value from their products. The PSPO course helps students develop and solidify this understanding – from early stakeholder management to release planning and delivery.
The PSPO course addresses a significant skill gap in the software development industry that we have seen growing over the last few years. An effective Product Owner is one of the best predictors of product success, but many Product Owners seem to misunderstand the breadth of the role’s responsibilities in delivering a successful product. Maximizing Return On Investment (ROI), optimizing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), and capitalizing on product Agility are the things a Product Owner is intimately concerned with that the PSPO course focuses on.
The defined curriculum of the PSPO course is maintained and regularly enhanced by Scrum.org through contributions from Ken Schwaber and other experts in the Scrum.org network of Professional Scrum Trainers. Only the most qualified instructors are chosen to become Professional Scrum Trainers and deliver this course. Each instructor brings his or her individual experiences and areas of expertise to bear, but all students learn the same core course content. This improves their ability to pass the Professional Scrum Product Owner assessments and apply Scrum in their workplaces.
Professional Development Units (PDUs) – 14
Audience
- The audience of the Professional Scrum Product Owner course includes those accountable for maximizing the value delivered by products and services, including:
- Product Managers and Scrum Product Owners responsible for the delivery of a product, from conception to customer usage.
- IT Development Managers responsible for a line of business or internal company system.
- Strategy managers responsible for the overarching direction of a product or product family.
- Scrum Masters can also benefit from this course as their role often includes coaching Product Owners.
Syllabus
Below is a high-level agenda for the PSPO course. The course consists of modules that build on each other. Modules are exercise-driven, and their success depends on effective group participation and interaction. Attendees should be able to immediately start applying the techniques discussed in this course when they return to work.
Value Driven Development
The primary job of a Product Owner is to maximize 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 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?
Assessment and Certification
Unlike other Scrum certifications that require only class attendance, Scrum.org certification requires a minimum score on a rigorous assessment. The Professional Scrum Product Owner course has two associated assessments with two levels of certification: PSPO I and PSPO II. When you complete a Professional Scrum Product Owner course you will receive a password to take the PSPO I assessment one time within a 14-day period following the course. If you pass this assessment you will receive the industry-recognized “PSPO I” certification and your name will be posted on this website.