These are slides from the workshop presented by Ellen Gottesdiener and Andy Repton on August 8, 2019, at Agile Development 2019: The first step for large enterprises transitioning toward a product-aligned and customer-focused operating model is to get shared agreement on this simple yet challenging question: "What is our product?" Your answer is one of the most important ones you make. It powers all aspects of product development including product management roles, team organization, and product activities. The implications are vast and deep, especially in a large enterprise. Based on ongoing work inside a large global technology infrastructure organization, Andy and Ellen provide techniques for enabling product development leaders and communities to define their product using an “outside-in”, customer-focused perspective—and do so with a product management mindset. You will find the techniques we share useful, even for products that are mid-size or even smaller, because they help instill product-thinking and shared understanding. Learning Outcomes: On completion of the workshop, the learner will be able to • Describe key principles—and their rationale—for defining your product • Identify practical techniques to use in a product definition facilitated workshop • Explain the mindsets and points of view that thwart product thinking, and ways to overcome them. • Implement a collaborative process for helping people reflect, repeal, and reveal what their product is

1. What is Your Product?
Making Large-Scale Product Development Work
© 2019 by EBG Consulting, Inc. and Andy Repton
@ellengott @reptonandy
#Agile2019 #Product

2. Ellen Gottesdiener
Founder, CSM, CSPO, CPF
Ellen is an Product Coach and CEO of EBG, focused on helping product
and development communities create valuable outcomes through product
agility. She is known in the agile community as an instigator and innovator
for collaborative practices for agile product discovery and using skilled
facilitation to enable healthy teamwork and strong organizations.
twitter: @ellengott
blog: ebgconsulting.com/blog
linkedIn: ellengottesdiener
tips newsletter: www.ebgconsulting.com
EBG is a global leader in agile product management and ownership and collaborative practices
for technology products. EBG helps organizations amplify discovery to accelerate delivery.
Volunteer:
Agile Product Open ~ Boston (Co-Founder, Producer)
Agile Product Management Initiative (Director,Agile Alliance)

3. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy 3
Andy Repton
Organizational Improvement Coach at JP Morgan Chase
AKA: Culture Hacker
Coaching technology executives to adopt authentic leadership
Background: engineering and operating large scale technology
infrastructure platforms
Mission: create work places that inspire
Motto:“Inspire Pull”
Favorite App: Untappd
twitter: @reptonandy
linkedIn: andyrepton
untappd: repton3
JUST AN
IDEA
IN
PROGRESS
NOT EVEN
THOUGHT
OF YET
Books

4. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
Human Histogram
please stand (or raise your hand) if the
answer is
“yes” or “true”…..
5

5. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
for the product (or products) I
work on, my product org is…
30 or less people
30-100 people
100-500 people
500+ people

6. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
please stay standing if you relate to
any the
following challenges…?

7. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
lots of backlogs
prioritization difficulty
lots of cross-dependencies
teams not necessarily working on right
things from business perspective

8. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy 8

9. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
1. Open a web browser
2. go to: kahoot.it
3. Enter the game pin
4. Sign in !

10. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
criteria for defining “product”
customer’s view
short lived
spans customer journey
includes services and components
defined as narrowly as possible
can have multiple product backlogs
TRUE or FALSE?
10

11. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
“a software
application, system,
device, service, or
combination that
provides value to
customers and
business partners”
Gottesdiener and Gorman, Discover to Deliver
11
product

12. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
principles
for defining your product
12

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@ellengott | @reptonandy
principle #1
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@ellengott | @reptonandy 2004 14

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 15

16. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
principle #1
16
adopt outside-in thinking

17. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
let’s try…
10

18. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
Is / Is Not / ?
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@ellengott | @reptonandy
Is / Is Not / ?
Agile 2019 website
19

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@ellengott | @reptonandy
Is / Is Not / ?
sched
20

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@ellengott | @reptonandy
Is / Is Not / ?
authorize.net
21

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@ellengott | @reptonandy
Is / Is Not / ?
mailchimp
22

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 23
Context = Agile 2019

24. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
context is
everything
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@ellengott | @reptonandy
is | is not | ?
25

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@ellengott | @reptonandy
technique sampler…

27. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
Pick one, go deep - product canvas

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 28

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 29

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 30

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@ellengott | @reptonandy
principle #2
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@ellengott | @reptonandy 32

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 33
product lifecycle

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 34
Introduction Growth Maturity Decline
Time
Profit
Sales
Based on: Kotler & Keller, Marketing Management, 2012
product lifecycle

35. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
my product is in…?
introduction
growth
maturity
decline 35
1

36. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
take the long view
principle #2
36

37. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
Pick one, go deep - product canvas

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 38
look out for
new ‘products’ being defined that are
actually innovations for existing capability

39. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
technique sampler…

40. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
product
management
product
ownership
product
development
strategic tactical
external internal
customer code
market making
business technology
discover deliver
discovery and delivery
discover deliver
40
Source:“Am I a Product Manager or a Product Owner” (Part 1 and 2), EBG blog

41. © 2019 by EBG Consulting | @ellengott
www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com 41
product work activity
"Doing the Right Things, Not Everything: Product Management and Ownership”: www.ebgconsulting.com/blog

42. © 2019 by EBG Consulting | @ellengott
www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com 42
state diagram

43. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
principle #3
43

44. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
let’s try…
(worksheet)
3

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 46
what is the effect of how
narrowly or broadly
you define your product?

47. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
The product backlog
tends to have more
technical items
narrow or broad ?

48. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
components are
developed
by multiple teams
narrow or broad ?

49. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
There is greater need for
coordinator roles
narrow or broad ?

50. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
prioritization is
more complex
narrow or broad ?

51. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
higher likelihood of
feature duplication
narrow or broad ?

52. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
dependency resolution
is easier
narrow or broad ?

53. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
define your product as
broadly as practical
principle #3
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54. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
technique sampler…

56. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
External
Entity:
person
(role),
system or
device
Interface
(giving or
getting)
The area
of study
or the
product
56

57. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy 57

59. © 2019 by EBG Consulting | @ellengott
www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com 59
features
vs.
components

60. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
bringing it together…

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@ellengott | @reptonandy 61
outside-in
broad as practical
long lived
define your product…

62. Component C
Component B
Feature X
Feature Y
Feature Z
Is ??Is Not
MYTH or FACT?

63. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
techniques &
implications…
15

64. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
as broad as practical
outside-in the long view
1. place implication
inside theVenn
2. place the technique
inside theVenn

65. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
WTF?
kahoot
glossary
is/is not/??
feature vs
component
unconscious
incompetence
conscious
incompetence
conscious
competence
empathy map
role
maps
product
canvas
context
diagram state
diagram
umm!
got it!
sh*t now
gets real !
DtD
exercise
org design
(structure
follows
product)
oh ok
<shrug>
whatever
!
product thinking meta pattern

66. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
personal reflection…
1. what reinforced what you already knew?
2. what did you learn that is new?
3. what can you use leaving this session?
2

67. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
thank you!
please complete the online eval
@reptonandy (Andy Repton)
@ellengott (Ellen Gottesdiener)

68. © 2019 by EBG Consulting and Andy Repton
@ellengott | @reptonandy
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/what-is-your-product/
some readings
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/using-the-product-canvas-to-define-your-products-core-requirements/
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/using-product-canvas-define-product-getting-started/
https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/right-things-not-everything-product-management-ownership/
What is your Product?
Using the Product Canvas to DefineYour Product: Getting Started
Using the Product Canvas to DefineYour Product’s Core Requirements
Do the Right Things, Not Everything: Product Management & Ownership